Hot Cocktail Time!

It is cold in the house. Not cold-cold-turn-on-the-heater cold, but cold enough to be wrapped in a scarf and watch a movie with a blanket cold. Also cold enough to try some hot cocktails.

Today's drink: Hot Buttered Rum

Make the batter: 4oz good quality butter, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1 cup brown sugar. Mix well. Put 2 Tbsp in glass/mug, add 6oz hot water; stir until dissolved. Add a shot of dark rum. (Recipe from The Art of Manliness)

Result: I'm sleepy. Not sure if it's all the butter or that I don't drink dark rum often (like ever) but I just want to close my eyes. It's tasty, but I feel guilty drinking it- all that butter and sugar. Won't be in heavy rotation, that's for sure!

How do you make yours?

Cheers,
ashley

Cocktail of the Summer

Usually my summery drink of choice is a gin & tonic but this year it's been a Pimms Cup - Pimms No. 1 and ginger ale. That's it. Super simple, super good.

The first time I got drunk was actually with Pimms, in England. There it was mixed with a lemonade and fruit- delish. I just never have lemonade on hand but there's always ginger ale around. (Next up, making my own- I found a recipe and will try it maybe this weekend.)

 If you haven't had Pimms before, get thee to a liquor store. It's usually in the schnaaps aisle and a bottle's about $17. It's gin based and fruity. Fill a glass 1/4-1/3 with Pimms, add ice and top with ginger ale or fizzy lemonade. That's it! No special skills involved.

Festive Cocktail Options...

Because I'm very strange, I like to start planning parties MONTHS in advance. And what is xmas eve but a tiny little party of 4-5 people? The menu planning started last month so now it's time for the ever important "what to drink?"

I like to offer 2 festive drinks, plus the usual eggnog, wine, and "whatever's in the fridge, help yourself, be creative." These are my options:Going from 12 and roughly clockwise*

The Grinch: lemon juice, simple syrup, midori, marachino cherry. (Served before, good.)
Hot Brandy Alexander: milk, brandy, creme de cacao, whipped cream & chocolate shavings. (Never had before.)
Candy Cane Martini: vodka, peppermint schnapps, club soda, candy cane. (Served before, yum!)
Hot Buttered Rum: brown sugar, boiling water, butter, dark rum, nutmeg. (Never had before, Mom loves them.)
Foamy Mexican Hot Chocolate: milk, wedges of mexican hot chocolate, marshmallows. (Never had, virgin.)
French Kiss: lillet, champagne, orange twist. (Think I made a few years ago, can't remember. If I buy more Lillet I can make Vespers.)
The Snowplow: aquavit, lemonade, lemon. (Never had, but am curious about the aquavit.)
Pear Champagne Cocktail: pear eau de vie, champage, frozen pear. (Never had but it sounds lovely!)
Silver Bell Martini: gin, vermouth, pearl onions, silver candy balls. (Pretty standard classic cocktail + candy. Wonder if the candy will sweeten it at all?)
The Elf: lime, sugar, midori, champagne. (Believe I made this before too. Think it was good, but it was *quite* the new year's eve party so...)
Mulled Cider: apple cider, maple syrup, lemon, orange, nutmeg, cinnamon. (Pretty standard, but am used to brown sugar instead of the syrup. Virgin.)

*these are from the Holiday Cocktails Deck.

Okay Readers, what looks good to you? Anything else I should consider? What will you be serving?

NLP & Voodoo Ladies

Had a Naked Lady Party, where I scored a cute vintage dress (thank you, Allison!), on Saturday. Was good catching up with some girlfriends, and finally taking out the box that has been collecting things since the last party.

Served Voodoo Ladies, which can be served hot or cold.
1 tsp Kahlua
1.5 oz Dark Rum
1/3 c Chai tea concentrate (if serving warm, heat in micro or on stove)
Serve over ice or, if warm, a dollop of cool whip and a sprinkling of nutmeg.
(First had these at Halcyon downtown, but this recipe is from Atomic Cocktails.)

Wilted Bag of Spinach in the Fridge?

Make pesto! Saw this on thekitchn.com a while back and made my version of it last night.

1/2 bag of spinach leaves
olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c reduced fat parmesan cheese
salt & pepper
Put the spinach in the food processor. Add other ingredients and process.

I served mine over whole wheat penne with grilled chicken on the side. Yum!

Summer Party

We hosted a summer party last weekend. I didn't take any pictures but a friend did so hopefully, when I get a copy, a couple of those will be useable.

We served pigs n blankets, watermelon wedges and chunks, chips and queso, chicken and prosciutto skewers, edamame, and cupcake bites. The cupcake bites weren't very pretty but they were good. Didn't provide any beer so guests were encouraged to bring that, but we had the bar set up with some mixers, and some more 'natural' fizzy fruity drinks for the non-drinkers (or the mixers. Newman's Own Raspberry Kiwi drink was very good with vodka.)

The next party likely won't be until October. And I've got a good scary decoration idea.... heh.

Update: Here are a couple pictures from the party:

NLP

The party went well last night and I've got TEN bags of clothes and accessories to drop off at SafePlace tomorrow. Usually my trunk can hold everything but this time it's overflowed into my back seat. 

I served my cherry vodka and champagne cocktails (1/2 shot cherry vodka, 1 sugar cube, 1 maraschino cherry, top w/ champagne) and "Fancy Panties" (2 oz pink lemonade, 2 oz vodka, top w/ champagne) which sounded better than they tasted.

 

Guests brought quesadillas, cream puffs, sweet pea crostini, brownies, white chocolate chip cookies, mozzarella-basil-tomato skewers, and chocolate chip cheesecake. Yum. 

Playlist was jazzy music, like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Nat King Cole, and Henry Mancini.

(You can see there were a lot of shoes to try on! One NL left with 3 pairs of boots. Lucky her!)

Happy Day

Bought some gin.