20110830

TOASTED MARSHMALLOW MARTINI Cocktail Recipe

I don't know who first thought up the idea of toasting marshmallows but whoever it was changed camping forever.  You can't go anywhere near a campfire without a bag of marshmallows and a knife to whittle a few toasting sticks.  It's sacrilegious not to have at least one gooey, sticky chunk of burnt sugary goodness if you're sitting by a crackling wood fire.

Whoever it was, thank you.  We lift our cocktail glasses and a hold a marshmallow covered stick over flames in your honor today.

Toasted Marshmallow Martini Recipe with Ingredients and Instructions

The
TOASTED MARSHMALLOW
MARTINI

INGREDIENTS
1 Oz. Marshmallow Vodka
1 Oz. Bailey's Irish Cream
1 Oz. Frangelico
1/2 Oz. of Half & Half
Pinch of Sea Salt

GARNISH 
Toasted Mini Marshmallows

DIRECTIONS
Chill your glass. Place several of the mini marshmallows on the skewers and toast them over the stove burner, a small candle, or torch them with a kitchen torch to caramelize them to a nice golden brown. Set this aside.
Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with 1 cup of ice and shake until well chilled.
Pour into your chilled glass, garnish with your toasted marshmallows and serve.

VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:

If you want to have a real Cocktail Campfire experience, let your guests toast their own marshmallow garnishes.  Set out a bowl of mini marshmallows, a handful of the bamboo skewers and a small votive candle for each guest and let them toast their own garnish!

The History of Marshmallows:
Though today's marshmallow is a sweet confection made up of sugar, corn syrup, water and gelatin, the marshmallow plant itself was used throughout the world as a source for some form of sweet.  The marshmallow plant was also used throughout history as a medicinal substance, primarily as a remedy for sore throats.

The first historical reference to marshmallows comes from the ancient Egyptians who, in addition to using the root combined with honey for sore throats, also extracted the sap which they mixed with nuts and honey for a sweet candy.

The traditional marshmallow recipe uses powdered marshmallow root which is difficult to obtain so most marshmallow manufacturers use gelatin or agar in place of the actual plant root.


AUGUST 30th is National Toasted Marshmallow Day.

Updated 8-2021
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

20110827

TODAY IS NATIONAL BANANA DAY - Fill Your Martini Glass With One of these BANANA MARTINIS!


Go a Little Bananas with some Banana Martinis

August 27th is the perfect day to go a little bananas since it's National Banana Lovers Day.  Sure, you can celebrate by doing a lot of crazy things or, better yet, you can toast to the occasion at Happy Hour with one of my delicious Banana Cocktails.

BANANA COCKTAILS

Some Facts About Bananas You Might Not Know:
  • Bananas are radioactive! Yup, naturally high in potassium, bananas contain the radioactive isotope Potassium-40
  • All the bananas you see are clones! Bananas contain no seeds and, therefore cannot reproduce by natural means. Each banana plant must be started from cuttings.  This makes bananas highly susceptible to being wiped out by a disease
  • The banana tree is not a tree at all but but rather a tangle of layered leaves that grow up, towards the sun
  • There are over 1000 varieties of banana plants, but most of the fruit is not very tasty.
  • Today's bananas are all of the Cavendish variety, the replacement for the Gros Michel which was wiped out by a single strain of fungus before the 1950s
  • The banana is a berry!!!

Okay, enough education for the day, go forth and banana-ize yourself with one of my lovely Banana Martinis!

HAPPY BANANA DRINKING!

Updated 8-2016


Follow me on Twitter as TheMartiniDiva
Like me on Facebook
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

20110825

IT'S NATIONAL WHISKEY SOUR DAY

HAPPY NATIONAL WHISKEY SOUR DAY

August 25th is National Whiskey Sour Day so today we celebrate one of the oldest cocktails on the happy hour menu.  Disguised in my recipe card as a martini for Dad, the Whiskey Sour was more likely a favorite of your grandfather or great grandfather.  Mentioned in famed mixologist Jerry Thomas' 1862 Bartender's Guide, the Whiskey Sour has a long history as a classic alcoholic beverage. This venerable cocktail is a member of the Sour family of mixed drinks which consist of a combination of a base liquor, lemon or lime juice and sugar with an optional addition of egg white.

THE WHISKEY SOUR RECIPE




Follow me on Twitter as PopArtDiva
Follow me on Twitter as TheMartiniDiva
Friend me on Facebook
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

20110824

IT'S NATIONAL PEACH PIE DAY - August has just gone fuzzy over peaches

http://themartinidiva.com

TODAY IS NATIONAL PEACH PIE DAY
Just a peach of a holiday

So you need this recipe for my
PEACH PIE MARTINI

The 24th of August is National Peach Pie Day.  It's been a peachy time of year thanks to the fact the August is National Peach Month - I hope you're not tired of peaches yet because today we put peach pie in a martini glass.

Unlike my Peach Martini (for National Eat a Peach Day on August 22nd) which was rum based, the PEACH PIE MARTINI is made with vodka. Both peach vodka and vanilla vodka combine with fresh peach juice, spices and some half & half for a little slice of peach heaven in a martini glass.

For a really fun pie experience add a rim of crumbled, baked pie crust mixed with sugar as well as your fresh peach slice and you have the whole peach pie in a cocktail.  It's okay to use frozen peaches if you can't get fresh and, in a pinch, you can use canned peaches, however there's nothing quite like the fresh peach for the full burst of peachy goodness.

An apple is an excellent thing — until you have tried a peach ~ George du Maurier (1834-1896)

Updated 12-2017
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

20110822

National Eat a Peach Day The Martini Diva Way

Enjoy National Eat (DRINK!) a Peach Day

Today is National Eat a Peach Day and you know exactly how I'll be "eating" my peaches - with booze - because that's how I roll.

So grab yourself one of these:
PEACH COCKTAILS

and have a
Happy National DRINK a Peach Day!

By the way, August is National Peach Month!

 
Follow me on Twitter as TheMartiniDiva
Friend me on Facebook
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

20110820

LEMONADE MARTINI Cocktail Recipe

LEMONADE MARTINI COCKTAIL RECIPE

Nothing is more refreshing on a hot summer day than an ice cold glass of fresh lemonade . . . . with booze in it!  It's been hot & muggy for weeks so you can bet I went there with bells on and a bottle of vodka in hand!

This cocktail recipe is very similar to the White Lady only this employs lemon vodka in place of gin and utilizes a dash of bitters to balance out the tart sweetness of all the lemon. It's delicious and perfect for sipping in the humid monsoonal flow we've been trapped in.

Plus, lemons are known to have antibacterial, antiviral, and immune-boosting powers* so ...

Lemonade Martini Recipe with Ingredients & Instructions

When Life Hands You Lemons,
Make this
LEMONADE
MARTINI

INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 Oz. Lemon Vodka
1/2 Oz. Triple Sec
1 Tsp. Powdered Sugar
1 Oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp. Pasteurized Egg White
Dash of Lemon Bitters

Garnish: Lemon Rimming Sugar, Fresh Lemon Slice

Tools: Cocktail Shaker, Strainer

DIRECTIONS
Rub the rim of the glass with some lemon, dip rim into the lemon sugar crystals then chill glass in freezer.
Add all the ingredients to the cocktail shaker and dry shake (no ice) until you create a frothy cocktail foam. This will also emulsify the ingredients.
 Add ice then shake until chilled and strain into your chilled glass.
ADD the lemon slice and serve.

VOICEOVER VIDEO WITH INGREDIENTS AND DIRECTIONS:

🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋
* Lemons have some great health benefits, their acidic qualities bring out the flavors of foods and adding a twist of lemon to a cocktail always perks up the taste buds.  The fruit itself is packed with tart goodness and the rind (zest) is loaded with lemon oils which are like nuclear powered lemon magnificence.

The ancient Egyptians believed that eating or drinking lemons would provide an effective protection against a variety of poisons, and today's knowledge of the health benefits of lemons confirms this.

I believe that if life gives you lemons,
you should make lemonade...
And try to find somebody
whose life has given them vodka,
and have a party
~ Ron White

NATIONAL LEMONADE DAY is August  20th and National Lemon Day is August 29th.


 
Updated 8-2026
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY
 

20110816

IT'S NATIONAL RUM DAY!


HAPPY NATIONAL RUM DAY

There's naught, no doubt, so much the spirit calms as rum and true religion ~ Lord Byron

If there ever was a day to fill your martini glass with a rum concoction today is the day, August 16th is National Rum Day the world over!

Get All My RUM COCKTAILS HERE

A little Rum Background to feed your mind:

Rum is a potent libation made from sugarcane. The use of sugarcane in making fermented drinks is believed to have first occurred either in ancient India or China, and the Malay people were making a sugarcane beverage called "brum" thousands of years ago. Modern rum was first distilled on the sugarcane plantations of the Caribbean in the 17th century when the slave population discovered that molasses, a byproduct of the sugar refining process, could be fermented into liquor.

Rum has fueled the personnel of the Royal Navy as Grog (where rum was mixed into the water during long voyages as an antibacterial agent against scurvy), been the traditional drink of historic pirates who preferred it in Bumbo. It's also been a medium of monetary exchange the world over, helping to fund all sorts of nefarious undertakings and even a few revolutions - including the American Revolution!

Known by various other names, including Nelson's Blood, Kill-Devil, Demon Water, Pirate's Drink, Navy Neaters, Screetch, Tafia and Barbados water, rum has a rich and exciting history involving sailors, pirates, rum runners and the gangsters of the prohibition era in America.





Follow me on Twitter as PopArtDiva
Follow me on Twitter as TheMartiniDiva
Friend me on Facebook
PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY