Pomatini Spritzer

I found the idea for these in a magazine somewhere while I was waiting to get my oil changed and snapped a picture of the recipe with the promise to make it and completely forgot about it till scrolling through my pictures the other day. And I made good on my promise. And you can thank me now. You're welcome.

I did change it up on a few things, I abstained from adding anise flavored vodka. The mere thought brings about terrible memories of inadvertently eating the licorice jelly bean and not realizing it till it was too late. And I used sparkling wine instead of sparkling water because well, I mean seriously, do I need to give an explanation?

Ingredients(for 2)

3 oz pomegranate liquor

3 oz vodka

4 oz pineapple juice

1 tsp lime juice

sparkling wine

In a shaker with ice, pour all ingredients(except sparkling wine) and shake vigorously. Pour into a chilled martini glass and top with sparkling wine.

If you can't find the pomegranate liquor, you could just use pom juice. and if you wanted a non alcoholic version

5 oz pomegranate juice

5 oz pineapple juice

1 tsp lime juice

shake and serve in a glass and top with sprite. or you could use sparkling water, I just have an aversion to it;)

Come back next week where I will offer up a bourbon infused popsicle and I will have an added bonus of answering my award questions from the lovely Stephanie.

Enjoy this sometime this weekend...with a large gathering or you know, a party of two.

Linking up with

Thirsty Thursday

The Party Don't Start
Just because
Wonderful Food Wednesday

Red Velvet Eggnog Martini and a Partayyy

Yes, Some of you are skeptical right now, I promise...It was delish. I did make it two separate ways, I will give you my favorite version first and then my friend's second. hey, this is my blog;)

as I have said before, my ideas often come from the most random and inane places. This came from a picture my friend snapped for instagram. It was of a carton of red velvet chocolate milk and she captioned it.

"ummmm, interesting?" and my first thought was "I must make a martini or a mudslide from that"

wait...maybe I should say that was like my 22nd thought or something. I will sound less lushy. I am not a lush, I assure you. And I will still stand by that sentiment this week even after I post 4 festive cocktails. haha  See notes for where to find the red velvet milk and the eggnog I used.

1/3 cup red velvet milk

1/3 cup eggnog

2 oz vodka

2 oz baileys

pour over ice and shake till frothy(about 10 shakes or 30 seconds) strain and pour into sugar rimmed glass.

Second version

1/3 cup eggnog

1/3 cup red velvet milk

2 oz whipped vodka

1 oz baileys

same directions as above. this was just wayyyyyy too sweet for me, but my friend loved this one. If this was made as a frozen version, w/vanilla ice cream, I may have preferred this version...but drinking straight, I needed the unflavored vodka to cut through the sweet.

***Notes, The red velvet milk is at Target. or you could get chocolate milk and add red food coloring, basically the same thing;) I used Evan Williams eggnog. It is extremely strong. To quote keith jackson..."woah, Nelly" but good nonetheless. If you didn't have bailey's, you good use godiva, or even creme de cocoa. Play around and find your own version..

and if I'm gonna show the pretty picture I captured, I should keep this real and show what happened approximately 10.5 seconds after I took that one. If you follow my instagram you already know;)

You do not even want to know the stream of words that came pouring forth from my mouth I said. The worst was the rug, It is my husbands great grandmothers from Damascus(yes, that Damascus, they're from there). I almost cried. All I know is the magic eraser is the greatest invention ever and hot water and soap worked wonders on the rug. Whew! I live to tell another day;)

I had a pretty good weekend, on Saturday I got my hair all did. and then the hubs and I stayed in and did nothing. Can I get a Yay for a night of nothing...rarely happens, so I am loving them!

looking all mahvelous;)

the end result, lovin' it.

Sunday was busy bee day. That night I had a bunch of girlfriends over for fun and food. lots and lots of it. Yikes! and then we watched my favorite movie, The Holiday. Some of them had never seen it. Say whaaattt?! I remedied that;)

and now it's back to the grind. That was my weekend, hope you had a fantastic one!

and just my thoughts form last Friday.

I have mainly been m.i.a. from the blog world the last few days. Like everyone, else my heart has been broken by Friday's tragedy  I had to stop watching the news. It was almost like some of the stations were feeding off the story. They showed one parent falling to the ground, in immeasurable grief and I felt as if I had just invaded the most intimate part of their life and that was enough for me, no more watching it. I think they should band together and choose to not give these people monsters any air time, don't print their name or show their faces. That's what they crave. but I know that will never happen. I am just so glad I have belief in a Redeemer...Those sweet babies, they're in His arms now and tomorrow I will participate in the blogger day of silence. See everybody Wednesday.

Sparkling Raspberry Lemonade Margatini

Margatini, is this a word? I only know that it is a mix of two of this chic's favorite drinks. I coined it one night and am afraid to google it for fear I will see someone else already has. Who wants to see their inferred genius laid to rest? Not I. haha so if someone else already thought this up...shhhhhh, don't tell me! ***addendum, I just looked. there are so many of us smarties out there. haha. boo.

 Anyhoo, quite frankly one of my favorite things ever is the Simply Raspberry Lemonade. I love that stuff, by itself or paired w/a tasty adult addition. I was in Virginia God's Country visiting family and ran to the store to make a quick drink for everyone and this is what I came up with. I think you will find this refreshing and way somewhat too easy to drink... consider yourself warned.

Ingredients(for 2 glasses)
6 oz raspberry lemonade
1 1/2 oz vodka
1 1/2 silver tequila
2-3 oz champagne/sparkling wine

put all ingredients except champagne into shaker w/ice and shake vigorously. Strain into martini or margarita glass. Top glass w/Champagne/wine. Tip to your mouth...and let the good times roll.
.

*I've made this a couple times since and I added cointreau once, good and sprite once. But the kicker was making it frozen, Yes, please! Just add all ingredients into blender and blend to desired consistency and then top off with the champagne/wine. It's also quite tasty with a sugar rimmed glass. 

Bourbon Appletini

I love bourbon, actually love doesn't do it justice. I love the distinctive flavor. I love how it taste on my tongue. I love my bourbon neat. This means I don't want you to dare put ice in it, or shudder at the thought: soda, how offensive! In other words-bring me the bottle and a straw!!!  And if I ask a bartender what bourbons they carry and they happen to offer up Jack Daniels, my heart hurts a little. J. D. is Tennessee whiskey, not bourbon. Don't get me wrong I have no beef w/it, I just heart my bourbon.

 Bourbon MUST be made in the USA, and if its not, it's not Bourbon. In fact Bourbon Whiskey was recognised by the United States Congress as a "distinctive product of the United States" on May 4 1964.

In order to carry the name Bourbon, a set of rigid requirements must be met, and these requirement are set out in The Federal Standards of Identity for Distilled Spirits (27 CFR 5) So if we break this down we come up with the key requirements for a Whiskey to be classified as a bourbon.

The grain mixture of which Bourbon is made must contain AT LEAST 51% Corn.

Bourbon must be produced at no more than 160 proof (U.S) (80% alcohol by volume)

Bourbon must be stored at no more than 125 Proof (U.S) (62.5% alcohol by volume)

and it MUST be stored in NEW Charred Oak Containers.

Straight Bourbon Whiskey refers to Bourbon meeting these requirements which has been aged for longer than 2 years. Most, if not all bourbon available to purchase has been aged for 4 years or more and therefore is Straight Bourbon whiskey, however it is not required to be labeled Straight.

More than you ever wanted to know about bourbon, huh? You just got knowledged ;)

Onto the good stuff.

ingredients

1 1/2 parts apple pucker

2 parts vodka

1 oz flat sprite

2 tbsp  cherry bourbon

directions

mix the apple, vodka and sprite together in a shaker w/ice

put a bourbon infused cherry in the glasses

pour into two chilled glasses.

*Now to make the cherry bourbon

take a glass of maraschino cherries and dump half the cherry juice and fill to top w/bourbon of your choice. let soak for a week or two.*

now pour 1 tbsp of cherry bourbon into glass

should settle at bottom creating a layered effect.

Please excuse the pop rock rim, it somewhat melted before I got a good picture, but it was tasty none the less.

Hope y'all enjoy!

Cherry Limeade Martini

I went to Sonic recently(this is a rarity for me) and it was during their happy hour. I like happy hour, it makes me happy. What a thought, huh? I ordered a medium & they inadvertently gave me a small. lucky me, they just told me to keep it and gave me the medium. In the 3.5 minutes to our house I was becoming annoyed at myself. Now I had two and I wanted to drink them both and I didn't need the sugar. But I love sugar, even if it is my utter frenemy.  Once home I realized I had some vodka and it was most assuredly an official "happy flippin hour to me" Sugar doesn't count when mixed w/vodka, it oxidizes. doesn't it? oh. well. remind me to care.


Anyhoo, few days later we were having company and I was contemplating funky drinks to make when I remembered how good  satisfying my cherry limeade was. I actually considered having Wiki drive to Sonic and get me two large cherry limeades w/no ice so I could just add vodka. I decided that sucked. Then I decided to just wing it. Thus was born cherry limealicious. 


cherry limealicious
two martinis(medium to large glass)
8 oz limeade(I used simply limeade)
2 parts cherry vodka 
1 1/2 part tripple sec
 splash grenadine

pour into glass and leave just enough room to top off w/sprite
garnish w/cherry & lime

*Origin* 
shockingly enough I got this idea from...Sonic. I know, I know. The rest just came about. I checked and apparently there are a plethora of cherry limeade martini recipes, but mine is the only cherry limealicious. or so I think. and what I think is all that matters. till someone tells me different;)


Please go forth & be participatory in a very happy hour(s)