Winter Dreaming

Sex on the Beach

1 ounce vodka

1/2 ounce peach schnapps

1/2 ounce Chambord

Half fill glass with orange juice

Half fill glass with cranberry juice

Collins glass filled with ice

** for non-alcoholic mix see listing below

Garnish using small paper umbrella speared into a raspberry and orange slice.

Always a favorite...and if you live in an area of the country where winter weather is getting you down there is no better time for a beach party!

Decorate your house with beach balls and ask your guests to wear their favorite beachwear. You might even purchase some inexpensive flip flops and give them to guests as party favors...what fun!

Dinner menu: shrimp, seafood for your main course (or hot dogs and hamburgers!), and melon balls for dessert. Here is another great dessert recipe for a beach party or any dinner party:

Peche Margaret*

vanilla ice cream

sliced peaches

1/2 ounce of Chambord

Scoop ice cream into a sundae or daiquiri glass, something with a special shape (even a large martini glass). Then place sliced peaches on the ice cream. Fresh peaches are preferred but frozen or canned will suffice.

Pour Chambord over the top.

Chambord is a wonderful French liqueur with a raspberry taste, and so if you prefer a non-alcoholic variety use raspberry juice.

AND, from a local variety/party store purchase some of the tiny umbrellas and serve with an umbrella in the ice cream!

*Thanks to my sister!

Valentine's Day...or After

Surprise your Sweetheart with a Kir Royale!

In a champagne flute (or a white wine glass)

½ ounce Crème de Cassis (I also love Chambord as a substitute)
A drop of freshly squeezed lime juice (optional)
Garnish the rim of the glass, see below
Fill with Champagne

*for fun, place a red foil-wrapped chocolate in the bottom of the glass!

Sugar rim: on a small plate wider than the edge of your glass, pour a shallow layer of fine sugar; wet the rim of the glass with lime…I squeeze a small amount of lime juice in another small plate and then dip the rim of the glass; dip the rim evenly in the sugar and then tap lightly to remove excess before turning the glass over...and let it set, then you will not have a mouthful of suger when you sip.

• Non-alcoholic variety: Substitute a 1/2 ounce of cranberry or pomegranate juice (or any favorite) for the Creme de Cassis; substitute a non-alcoholic Champagne.
• Chocolate-covered strawberries are very easy to make! Take any kind of chocolate and melt in the microwave. Leave stems on the strawberries. Dip them and then place on wax paper to set, place in the refrigerator.
• One of my favorite champagnes is Freixenet, and here is their product link: http://www.freixenetusa.com/

SERVING NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

• If you are having a party, and if you are serving alcoholic drinks and have your bar set up, MAKE SURE you also set out the non-alcoholic drinks.


• Do not make someone ask IF you have soda or juice, place these drinks up front and center!


• AND, feature and serve the drinks in the same caring manner you do the alcoholic beverages.


• Do not put out cans if you are only serving soda. My preference: put out the liter bottles and pour the drinks into glasses. If you are bartending or have a bartender at the party then cans are fine as long as they are poured into a glass.


• Be just as creative with the garnishes as you are with the alcoholic drinks. There can be more to a non-alcoholic drink than a soda, juice or a Shirley Temple with maraschino cherries!


• Do a Google search for non-alcoholic drinks OR check the details of my site and find a recipe. Most sites have non-alcoholic drink recipes.


• Take the time to have a recipe ready for your party. Just as I suggest you do with an alcoholic drink, feature a special non-alcoholic drink. You may even have more people ordering this than the alcoholic drinks!
  

TIPS FOR NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

Mix 100% juice drinks or nectars with club soda or a clear carbonated soda like 7-Up or Sprite....serve in a white wine glass over ice. Experiment.

I love Pomegranate juice (a couple of my favorites: Pom Wonderful, 100% Pom juice, and Old Orchard Healthy Balance Pomegranate). Cranberry juices and peach nectars are also great.

Tipping my hat to Shirley...the Shirley Temple Cocktail!

• Pour ginger ale or 7-Up or Sprite
• Top with a little Grenadine syrup
  **there are varieties, one is to add a splash of OJ

Mix in a Collins glass (tall) filled with ice and garnish with cherry or slice of orange.

When we were kids we would have 3 or 4 maraschino cherries in the bottom of the glass, but don't overdo this with adults :-)

There are the standard non-alcoholic drinks like the Virgin Mary...and do not just pour V-8 or tomato juice over ice! Mix your Virgin Mary with the same flair as your favorite Bloody Mary recipe merely leaving out the alcohol. Don't forget to serve it with a celery stalk. Have you heard of the alcoholic drink Sex on the Beach? Well, check out my recipe shown below for the non-alcoholic version, Safe Sex on the Beach!

I havejust found recipes for non-alcoholic martinis, including a non-alcoholic Cosmopolitan. Check it out: http://martiniart.com/

I have not tried the recipes yet, but they sound fabulous.

Safe Sex on the Beach

• 1 ounce peach nectar
• 1 ounce raspberry juice
• half fill with orange juice
• half fill with cranberry juice

Mix in a Collins (tall) glass and garnish with a cherry.

THEME DINNERS AND PARTIES

ARCTIC DINNER PARTY

Before dinner drink? Something light, even a white wine instead of a cocktail.
For a cocktail try a Dry Martini - straight up and with a twist (lemon). If you are not a Dry Martini fan then try another Martini recipe, and there are great websites (some are advertised on my site...Ads by Google) with many choices, e.g. Blue Moon Martini using Bombay Sapphire Gin and Blue Curacao.

Before dinner course: Gazpacho soup. Hot or cold weather this is a fabulous beginning to a seafood dinner. On a later blog I will give you my favorite Gazpacho recipe.

Dinner menu: Fresh seafood if possible! For example, Alaska King Crab Legs or Alaskan Salmon or Alaskan Halibut. No farm-raised please! My favorite is grilled Salmon done on the charcoal barbeque...not a gas grill fan.

Cooking Light and Bon Appetit have superb sites and recipes. I just found a tasty-sounding recipe for "Peppered Halibut Steaks!"

I prefer fish served only with a side salad (use wild greens) to truly emphasize the delicacy of the fish texture and taste and to not distract with potatoes, couscous, and other side dishes.

Dessert: I always love a variety of cheeses and crackers and with some fresh fruit.

The featured drink, after dinner... Arctic Bomba, see the drink recipe listed below. Serve with a strong blend of coffee.

**Starbuck's makes a Yukon Blend...but a cup of espresso of any kind would be lovely.

Chilled Above the Arctic Circle

Best Drink Ever Mixed!

I was rafting the Hulahula River, above the Arctic Circle in the heart of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. For eleven days I carried an airplane-bar size bottle of Jim Beam bourbon in my backpack and I never touched it. Why? I had Hollywood visions of ending up lost in the Arctic, injured on the coastal plain of the Refuge, something dramatic! I thought that tiny bottle of Jim Beam might be an emergency supply and be the difference between life and death. Okay, so I envisioned Barbara Stanwyck or Jean Arthur in the lead (a classic movie fan)! On the next to the last day we rafted in bitterly cold, truly bone-chilling winds (and years ago I thought the winds in Chicago off Lake Michigan were bad!). We also experienced something I shall never ever forget for it was an absolute collision of all my senses...we rafted through an Arctic ice shelf, both sides of the Hulahula, closed in by thick fog and clouds, not seeing more than a few hundred yards in front of us. It was perfectly silent, a silence like none I ever heard, except for the sound of the Hulahula and water running over the ice . It was dark and yet light because of the brilliant ice and snow, and there was an aqua hue on the ice and reflected in the air around. We stopped on the ice and I took my trusty Nalgene 32 ounce liquid container and filled it with absolutely pure Arctic ice water.

That night in my tent, tucked into my sleeping bag, and protected from wind and snow in the dark light of the land of the midnight sun, sensing the presence of the migrating Porcupine Caribou herd and all the other Arctic wildlife, I took the Jim Beam from my backpack. I poured half of it into my cup and then poured the Arctic water. THE best bourbon and water a bartender could ever serve! The other half of the bottle? Jim Beam sits here on my bookshelf as a significant memento of a fabulous experience in a land of incredible reverent beauty.

Help to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

**Photo of snow, ice and fog in the Lake District, Cumbria, England

Courtesy of Jamie Bassnett, Trekking Britain, see Life Links=>

TRY OUR DRINK OF THE MONTH

MARCH DRINK OF THE MONTH COMING SOON!

JANUARY
Sweet Adeline
Submitted by a friend who created and served recipe #1 at a home party. Bravo!

Recipe #1
In a white wine glass
Over crushed ice
1/2 ounce of Absolut Pear Vodka
Fill with Sparkling Cranberry Juice
Garnish with wedge of lime or see garnishes listed below OR create your own!

Recipe #2
In a martini glass...chill martini glass while mixing
(for chilling glasses see Hints Home Bars #3 posted below)
Mix in cocktail shaker with ice
1 ounce of Absolut Pear Vodka
2 ounces of Cranberry Juice (no Sparkling here)
Strain into a beautiful Martini glass
Garnish with twist of lime or be creative!
*cut a tiny wedge of a firm pear, cut a length of lime peel, and spear both on a toothpick
*take two or three cranberries and spear on a toothpick
Have fun!

While this drink is great for any occasion consider it for a festive celebration, e.g. News Years' Eve party, Christmas, a winter birthday.

FEBRUARY
Arctic Bomba
**invented by Bartend-Her

1 ounce of Yukon Jack Canadian whiskey
1/2 ounce of Bacardi 151 rum

Pour the Yukon Jack into a cordial/liqueur glass or large shot glass
Top with the Bacardi 151
Though this was invented on an icy, cold day in the Ozarks, the inspiration came from the adventure of traveling north above the Arctic Circle, rafting an improbably named river called the Hulahula. Yukon Jack is the drink of the north country, and warms you inside down to your toes. The Hulahula indicates warmth and sunshine, thus topping the drink off with 151 rum adds a touch of sunshine. La Bomba! A perfect drink after you've finished the chocolate-covered strawberries!

PARTY HINTS

Hint #1

Instead of just putting out bottles of liquor (Scotch, Gin, Vodka etc.) select a special drink for the evening in addition to wine and beer. For instance, choose a Cosmopolitan and tell your guests about your “featured drink,” have copies of the recipe to hand out. Guests will always expect the same drinks to be served so you might temper the surprise by letting them know in the invitation…Beer, Wine and Featured Drink!
**AND always serve non-alcoholic beverages.