Bourbon!

(not my picture, taken by a co-worker)

This weekend a few of my co-workers and I hosted a BYOB/potluck party, prior to the Oscars. It was a great time. We had all sorts of amazing food. I made cassoulet and French bread. Both were scrumptious. One co-worker brought a pre-mixed cocktail. It was DEVILISH! You gotta try it. Be careful, it will knock your socks off! The "shake with cracked ice" is a vital part of the recipe, without it, you will be drinking nearly straight up booze!


Frisco Sour
1.5 oz bourbon
.25 oz benedictine
.75 oz lemon juice
.5 oz simple syrup
1 dash orange juice (.125 oz)

Shake with cracked ice, garnish with a cherry.

Doing it the Old Fashioned way

After watching a video on Facebook posted by Maker's Mark on how to make an Old Fashioned, I had to have one...but I had to wait until after work.

Bourbon Old Fashioned

Ingredients:
1 orange slice
2 Maraschino cherries
1 sugar cube
3 dashes of bitters
1 1/2 oz of high quality bourbon (Maker's Mark!)
Sour mix (soda water or Sprite/7-11 can work too)
Plenty of ice

Start by muddling the orange, cherries, sugar cube and bitters in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice and add the bourbon. Shake until well blended. You want to make sure the sugar is dissolved. I don't have a formal muddler, so I use a wide handled bamboo utensil for a wok.

Pour into an Old Fashioned glass, fill with additional ice if necessary. Top off with your favorite sweet & sour mix.

Garnish with an additional orange segment and cherry. Enjoy!

Cocktails and Dinner

Last night's dinner started with a Manhattan. Delicious. I think I've found the right blend for me.

Maker's Mark Manhattan
3 parts Maker's Mark
1/2 part sweet vermouth
1-2 shakes of bitters

Add all the ingredients, over ice, in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously for a count of 5. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a cherry.

You'll notice there is no cherry in my cocktail. I had to throw the ones out I had...they were bad.



Now dinner. This was Pork Medallions with an orange sauce, served over orzo. Simple, fast and pretty tasty. I wish I'd had a vegetable to go with it, but alas, I forgot to get something. The pork tenderloin is cut into round medallions, dusted with seasoned flour and placed into a hot pan to sear on both sides and cooked through; 3-5 minutes per side. Remove the pork to a plate. Add a TB of olive oil, if your pan is dry. Add 1 diced shallot and saute until soft. Pour in about 1/2 cup of fresh squeezed OJ. Simmer until reduced and slightly thickened. Add some lemon juice if you have and few capers. Chopped parsley for garnish. Stir, spoon over the pork and serve hot.

Watermelon Cocktail!

The other day I came home from work and before I had time to change out of work clothes and sit for a few minutes, J-lo was making cocktails! Very enjoyable. See below for his comments and recipe. The good fun: he used watermelon from the farmer's market. So a little tropical fun with local produce!

Watermelon Daiquiri

From J-lo:

This is roughly what I put in, but I messed around with it a few times.

4 cups of watermelon - cubed and frozen
1/2 cup rum
1/4 cup orange liqueur
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
simple syrup
ice

Add watermelon and liquids to a blender. Mix until smooth. Add ice to bring volume back up to top of blender. Mix again. Taste and adjust until you get the ingredients right.

I had no orange liqueur, so I tried orange vodka. That really didn't bring enough sweetness, so I used more simple syrup than you might normally need. Another option would be to try orange juice.

The other idea I would try is to use watermelon flavored rum, which could enhance the flavor and sweetness.

Mama* needs a cocktail...

...and what's better and more mama friendly than a
Chocolate Martini?!!?

Pay no mind to the brands, its what I can get cheap & good (Ryan's cream), or what my local liquor store has (Cask & Cream),...but gather your ingredients: vanilla vodka, Irish cream, chocolate cream liquor, chocolate syrup and heavy cream. Gather your equipment; martini glass, cocktail shaker and jigger. And you need Ice!

Fill your cocktail shaker with ice. Measure your booze. For two cocktails add two jiggers each of the vodka, Irish cream and chocolate liquor. Add half a jigger of cream and a squirt of chocolate syrup. Cover and shake!

If you want to be fancy...and why should you not be fancy...drizzle some chocolate syrup into the glass, then gently poor your cocktail in your glass. Cheers.


*...and by "Mama" of course I mean me!