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20110731
20110730
IT'S NATIONAL CHEESECAKE DAY!
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HAPPY NATIONAL CHEESECAKE DAY!
I freaking LOVE cheesecake. I love the classic style, cake textured, baked in the oven, rich, decadent cheesecake and my favorite came from a deli/bakery in New York called Lindy's.
Of course I had to translate this dessert into a martini or I would have been shirking my cheesecake loving duties. In fact, I've created several delicious cheesecake inspired cocktails and you can find them all here:
CHEESECAKE COCKTAILS
There's also some great cheesecake dessert recipes as well.
CHEESECAKE COCKTAILS
There's also some great cheesecake dessert recipes as well.
HAPPY NATIONAL CHEESECAKE DAY !
20110729
NEWEST MARTINI ZEN! Teach a man to fish . . . .
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MY NEWEST
MARTINI ZEN!
PRACTICE SOME MARTINI ZEN:
Available on Posters, Canvas prints, Tees & Tops, Cups & Bags, Aprons, Home & Business Stationary & Media, Cards & other cool Gift items
Previous Martini Zen:
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20110727
It's National Crème Brûlée Day
Hi!
Thanks for stopping by! I've been doing a little housekeeping (since
I've been posting recipes here for over 10 years it was time, right?)
and this recipe has moved to it's own little home:
This
is a truly impressive martini to serve to your friends - the martini
itself delivers the wonderful Crème Brûlée flavors but it's the
beautiful caramel garnish that turns this from good to great so click on
over and get the full recipe and instructions!
Updated November 2015
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20110724
The TEQUILA MARTINI Cocktail Recipe
Happy
NATIONAL TEQUILA DAY
The classic
Tequila Martini
2-1/2 Oz. White Tequila
1/2 Oz. Dry Vermouth
Add ice to a cocktail shaker, pour in the Tequila and dry vermouth, shake until chilled, serve.
To help you celebrate this auspicious booze holiday I've compiled a list of my
A LITTLE TEQUILA HISTORY
Tequila is made from the blue agave plant which is found primarily in the red volcanic soil that surrounds the city of Tequila in Jalisco, Mexico. Blue Agave can be grown in other regions but the plant will produce slightly different flavors depending on the regional soil it grows in thus producing various types of tequila.
First produced in the 16th Century, Tequila is based on a fermented Aztec beverage made from the agave plant called Octli or Pulque. When the Spanish invaded Mexico in the early 1500s they started to distill the native liquor when their brandy supplies ran out. Around 1600 the Marquis of Altamira, Don Pedro Sanchez de Tagle began mass production of tequila, the very first distilled spirit native to North America, in what is now Jalisco.
Most well-known Tequila brands are now owned by large conglomerates though a few family owned brands are still part of the 100 plus distilleries making tequila. These 100 plus distilleries produce over 2000 brands of tequila and these are now regulated by the Tequila Regulatory Council of Mexico which issues NOMs (Norma Oficial Mexicana) to control the quality and preserve the essence of true Mexican Tequila. Authentic Blue Agave Mexican Tequilas now have a serial number (NOM) on each bottle.
Mexico has claimed an exclusive international right to the word "tequila" and Mexican law allows production only in the state of Jalisco and limited regions of Guanajuato, Michoaan, Nayarit and Tamaulipas. Though the Tequila Trade Agreement of 2006 allows liquor companies in the U.S. to bottle bulk tequila produced in Mexico, the product must be approved through a registry in order to be called "tequila".
SOME COOL TEQUILA FACTS:
- The Blue Agave fields and ancient distilleries near Tequila are now recognized as part of the World Heritage List.
- The most expensive bottle of spirit ever sold was a platinum and gold packaged, limited edition, premium Tequila that was sold for $225,000 in July 2006 by Tequila Ley .925.
- Mexican scientists discovered a way to produce nano sized synthetic diamonds from 80 proof tequila. Much too small for use as jewels, these minute diamonds are used for computer chips and cutting tools.
DÍA NACIONAL FELIZ DEL TEQUILA!
HAPPY NATIONAL TEQUILA DAY.
20110723
HAPPY NATIONAL DAY OF THE COWBOY!
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Belly Up to The Bar - July 23rd is
Rustle up the cocktail shaker, holster a couple of martini glasses, grab that bottle of whiskey and get to mixing this outlaw of a cocktail, it's National Day of the Cowboy!
This is one wild, western martini, so if you climb in the saddle, be ready for the ride!
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20110722
Weird Drinking Laws for National Hot Dog Day
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HAPPY NATIONAL HOT DOG DAY
Seriously? You came here looking for a hot dog martini? Hey, I'm all for weird but that's even too much for me!
But, for your entertainment, how about a few weird drinking laws?
(and these are just a few of them):
- Pennsylvania law prohibits a man from buying alcohol without a note of permission from his wife.
- In Fairbanks, Alaska, it is against the law to give a moose any kind of alcohol.
- The entire Encyclopedia Britannica is banned in Texas because it contains a recipe for making beer.
- Nebraska state law prohibits bars from selling beer unless they are simultaneously brewing a kettle of soup.
- It's illegal to get a fish drunk in Ohio.
HAPPY NATIONAL HOT DOG DAY
Don't go feeding any booze to moose or fish!
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20110721
The Blue Lemon Drop Martini
Nothing is better to drink in the heat than lemonade and the Blue Lemon Drop Martini is the adult version with a little color thrown in for happy hour fun. Easy to shake and easy to drink so take it easy because they taste just like regular lemonade but they are the leaded version.
I had my first Lemon Drop ever at Henry Africa's in San Francisco in the seventies. I didn't know I was drinking what would become an iconic cocktail many decades later, all I knew was I loved that Lemon Drop cocktail more than any of the other seventies cocktails I was being served in those days. Somewhere between my disco days and my Geritol days someone swapped out the triple sec with Blue Curacao and the Blue Lemon Drop burst upon the cocktail scene.
Just as tasty, maybe even better, but now it was also one of my favorite colors. I have experimented a lot with Lemon Drops in the years between disco and Geritol with many other versions including a Rosemary Lemon Drop, a Cherry Lemon Drop and a Pomegranate Lemon Drop. I've even done a down and dirty version I call my White Trash Lemon Drop, but the Blue Lemon Drop is a favorite because of that beautiful turquoise blue color.
I had my first Lemon Drop ever at Henry Africa's in San Francisco in the seventies. I didn't know I was drinking what would become an iconic cocktail many decades later, all I knew was I loved that Lemon Drop cocktail more than any of the other seventies cocktails I was being served in those days. Somewhere between my disco days and my Geritol days someone swapped out the triple sec with Blue Curacao and the Blue Lemon Drop burst upon the cocktail scene.
Just as tasty, maybe even better, but now it was also one of my favorite colors. I have experimented a lot with Lemon Drops in the years between disco and Geritol with many other versions including a Rosemary Lemon Drop, a Cherry Lemon Drop and a Pomegranate Lemon Drop. I've even done a down and dirty version I call my White Trash Lemon Drop, but the Blue Lemon Drop is a favorite because of that beautiful turquoise blue color.
THE
BLUE LEMON DROP
MARTINI
INGREDIENTS
BLUE LEMON DROP
MARTINI
INGREDIENTS
1 Oz. Vodka
1 Oz. Blue Curacao
4 Oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
DIRECTIONS
Shake ingredients with ice until chilled then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon wheel slipped onto a fun rock candy swizzle stick and serve.
Updated 7-2018
1 Oz. Blue Curacao
4 Oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
DIRECTIONS
Shake ingredients with ice until chilled then strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon wheel slipped onto a fun rock candy swizzle stick and serve.
Updated 7-2018
20110720
LOLLIPOP MARTINI for National Lollipop Day
July 20th is
NATIONAL LOLLIPOP DAY!
Take Happy Hour back to your childhood today with my Lollipop Martini. This candy inspired cocktail features the flavor profiles of the most popular lollipops - cherry, raspberry & orange. It's also a really fun color thanks to the Chambord and Blue Curacao.
You can add your own favorite lollipop flavor with the garnish of a small lollipop dropped in!
You can add your own favorite lollipop flavor with the garnish of a small lollipop dropped in!
Get The LOLLIPOP MARTINI RECIPE.
20110717
HAPPY NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY
WITH SOME COOL COCKTAILS FOR
NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY
Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month in 1984 and appointed the 3rd Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day so it's official, today is National Ice Cream Day!
20110716
HAPPY NATIONAL CHERRY DAY
MARTINI EXCUSE #51
July 16th is
NATIONAL CHERRY DAY
Today your life can be a martini bowl full of cherries with the
Perfect Cherry Martini
Get this recipe card on a MAILABLE POSTCARD Here.
MORE CHERRY COCKTAILS HERE
A Few Cherry Facts for your Happy Hour enlightenment:
- Cherries are drupes, or stone fruits, and are related to plums, peaches and nectarines.
- The word ‘cherry’ comes from the French word ‘cerise,’ which is derived from the Latin words cerasum and cerasus.
- There are over 1,000 varieties of cherries produced in the U.S.
- Red cherries are also very high in melatonin which is known to destroy the toxins that cause diseases.
- Cherries are also high in high in antioxidants which help to fight cancer and heart disease.
- Cherries are a natural anti-inflammatory that has been shown to aid in reducing the inflammation of arthritis.
- Cherries are low in cholesterol, fat and sodium and are a very good source of fiber and Vitamin C.
This fun
is available on Posters, Tees, Cups, Cards & other Fun Gifts
HAPPY NATIONAL CHERRY DAY!
Updated 7-2016
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20110715
THE GREAT MARTINI DEBATE
Image ©2011 by TheMartiniDiva.Com. All Rights Reserved.
MARTINI or COCKTAIL?
Just to clarify matters. . . .
There is a great debate going on about martinis these days. On one hand you have the classicists who claim a "martini" is only gin and vermouth, on the other hand you have the uppity renegades who will call any cocktail served in a martini glass a "martini".
I'm an uppity renegade. I specialize in what I call "designer martinis" which is pretty much any cocktail I like or create that fits in a martini glass! I have a thing for martini glasses which is what started my whole obsession with "designer martinis" and martini art in the first place.
A cocktail these days is considered anything with booze in it but the true definition is any wine or distilled liquor mixed with flavoring ingredients. A martini these days is not so easily defined.
According to the I.B.A., a classic "Martini" is GIN (not vodka): vermouth (generally dry) in a 5:1 ratio with either an olive or a lemon twist. It is stirred with ice not shaken as shaking bruises the gin, and it should be served in the classic conical bowl martini glass, "up" which means no ice in the glass.
A "martini" made with vodka is called a "vodka martini" or alternately, a Kangaroo. A "martini" garnished with a cocktail onion is a Gibson, a "martini" that includes olive juice is a "Dirty Martini", and a "martini" made with Rose's Lime Juice instead of vermouth is a Gimlet. James Bond drank a Vesper and the girls on Sex and the City drank Cosmos and Flirtinis. If you want to get really classic and drink the original "martini" then maybe you should be tipping up a Martinez!
If you want a little more info on the whole shebang read my History of The Martini.
As for me, I'm sticking with my renegade ways and enjoying my cocktails in a martini glass and calling them a "martini". Argue all you want, debate until the sun goes nova, it's a free country (sorta, still) and when the sun starts to set (as long as it's still there) and the clock nears five I will be happily sipping my martini...one way or another.
Updated 6-2017
20110714
GRAND MARNIER COCKTAILS
Grand Marnier is a liqueur made from a blend of cognacs and distilled essence of bitter orange. It was created in 1880 and named Curaçao Marnier by Alexandre Marnier-Lapostoll, however Cesar Ritz stated it needed "a grand name for a grand liqueur" and renamed it Grand Marnier. For that privilege Marnier-Lapostoll reportedly helped him fund the purchase for the famed Hôtel Ritz Paris. To this day, six generations later, Grand Marnier is still owned and produced by the Marnier-Lapostoll family.
Aside from being a lovely digestive and an element in countless classic cocktails, Grand Marnier is also a main ingredient in two classic desserts created by Auguste Escoffier, Crêpe Suzette and the Grand Marnier® Souffle.
To celebrate National Grand Marnier Day, please enjoy some of my favorite cocktails that employ this lovely orange infused liqueur.
GRAND MARNIER
COCKTAILS
CRANBERRY POMEGRANATE MARTINI
CRÊPES SUZETTE COCKTAIL
EL PRESIDENTE > LA PRESIDENTA COCKTAIL
JACK O'LANTERN MARTINI
KISSED TOO MANY FROGS MARTINI
LAVENDER ORANGE MARTINI
NIGHT'S WATCH COFFEE TODDY
ORANGE JULIUS MARTINI
ORANGE TRUFFLE MARTINI
ORANGE SCORPION MARTINI
ORANGE CREAMSICLE MARTINI
PIECES OF EIGHT MARTINI
POMEGRANATE MARGARITA
PRETTY IN PINK FLIRTINI
RICH BITCH MARTINI
SOLAR ECLIPSE MARGARITA
SPARKLING CRANBERRY CRUSH
SWAGGETIZER MARTINI
TOOTSIE ROLL MARTINI
July 14th is National Grand Marnier Day
Updated 2-2019
To celebrate National Grand Marnier Day, please enjoy some of my favorite cocktails that employ this lovely orange infused liqueur.
COCKTAILS
CRANBERRY POMEGRANATE MARTINI
CRÊPES SUZETTE COCKTAIL
EL PRESIDENTE > LA PRESIDENTA COCKTAIL
JACK O'LANTERN MARTINI
KISSED TOO MANY FROGS MARTINI
LAVENDER ORANGE MARTINI
NIGHT'S WATCH COFFEE TODDY
ORANGE JULIUS MARTINI
ORANGE TRUFFLE MARTINI
ORANGE SCORPION MARTINI
ORANGE CREAMSICLE MARTINI
PIECES OF EIGHT MARTINI
POMEGRANATE MARGARITA
PRETTY IN PINK FLIRTINI
RICH BITCH MARTINI
SOLAR ECLIPSE MARGARITA
SPARKLING CRANBERRY CRUSH
SWAGGETIZER MARTINI
TOOTSIE ROLL MARTINI
July 14th is National Grand Marnier Day
Updated 2-2019
20110712
HAPPY NATIONAL PECAN PIE DAY
Get the recipe for my Bourbon and Pecan Pie Vodka
PECAN PIE MARTINI HERE
PECAN PIE MARTINI HERE
Happy National Pecan Pie Day!
Updated 7-2016
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20110710
HAPPY NATIONAL PINA COLADA DAY!
THE PINA COLADA MARTINI
Heck, it's Pina Colada Day why wait for Happy Hour??
Like the Under The Sea Design on the Recipe Card?
Updated 7-2016
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20110709
20110708
HOT? CHILL OUT WITH A FROZEN COCKTAIL MARTINI GRANITA
MARTINI GRANITAS
Chill Out with a Martini
You Can Eat With a Spoon!
I made a huge blender of my Cherries Jubilee Martinis last week and actually had some left over. I don't ever waste a cocktail so I simply poured it into a baggie and popped it in the freezer. When I had broken my blender once a few years ago this is exactly what I did to make some frozen daiquiris! I simply mixed my cocktail as usual but then froze it in a baggie. When it was nearly frozen I simply smashed the bag around in my hands until it was slushy enough to pour!
Pure alcohol doesn't freeze in a home fridge but, if you have enough mixer in it, you can get it to solidify, the more mixer to alcohol ratio the harder your cocktail will freeze. (Check out how I did my Martini Popsicles). When I took the frozen martini mixture out it was actually solid enough I had to scrape it out and this is exactly what you do when you make any granita! So I scraped it right into a cool martini glass, stuck a spoon in it and - Ta Da! - a delicious frozen cocktail that was a perfect happy hour refreshment in the triple digit heat!
What's a Granita?
It's a grainy ice with intense flavoring that is served as a palate cleanser between courses or as a dessert. It contains no cream or egg whites so it's not an ice cream or a sorbet. Think of it as a snow cone or shave ice but with much more intense flavor as the "ice" is created from the flavor elements instead of a syrup being poured over ice.
Get the FREE 5x3 Recipe Card in Print Quality for Martini Granitas HERE
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20110707
WHITE GRAPE MARTINI
THE WHITE GRAPE MARTINI
A friend of mine grows grapes and he brought over a huge bunch of these teeny weeny little green grapes . . . Read More.
Download the FREE 5x3 Recipe Card in Print Quality HERE
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to Save, Share or Send!
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20110706
ICE CREAM COCKTAILS
Peach Melba Ale Float
Chocolate Porter Beer Floats
Really Drunk Brown Cow Beer Float
Slightly Bananas, Definitely Coconuts Chocolate Shake
Mocha Frappe Chocolate Shake
Drunken Baby Dole Pineapple Whips
Black Cow Cocktail
Ice Cream Cone Cupcake Cocktails
Chocolate Porter Beer Floats
Really Drunk Brown Cow Beer Float
Slightly Bananas, Definitely Coconuts Chocolate Shake
Mocha Frappe Chocolate Shake
Drunken Baby Dole Pineapple Whips
Black Cow Cocktail
Ice Cream Cone Cupcake Cocktails
Mississippi Mud Pie Martini
Rocky Road Martini
Strawberry Sundae Martini
Ice Cream Soda Martini
Grape Boozesicles
Strawberry Sundae Martini
Toasted Walnut Maple Bourbon Sundae
Rocky Road Martini
Strawberry Sundae Martini
Ice Cream Soda Martini
Grape Boozesicles
Strawberry Sundae Martini
Toasted Walnut Maple Bourbon Sundae
National Ice Cream Day is the third Sunday in July and National Ice Cream month is during July.
Chill Out and Enjoy!
20110702
4th of July Cocktails put the Sparks in Independence Day
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY
There's not a better reason to break out the booze and celebrate with a special cocktail.
Below are my unique and patriotic themed cocktails and martinis to help you toast to Independence Day:
20110701
MARTINI POPSICLES! Frozen Cocktails on a Stick!
FROZEN COCKTAILS ON A STICK!
It's been so HOT here lately that I joked I needed a Martini Popsicle. Then I realized there was no reason I couldn't have a martini popsicle > read more.
BTW, July is NATIONAL ICE CREAM MONTH so check out
Download the FREE, full sized 5x3 recipe card in print quality HERE
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