Monday, December 24, 2012

These Three Cocktails Can Heat You Up Easily

When the weather gets cold outside, sometimes all we want to do is cuddle up with a flannel blanket, thick fuzzy socks and a hot drink. Warm up with these easy to make winter cocktails that will heat you up in no time!


Goodnight Tip – nothing says relaxation like a nice cup of chamomile tea. Add a little honey and Cointreau for a twist! Cointreau is orange flavored liqueur.
  • 7 oz. chamomile tea, freshly brewed
  • ½ oz. Cointreau
  • ½ oz. honey
  • Slice of lemon – optional
Pour the tea, Cointreau and honey into a coffee mug. Stir well to combine and garnish with lemon slice.


Mulled Wine – We are lovers of wine here! So we had to add this belly-warming recipe to the list!
  • 1 bottle of red wine
  • 1 peeled, sliced orange – keep peel to add to pot for a zest
  • ¼ cup of brandy
  • 8-10 cloves
  • 3 cinnamon sticks
  • 1/3 cup of honey or sugar – can be cut in half if you’re not huge on drinks that are too sweet
  • 1 tsp. fresh ginger
Combine all ingredients in a large pot or slow cooker. Warm ingredients on medium heat – avoid boiling. Do this for 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure all sugar is dissolved. When wine is steaming, ladle into mugs.

Hot Cider Toddy – one of our faves for the chilly season! It sweet, tart and warms your insides wonderfully.
  • 2 oz. whiskey or apple brandy
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • Hot apple cider
  • Garnishes: cinnamon stick, lemon wedge, 2-3 whole cloves – optional
Coat the bottom of a mug with honey. Add the whiskey. Fill to the top with hot cider. Stir well. Garnish with lemon, cloves and cinnamon stick.

Monday, December 17, 2012

It Is Really An Easy Cocktail Recipe

As far as utilizing Averna in a cocktail, the Little Easy is an easily achieved variant on the Sazerac, featuring Scotch instead of rye whiskey as the base, which is then complimented by a half ounce of Averna. Though Sazerac's traditionally always have an Absinthe rinse, and this drink is no different, it does start to overpower the other spirits in this case, since the spiciness of the rye whiskey is no longer there to temper the anise. Definitely a lighter absinthe would be ideal, but as an alternative, perhaps infusing the Averna with fennel or other botanicals found in the absinthe would be a good way to achieve aromatic complexity, without resulting in too many competing flavors in the drink.

As always, it is good to experiment with proportions and swapping ingredients to attain the desired result, but regardless, this drink is an approachable and delicious expression of Averna in a cocktail, hopefully leading you to discover other amari, as well.


Ingredients:
  • 1.5 ounces Famous or Black Grouse Scotch
  • 1/2 ounce Averna
  • 1 sugar cube
  • 2 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
  • 2 dashes Bitter Truth orange bitters
  • absinthe rinse
  • orange twist
Directions:
  1. Put a rocks glass in the freezer
  2. Place sugar cube in a mixing glass with both bitters and muddle until emulsified.
  3. Add in Scotch and Averna, and then stir with ice for 15 seconds, achieving a 50% dilution level.
  4. Take chilled rocks glass and rinse or spray with Absinthe, discarding excess liquid.
  5. Strain mixing glass contents into chilled rocks glass and express oils from an Orange Twist, then garnish.

Monday, December 10, 2012

You Can Try This Chocolate Covered Cherries Cocktail Recipe

I was thrilled when Dee asked me to guest post for her. But I knew I had to bring a fun recipe that all would enjoy! So I decided to try a cocktail that recreates the flavors of my all-time favorite holiday treat the Chocolate Covered Cherry!

I only buy them once a year. Why? Because I would end up weighing a gazillion pounds because I would eat them all. Yes, I really would. I have absolutely Z.E.R.O self-control. Although, that's probably not a good thing when creating a drink to taste like my favorite treat. This is probably a disaster waiting to happen!


Chocolate Covered Cherries Cocktail

Ingredient:
  • 4 oz Kahlua
  • 1 oz vodka
  • 2 tsps chocolate syrup
  • 2 tsps maraschino cherry juice
  • ice
  • maraschino cherries and chocolate shavings, opt
Method:
  1. Add Kahlua, vodka, chocolate syrup, cherry juice, and ice to cocktail and shake well.
  2. Place one maraschino cherry in the bottom of a martini glass with a drizzle of chocolate syrup, if desired.
  3. Pour drink, through a strainer, into martini glass. Sprinkle on chocolate shavings and add a cherry to the rim for garnish!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Choosing The Suitable Cocktail Dress For Every Body Type

One of the vital versatile clothes that had been ever designed for wear on special occasions is the cocktail dress. Whereas the events for which cocktail attire are worn are often late afternoon or early evening affairs which might be too informal to be called black-tie occasions, many cocktail dresses can now be worn elsewhere, relying on the lower and the material of the costume and the accessories worn with it.

To wear a cocktail gown to a more formal occasion, all you have to do is to decorate accordingly, perhaps wear extra flashy items of jewelry and heavier makeup. If it's essential to wear one thing dressy to the office for any motive aside from the standard skirt or pantsuit, you can put on a cocktail costume that's not too flashy and simply throw on a blazer and slip into sensible office shoes. Many current types of cocktail clothes are now not limited to being party put on anymore.


Choosing what style of cocktail dress to wear, nevertheless, could be very difficult for most women. In spite of everything, just a few women could declare to have truly good our bodies, and most girls who do not fall into the supermodel category desire to cover the issues of their figures. Sporting an one-piece costume comparable to a cocktail costume can easily reveal these flaws if the dress doesn't fit the wearer? Ts body type.

In picking out the fitting cocktail gown to put on, a lady ought to at all times contemplate her physique type – whether or not she is high-heavy or backside-heavy ? and discover something that will steadiness out her figure. If she is backside-heavy, her purpose must be to attract attention to the higher a part of her body and to her face. If she is prime-heavy, she has the option both to emphasize her cleavage or to wear one thing that can pull the eyes to her legs.


What kind of cocktail dress would go well with a lady with a backside-heavy figure? As mentioned above, a lady with a backside-heavy determine would need to disguise the thickness round her hips and thighs. An excellent cocktail gown for her to put on could be a gown that matches closely around the waist however with out the seams pushed out by extra padding across the abdomen and has a skirt that flares out across the hips and thighs. A cocktail dress with a full skirt can be excellent for a lady with a bottom-heavy figure as a result of it should definitely conceal no matter flabbiness and bulges that she wishes not to be seen around her decrease body.

An alternative choice available for a woman with a bottom-heavy determine is a cocktail dress that sports activities an empire-style waistline. A cocktail costume with an empire-model waistline has the waist placed greater, thereby pulling the eyes towards the shoulders, the neck and the face. It additionally drapes and skims over the decrease body. The one threat with carrying an empire-fashion cocktail gown, nevertheless, is that the empire-style minimize is usually used on maternity attire, and so a girl carrying such a gown may be mistaken to be pregnant.

And one more choice open for a girl with a backside-heavy determine is a cocktail dress that's both sleeveless or strapless, additionally with a flaring skirt. Again, baring the arms and the shoulders is efficient in drawing consideration away from the hips.
As for ladies with top-heavy figures, she may either emphasize her cleavage or her legs, as talked about above. If she desires to put deal with her legs fairly than her cleavage, she will wear a cocktail costume with a stable-coloured top paired with a patterned skirt. She will be able to hike the hem of her skirt up to make it shorter and really draw the eyes to her legs.

If she desires to attract attention to her ample cleavage somewhat than her legs, she will cowl up her legs in a protracted-skirted cocktail gown but reveal a bit pores and skin on her higher body with a low V-neck or plunging neckline. The truth is, she will be able to draw the eyes to both her prime and her legs by sporting a short cocktail costume with a low neckline if she wants to. What she should not do is to wear a cocktail dress with a very busy high as a result of it is going to make her higher physique appear larger and skew the balance of her figure.