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Posts from the ‘cocktails’ Category

28
Jun

#Cocktail Negroni

It is NEGRONI  WEEK 24-30 June

  1. One of the world’s most iconic classic cocktails…
  2. the Negroni was invented at Caffè Casoni in Florence, Italy.
  3. Count Camillo asked for a bolder retelling of the Americano
  4. …with gin replacing soda water.
  5. With equal parts Campari, gin and sweet vermouth…

 

Ingredients:

1 oz. gin – (2 TBS)
1 oz. Campari – (2 TBS)
1 oz. sweet vermouth – (2 TBS)
Tools: mixing glass, barspoon, strainer
Glass: cocktail or double rocks
Garnish: orange twist

Salut!

 

15
Jul

#Paris In July Kir Royale

Medici Fountain, Jardin du Luxembourg

  1. If there is one cocktail that has a
  2. …special place in my heart….it is Kir Royale.
  3. It was my first cocktail.
  4. I was 18  and studying in  Paris for two months.
  5. One evening I went to  La Comédie française.
  6. It was Molière Le Misanthrope and
  7. …honestly…I didn’t understand much of it.
  8. But later I  went to a café with friends and met ‘Kir Royale’ !

Kir Royale:  sparkling wine (or champagne) + crème de cassis liqueur

  1. The Kir Royale—is named after Félix Kir.
  2. He was the mayor of Dijon who helped popularize the white-wine version of the drink.
  3. I’m using  Joseph Cartron Crème de Cassis de Bourgogne.
  4. Crème de Cassis was one of Hercule Poirot’s favorite drinks!

  1. I’m using sparkling wine:  Blanquette de Limoux instead of champagne.
  2. Blanquette de Limoux was first  made in a Benedictine Abbey in SW France.
  3. This wine  predates champagne and
  4. ….is in fact France’s oldest sparkling wine.
  5. Thomas Jefferson loved it, and served it to guests when he was president.
  6. Jefferson was America’s first oenophile.
  7. At his home at Monticello, his household consumed about 400 bottles of wine  per year.
  8. All came from Europe, because in the early 19th century
  9. …wine grapes couldn’t yet be grown in North America.

Blanquette de Limoux:

  1. Limoux is the birthplace of high-quality sparkling wine production in France.
  2. Grape: 100% Mauzac known as blanquette due to the white coating on its leaves.
  3. Taste: beautiful dryness matched up with a zing of apples.
  4. It is a  lovely glass of sparkling that’s much
  5. ….more interesting than any cava or prosecco.

Trivia:

  1. Jefferson insisted the wine be delivered in  bottles, not casks.
  2. In this way the bottles were at least secure and c
  3. …couldn’t be watered down or filched by unscrupulous merchants or
  4. …thirsty crew members.

 

N@ncy’s bar:

  • 2/3 c  sparkling wine (160 ml)
  • 1 TB crème de cassis  (15 ml)
  • There are also those that prefer…
  • 2 TB crème de cassis (30 ml)  to
  • 1/2 c sparkling wine (120 ml)
  • ...too rich for me…but you may like it.
  • Glass: champagne flute or champagne coupe
  • Garnish: optional….strawberry or black berry on the rim of glass!

 

France’s best kept secret…wines from Languedoc!

Conclusion:

  1. Elegant and easy….with just 2 ingredients.
  2. Taste: this Blanquette de Limoux tastes much more tart
  3. ..than my trusty Martini prosecco!
  4. It is also twice as expensive.
  5. The black current liqueur balances perfectly to
  6. …produce a  unforgettable  cocktail!
  7. I feel 18 again!
  8. If you have a bottle of sparkling wine in the fridge
  9. …you are always ready for a celebration!
  10. Excellent choice for a festive cocktail for
  11. …birthday, Christmas
  12. …or New Year!

 

 

 

 

31
Dec

Goodbye….2017

Twitter: @burns_nancy

Challenges 2017: ( here are the links to all the books read)

  • Time to say goodbye to 2017 and look at the results:

 

Most looking forward to 2018 – #DealMeIn2018

  1. Jay host a refreshing challenge each year.
  2. It give me the opportunity to read short stories
  3. …and essays!
  4. I will be joining his challenge for sure!
  5. I will be making my  ‘to read list’ soon!

 

My favorite of the year – #AusReadingMonth @Bronabooks

  1. …here is the reason why:  ‘Wrap-up AusReadingMonth’

 

Most difficult: #HLOTRreadalong2107

  1. Read-a-long @Brona’s books
  2. I decided to leave my comfort zone and read all 4 of Tolkien’s books.
  3. Brona had to nudge me along at times…but I did finish the books!

 

Most fun –The New Yorker Magazine

  1. I tried reading the New Yorker Magazine the week it arrived!
  2. I failed miserably (read only 5 issues since June 2017).
  3. But is was the most fun….because I never knew what I would read!

 

Most intoxicating – Cocktails and Literature

  1. I stumbled upon National Daquiri Day this summer.
  2. After some investigation I found more links between
  3. …cocktails and writers and even WWI  weapons!

 

Most disappointing – Modern Library’s Best 100 Novels List

  1. I had high hopes for this challenge.
  2. Some of the choices
  3. …I doubted if they were worthy to be on the list!
  4. I read 20 books and enjoyed only…4    (20%)

 

Most surprising – Read Ireland challenge

  1. Again, I stumbled  into this challenge via
  2. …the History Book Club group on Goodreads.
  3. I throughly enjoyed Irish plays, non-ficton, fiction!
  4. No one can tell a story like an Irishman!

 

Most work – Nobel Reading Challenge

  1. I started this challenge 3 years ago.
  2. Every chance I had I searched for a new book for this list.
  3. Now, sadly, I just cannot find the enthusiasm I once felt.
  4. I ‘m afraid this challenge will be dropped in 2018.
  5. There are too many other genres ( poetry) I want to discover!

 

Here are my top 5 in 3 catagories:

Fiction:

  1. Cloudstreet – T. Winton
  2. The African Queen – C. S. Forester
  3. The Slow Natives  – T. Astley
  4. The Dry – J. Harper
  5. Bleak House – C. Dickens

Non-Fiction:

  1. Milligan, L. – Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell
  2. Franklin, R. – Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life
  3. Lamb, K. – Thea Astley: Inventing Her Own Weather
  4. White, R.C. – American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant
  5. Meade, M. – Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This

French:

  1. Le pouvoir au féminin – Badinter, E.
  2. Passagère du Silence – Verdier, F.
  3. Ça ira (1), Fin de Louis – J. Pommerat (play)
  4. Dans la tête de Marine Le Pen – M. Eltchaninoff
  5. Le diable est dan les détails – L. Slimani
27
Oct

Soixante-quinze: French ’75’ Cocktail

  1. I have been looking for
  2. … reason to use my VSOP Calvados.
  3. This cocktail originated at the front during WWI in France.
  4. It was introduced to America by war correspondent Alex Powell.
  5. The French 75 Cocktail is a tribute to the
  6. 75mm artillery piece that the French fielded in World War I.
  7. The French air squadrons in WWI had their drinking rituals.
  8. The “75,” was inspired by these flyers returning from battle.
  9. Trivia:  The power and efficiency of the French 75mm guns made
  10. them well trusted among their crews, which earned them
  11. …a particular affection.
  12. They were dubbed Mademoiselle Soixante-Quinze (Miss Seventy-five)
  13. ….and appear on numerous French propaganda cards.
  14. #ParisInJuly

 

Ingredients:   Gin  – Calvados brandy –  grenadine or absinthe (or both)

  • 60 ml   VSOP Calvados
  • 30 ml   gin
  • 1/2 TB  (7.5 ml)  grenadine  (no absinthe in my bar…)
  • 1 tsp (5 ml) lemon juice
  • Add ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice
  • Shake, strain into chilled cocktail glass with lime wedge
  • Garnish: lemon twist
  • Glass:  elegant stemmed liquer glass (small)

 

Conclusion:

  1. Taste:
  2. I would NEVER  serve this cocktail as an aperitif….
  3. …it would probably be better as a ‘pousse café‘ (after dinner drink).
  4. This is my own personal advice
  5. ….because this cocktail can
  6. be as POWERFUL  as the gun it is named after!
  7. It is a drink  meant to be sipped.
  8. After one of these cocktails French soldiers
  9. felt  the courage to face down disaster  in WW I
  10. …and swear undying love to their sweetheart!