I have recently instituted a daily cocktail hour in my house, modeled on the practice of one of my good friend's parents. Cocktail hour is from 5:30 to 6:30pm every night and is intended to be a celebratory end to the work day and a graceful transition into the evening. The goal is not to get drunk; instead, merely to raise a glass with whomever is around in a playful spirit (pun intended). We have plenty of beer and wine in the house, but I wanted to be true to the "cocktail" portion of cocktail hour. So I've started to mix drinks. It has been an adventure, since I'm certainly no mixologist. My idea of a drink in college was filling a dixie cup 1/2 full with cheap bourbon adding ice and covering it with enough coke not to choke.
My latest epic failure was last night with an attempt at a mango vodka martini. I didn't have mango juice, but I did have pureed mango that the baby sometimes eats. So I tossed that in a martini glass, poured in some vodka, added a splash of selzer water for fizz and took a big swig. I almost puked. Perhaps because I put baby food in my drink. Perhaps because there was too much vodka. Perhaps there was not enough sugar. I don't know. But I'm going to have to figure this out or 5:30 will just be the time to start defrosting tonight's chicken.
Does anyone have suggestions for must-have mixers or can't fail drink recipes?
In the spirit (again, pun intended) of "Mad Men", I've been wanting to set up a drinks cart in my dining room. Idg, can you look into that for me?
ReplyDeleteMust have mixers:
ReplyDeleteCranberry Juice
Lemonade
Orange Juice
Coke
Sprite
Must have alcohol:
Vodka (plain and flavored - Sweet Tea is a must)
Rum (both dark, white and flavored - Mango is great)
Not that I drink much but here are some recent combos (I'm sure several are familiar):
Sweet Tea Vodka and Lemonade
Mango-flavored Rum and Sprite (much better than using baby food)
OJ and Vodka (yes you are never too old for a screwdriver)
Coke and dark rum (see previous caveat)
Cranberry Juice and Vokda (I actually used Pear-flavored vodka for this the other day and it wasn't terrible. Add some lime juice if you have it around)
Ok, that's all I can think of for now that are my 2-3 ingredient easy mixed drinks. Let me know when you are ready for something more complicated.
My current favorite:
ReplyDeleteHendricks gin
Tonic water
CUCUMBER -- not lime
Glorious reminder of summer
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.
ReplyDeleteWe clearly have different ideas on what makes a good cocktail. Gin is ick! Tonic water is double ick!!! And I once was served a cucumber martini at a bar that I should have dumped onto the floor in front of the bartender (but because I am who I am I drank it instead).
I have mint growing in my front flower bed, so I see a future of mint juleps and mojitos!
ReplyDeleteK--check out this beverage cart