#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!

#10 Red and Green Makes You Clean

Today I complained about being uninspired. My daughter just saw one way out of this creative drought.

Ever since I had a sip of this spontaneously created raspberry cocktail, things started moving. My creativity galloping away ( - me clinging on), pulled me into new terrain. The topic of discussion for the night has become profane : "is the primitive contrast of red and green enough to stimulate the demanding readership of my blog?"

Here the very liberal instructions to this miracle cocktail:

Undefined amount of Bacardi Rum
A handful of fresh raspberries
an ounce (or more to taste) of grenadine sirup
Put all of this in the blender and add crushed ice
Add fresh lime and Mint leaves

Exciting strawberries: David's sorbet and #9 Kelly's rickshaw

Since strawberries are in full season now (we can pick them ourselves in endless strawberry fields nearby), I have been looking for some more exciting recipes than the familiar cakes, creams and yoghurts.

Here is the result of my research:

The  STRAWBERRY SORBET comes from David Lebovitz' book The perfect Scoop, the best ice cream book I ever owned.

Every so often I prepared it, it disappeared in the twinkling of an eye. Believe me, it's best florentine Grom quality!

To make it in your own kitchen you need:

500g fresh and ripe strawberries
150g sugar
1 teaspoon kirsch
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
pinch of salt

Slice the strawberries and toss them in a medium bowl with the sugar and kirsch, stirring until the sugar begins to dissolve. Cover and let stand for an hour, stirring every so often.
Purée the strawberries and the lemon juice in a blender or food processor until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream maker.

And when the night comes I recommend the STRAWBERRY RICKSHAW...

I found this cocktail in eat make read ; it's just awesome!

I love to visit this Blog, because apart from sharing super creative happy hour cocktails (Zucchinitini the latest one)  Kelly has always amazing recipes and readings to offer . Check it out, I'm sure you'll love it too!

The recipe for the strawberry rickshaw you find here.  Enjoy!

#7 Leapfrog

The peppermint plantation in my garden is ripe and ready to find its way into the cocktail glasses...

For 2 glasses of irresistible-dazzling-turqoise Leapfrog  take

6 mint leaves

4 parts Gin

1 1/2 parts lemon juice 

1 part Blue Curacao

1/2 part sugar syrup

2 dashes Angostura Bitter

In a mixing glass, muddle the mint leaves with the sugar syrup, then add the rest of the ingredients.

Shake with ice cubes and strain into a cocktail glass. Enjoy!

#4 Negroni

Eighty-year-old Grandma arrived to celebrate Easter with us. Knowing she loves the bittersweet taste of Campari and and its beneficial effects on the digestive system, we decided to mix a Negroni to welcome her. I admit we felt a bit worried the high content of alcohol could harm her (dizziness, sudden tachycardia, sleeplessness...). Instead she enjoyed it a lot, slept perfectly well and asked for repetition tonight...

The original Negroni was invented in Florence, in 1919, at Caffe Casoni, now Caffe Giacosa. Count Camillo Negroni invented it by asking the bartender, Fosco Scarselli, to strengthen his favourite cocktail, the Americano, by adding gin rather than the normal soda water.

How to mix it:

2 cl Vermouth rosso
2 cl Campari
2 cl Gin

Serve on the rocks, poured over ice. Enjoy!

#3 Singapore Sling

Not quite the original cocktail which has been developed in the Raffles Hotel in Singapore a century ago, nevertheless it holds the essence of an oriental metropolis: I'm talking about  the Singapore Sling I tasted last week in the florentine bar "Kitsch". A fruity, fresh and not too sweet aperitivo.
And here's the mix as Charles Schumann suggests:

Singapore Sling

2-3 cl lemon juice
1 cl sugar syrup
1 ts icing sugar
4 cl Gin
Soda
1-2 cl Cherry Brandy
1 cocktail cherry

Shake lemon juice, syrup, sugar and gin on ice cubes in a shaker, strain into longdrink or champagne glasses, fill up with soda.  As a final step add carefully the Cherry Brandy.

Run out of cocktail cherries. Sorry!  I took some frozen strawberries for substitute... Enjoy!

#2 Red Lion

Tonight we had a spontaneous RED LION.   To celebrate Anna's success!

Anna Katharina, our 15 year old neighbour is a very talented clarinetist. This evening she played her debut concert as a soloist in front of more than 2000 people! We have been there and were hooked by the warmth and the soul of her sound. I'm convinced she will have a great future as a musician!
Later on, relaxed and happy, she came over to chill  together with my daughter.

How to mix:

4cl orange juice
1cl lemon juice
dash grenadine
2cl Grand Marnier
3cl Gin

Shake in a shaker with ice cubes and serve in cocktail glasses. Cheers!

(Of course, the youngsters prefered the non-alcoholized Lions.)

#1 Blue Champagne

The first Cocktail to be presented is neither the Margarita, nor the Mojito, nor the Cosmopolitan.... it is the Blue Champagne!

If you wonder how I aquired my broad knowledge of cocktail mixing and alike  I blush and tell you some invented anecdotes from my past  before I admit, that the secret lies in Charles Schumann's Bar book.

I remember a BLUE CHAMPAGNE we tried out once with unexpected consequences. Since then it has become a terrific help when we have guests who haven't met before or are suffering from a laming shyness or from a bad case of political correctness.

How to mix:

1 cl        lemon juice

dashes  Triple Sec

dashes   Curacao Blue

3 cl        Gin or Vodka

and Champagne

Shake in a shaker with ice cubes, strain in champagne glasses, fill up with champagne. Enjoy!

Cocktail Time

Ladies, get your cocktail dresses from the dry cleaners. Gentlemen, put on your tux and finally invite over Mr and Mrs Fitzsimmons, Dr Gerard Twine-Whistershire and the infamous Lady Upperworth.
From tomorrow my Blog is introducing a new feature inspired by my son: Cocktail Time!

artwork by my daughter Vik

Golden Meteorite

I immediately loved this video when I found it in the Blog of Chelsea Farmer's Club and I couldn't have imagined a better drink to introduce the infamous SPIRITS CART.

( Dr. House? Is that you? )