Midnight Milk Punch - Lenka's suggestion from Paris

Hi Lenka,
thank you so much for your suggestion! Your Midnight Milk Punch reminded me of the legendary Eggnog, Cary Grant offered so adorably in "The Awful Truth". Only that in all the years I tried to serve the Eggnog all my guests denied in favour of some more transparent liquids.
But you won't believe it: just mentioning your name  (so much cooler than Cary Grant!), everybody
has been keen to try it.
Big hugs and kisses and a very happy New Year (I'm sure it will be, because now we entered The Age of Aquarius!)

Chin chin!

#12 Pomegranate: a sip of summer

inspired by a beautiful coffee table book about the Venice kitchen and tasted last weekend:

Pomegranate

 1 part freshly squeezed pomegranate juice

2 parts  Prosecco

Squeeze the pomegranate using a lemon squeezer . Pour the juice into chilled champagne glasses and add the Prosecco. Alla salute!

addictive qualities

"Very very nice shot with great colours! My favourite detail is the elderflower in the drink. Well done!
This is my little daughter's comment via skype. So sweet!!

Recipe for a summery aperitif in the garden

Ice cubes
champagne
dash of Campari
dash of elderflower syrup
a sprig of elderflowers for decoration

Enjoy!

kitchen

#11 Bellini

Recently strolling through the delikatessen of Karstadt, a Dresden department store, we found the perfect tool to prepare an "instant Bellini": a small bottle containing pureed white peaches for longdrinks.  The season of whites peaches is short, so it seemed to be worth a try.  (In case it wouldn't have met my high expectations - there are always dessert creations calling for an extra ingredient.)

To mix the original Bellini, invented more than half a century ago in Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy, you need

2 parts  dry sparkling wine (prosecco)
1 part fresh white peach purée

Pour the peach purée into a chilled champagne flute, add gently the sparkling wine and stir.

#6 Intro To Awesome Punch

Our new favourite from now!

As I'm convinced that the malevolent Ehec germ lives neither in spanish cucumbers nor in our regional vegetables, I fancied trying a cocktail with fresh cucumbers. The Intro To Awesome Punch has been created by Jane Danger, head bartender at Cienfuegos, a spin-off from the owners of Death and Co., a cocktailbar located in the East Village of Manhattan.

The Punch mixes best while listening to this music

How to mix:

1 1/2 parts dry white Rum

1 part Aperol

1part fresh lime juice

1/2 part sugar syrup

3 cucumber wheels

Club Soda

salt

Muddle the cucumber wheels and sugar syrup in a mixing glass. Add rum, Aperol and lime juice. Shake and strain over ice into a cocktail glass. Top with soda and a pinch of salt (I prefer it without salt..). Garnish with a cucumber wheel.

We tried it with soda and without, on icecubes and without.  It's always AWESOME! 

#5 White Lady

Sunday's cocktail comes on a bad-weather-Monday!

However, are you ready for a summer series of fresh sours and punches?  Being the White Lady still a true classic, my next drinks will come along much more creative with fruit, cucumbers and herbs muddled in the syrup and the spirits.
Ah?  Do I see that some of you are raising the eyebrows?

Don't worry, Paul Carr, an English composer  and big aficionado of cocktail mixing, once taught me, that a good cocktail always and first of all has to be CLEAN (whatever that means). By intuition and knowledge I exclusively prepare CLEAN cocktails... Trust me!

How mix the White Lady:

2 parts gin
1 part Cointreau
1 part lemon juice

Mix in a shaker half full of ice, strain and serve in sugar-rimmed glasses (I took Muscobado sugar and added more ice).
Enjoy!