{friday cocktail: hemingway daiquiri}

Ever since I came across a photo of the interior of Club Raye, I have had it on my list of places we absolutely had to visit before leaving Paris.  Decked out in black and white stripes with pops of emerald green (raye actually translates to "stripe" in French), the restaurant/bar is the perfect place to relax with a cocktail and soak in some of the wonderful live jazz music they have every night.  Besides enjoying the music and decor, I got to try a Hemingway Daiquiri for the first time which is a cocktail that is rich in history as much as flavor (watch a video on making it here).  Similar to other cocktails named for or created by Hemingway this one is very strong and slightly sweet.

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: winter caipirinha}

One of my favorite refreshing summer cocktails is a classic Brazilian Caipirinha, but it just doesn’t feel right to drink something that belongs poolside when the snow is piling up outside and the degrees are in the negatives (what I just described is real life in Chicago right now. its really not ok.)  This updated caipirinha brings in the seasonal winter flavor of pomegranates into the mix coloring the drink a fun pink shade and making it the perfect escape from the cold!

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: the fog cutter}

Well temperatures hit less than 40 degrees on more than few days this week in Chicago and that just doesn't really work for me. At all.  So we tried to drink the weather away with a tropical tiki cocktail recipe complete with pink paper umbrella garnish.  The high temperature this weekend is going to be in the 50s so I think it worked...

Most tiki cocktails are pretty sweet, but this one is a big exception to that.  It still delivers on tiki flavor from the orgeat syrup (famously used in a Mai Tai) and the mixture of brandy/rum, but it doesn't give you a sugar headache after.  

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: classic mai tai}

I doubt there is a more tropical classic cocktail than a Mai Tai- even when it isn't sporting a cocktail umbrella this recipe just tastes like sitting on a beach.  That's why this cocktail is the perfect signature cocktail for Ben & Terra's wedding today as Ben is an avid surfer and the couple currently lives just steps from the sand in Venice Beach.  You can be sure I will be drinking my fair share of these during the cocktail hour tonight!

{friday cocktail: the other london}

Chris recently took a trip up to Canada and brought me home a bottle of reaaaally good maple syrup.  There are two things you should know about this gift: first of all, my mother is Canadian so maple syrup is what I was basically raised on it and second, Chris and I have a longstanding argument concerning Aunt Jemima vs Authentic Maple Syrup.   Maple syrup makes for a great sweetener for cocktail recipes so we decided to try some out using the new fancy bottle.  Since the syrup Chris brought home is made in London, Ontario, we decided to name the cocktail "the other london."  It is definitely a more sweet recipe than most of the whiskey recipe I have posted and the dark rum rounds out the edge of the whiskey so its suitable for those who don't normally choose a whiskey cocktail (like me!).

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: the 49er}

This Friday's cocktail is named in honor of Sunday's Super Bowl winners (see what I did there?).  I will admit that I am definitely not a big sports person let alone a avid football follower/fan.  Plus my time living in Los Angeles didnt even give me a default team to root for, but I did live in San Francisco for 3 and half years so the 49ers are basically my football team if there ever was one.  This cocktail is inspired by one of my top five favorite cocktails, Blood Sugar Sex Magic, except this one substitutes Domaine de Canton's ginger liqueur in place of basil and swaps out the whiskey for a dark rum.  It packs a little heat and a lot of flavor just like the original recipe, but with some added sweetness from the liqueur.  I'll definitely be enjoying one of these on game day while sporting my favorite football sweater (yes I do have the Bears version as well- I never said I was loyal I simply said that the 49ers were my chosen team).

{let's talk about those little gold stars real quick...aren't they cute? clearly very pinterest worthy as evidenced here, but just be warned they taste absolutely horrible and they melt into little yellow blobs after about 3 minutes in liquid.  I learned this the hard way back on this drink and I'm just trying to save you the disappointment.  The good news is- they work wonderfully on the icing on cupcakes so don't completely write them off!}

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: cucumber basil caipirinha}

You know what we do when the temperatures in Chicago hit near 20 degrees?? We act like it's summer by whipping up a batch of Caipirinhas!  Yep- because not dealing with the reality of winter is the only way to deal with it as far as I'm concerned.  And one sip of this cucumber basil caipirinha will make you feel like you are sitting poolside at a summer BBQ. (If this cocktail doesn't make you feel just like that then you aren't trying hard enough.)  I have had this bottle of Monin Cucumber Syrup forever and had yet to break it open until this Friday's cocktail post.  Many flavored syrups are over-powering or sickly sweet, but this cucumber one tastes and smells just like fresh cut cucumbers with just the right amount of sugar to sweeten this cocktail recipe.  This syrup would even be great splashed in with glass of sparkling water or fresh lemonade!

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: party-sized agua fresca}

We spent this past weekend at Chris' vacation home in Palm Springs relaxing by the pool with friends.  Since there was a pretty big group of us going out there, we decided it would be best to make a large batch of something refreshing (and alcoholic) for people to drink throughout the day.  After looking through a few agua fresca recipes to get an idea of the basic proportions, Chris and I ended up just winging it with this recipe and it turned out perfectly.   The watermelon is light and refreshing, but the ginger and basil really add a punch of flavor that elevates this fresca from just a simple squeezed juice.  Here is our party sized recipe which was more than enough to serve 13 people throughout a day by the pool:

{friday cocktail: rose caipirinha}

 
Last weekend while enjoying the perfect LA weather, Chris made us some raspberry caipirinhas to enjoy and it reminded me just how perfect this cocktail is as a summer refreshment (you can see my recipe for blackberry caipirinhas here).  I starting thinking about other variations on a classic caipirinha that we might want to try and thought this might be the perfect cocktail to use up some of our rose syrup.  While we did make rose syrup from scratch in the past (recipe here), I opted to use our bottle of Monin Rose syrup for this cocktail.  While it was fun to try making the syrup, there is very little difference between the home-made and store bought versions other than the fact that the store bought one has a much longer shelf life. 

Cheers!

{friday cocktail: rosemary grapefruit mojito}

 I want to be honest with you and let you know that there is nothing really about this cocktail that makes it a mojito other than the fact that it has rum in it and there is a little bit of muddling involved.  I just dont like to mislead people and I feel you may be misled by this title (hope we can still be friends).

Regardless, this is a great herbal and refreshing cocktail for this weekend's inevitable day drinking.  It only has a handful of ingredients so there is really no excuse not to make up a batch of these for your friends while laying poolside....

Cheers!