Tag Archives: cocktails

Thirsty Thursday | Thyme Gimlets

14 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in Boozy, Entertaining, Thirsty Thursday

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Thyme Gimlets

There’s nothing quite like a good homemade cocktail – it’s a lot more economical than going out and I’m not above drinking something fancy while wearing sweatpants.

The thing about homemade cocktails is they have to have few ingredients and be relatively simple to make. When I see a cocktail recipe I’ll typically dismiss it if there are tons of special liqueurs and ingredients. I’ll leave the flaming coffees to the professionals…I want something easy to make that is a little more elevated than mixing booze with soda. Usually all you need is alcohol + simple syrup + a mixer, the more natural and less sweet the mixer, the better!

Thyme Gimlets

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Thirsty Thursday | Pineapple Drops

22 Thursday May 2014

Posted by in Boozy, Entertaining, Thirsty Thursday

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Pineapple DropsLet’s get summery up in here! These pineapple drops are a nice alternative to the classic lemon drop. They are especially awesome if you decide to throw a luau themed party! Or if you are just sitting in your backyard. You don’t have to be on a tropical island to drink these. Trust. Me.Pineapple DropThese come together super easy, you can ether bust one out in a cocktail shaker or make a pitcher for a crowd. I had to test a single one out before making them for others because well you know…research.Pineapple Drops

Recipe
Pineapple Drops
adapted from Sunset

For a crowd (about 6 martinis):

  • 1 1/2 cups pineapple juice
  • 1 1/2 cups vodka
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • Couple of lime wedges
  • About 1 cup sugar
  • Fresh pineapple, cut into 3/4-in. chunks

For one cocktail:

  • 1 oz (1 shot glass) pineapple juice
  • 1 oz vodka
  • squeeze of fresh lime juice (I used about 1 lime)
  • lime wedge
  • fresh pineapple
  • a few fresh mint leaves (optional. Cilantro would also work)

Directions

For a crowd:

  1. In a pitcher, mix pineapple juice, vodka, and lime juice, then chill until cold.
  2. Rub lime wedges around rims of 6 martini glasses. Pour sugar onto a large plate. Dip rims of glasses in sugar. Divide vodka mixture among glasses. Push a few pineapple chunks onto each skewer and set one in each glass.

For one cocktail:

Combine ice, pineapple juice, vodka, and lime juice in a cocktail shaker, shake vigorously, and strain into a sugar-rimmed martini glass. If using mint, first muddle the ice and mint in a cocktail shaker, then add juices and vodka and shake. Garnish with fresh pineapple chunks.

My Kind of Friday

22 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in Appetizers, Boozy, Entertaining

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Otto

There is something to say about ending your work week on a good note and getting off on the right foot to your weekend. For me, the perfect way to end my work week is with a fun meal and a familiar face. Last Friday Jordan arrived with not only himself (enough to make me happy) but with Otto, his new puppy. He is so much fun, and cute to boot. Him and the cats will have to work on their relationship, but they’ll be friends someday I’m sure.

So, for our evening in with our furry friends we just had some cocktails and appetizers – Ginger Lemon Drops, Sweet Potato Hummus with rice crackers and peppers, prosciutto-wrapped dates with goat cheese, a big salad, and some leftover Crunchy Chicken Coconut Fingers. It was pretttttty much amazing.

Ginger Lemon Drops, Sweet Potato Hummus, a salad, prosciutto wrapped dates with goat cheese…Munchies and Cocktails are the best.

Half the time I look at my photos and just laugh – all of the ridiculous mismatched dishes, place mats and tablecloths…cat toys in the background, less than award-winning plating skills. Sometimes my living situation and surroundings don’t really allow me to have award winning photos that make the good blogs out there great…And sometimes I get really depressed about it. But why? I have no reason to be sad over such a silly thing. I have this wonderful dude who brings a cute puppy home with him…what more could a girl ask for? I am pretty sure one day I will have matching dishes, and maybe even a cute backdrop to photograph these matching dishes in. But for now, I have to say I am pretty damn happy, and life is good. Mismatched dishes and all.

Recipe

Ginger Lemon Drop

Makes 1 drink

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 oz vodka
  • 1/2 oz lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • 1/2 oz simple syrup
  • freshly grated ginger
  • sugar for the rim and lemon to garnish, if desired
Add Vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup, and grated ginger to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake it up vigorously, pour into a martini glass and enjoy!

 

 

Now for some yummy dates. Savory and Sweet!

Pre-Broiler Action. It takes a few dates to get a hang of it, but I promise once you get going it is super easy, fun, and delicious!

Perfect for a cocktail party for 20 or for 2 🙂

Recipe

Prosciutto Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese

Make as many or as little as you want…wing it!

Ingredients

  • Dates
  • Goat Cheese
  • Candied nuts (pecans, walnuts, anything to add a little crunch!)
  • prosciutto

Remove the pits from the dates. Hollow out a little hole in the date. Add some Goat Cheese, push in a candied nut, and wrap the date in a thin slice of prosciutto. Place Dates on a greased baking sheet and pop under broiler for a few minutes, until prosciutto has browned a little and has gotten a bit crispy. Enjoy!

Seattle Happy Hour: Cicchetti

24 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by in Restaurants, Seattle

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I feel like Cicchetti’s happy hour has been on my “list” of places to go FOREVER. Once I arrived, I knew I had been missing out. After getting our first few small plates, I mentally added it to my list of favorite Seattle Happy Hours.

The entrance to Cicchetti.

Cicchetti is the younger sibling to what many consider a Seattle classic, Serafina. It’s been years since I’ve been to Serafina, but it’s a great Italian place to bring a date to. Cicchetti felt more chill to me, it was a super relaxing happy hour. Now for the food…

The Happy Hour Menu, castelvetrano olives, and the "Pear-a-dise" cocktail.

To start, Castelvetrano (the BEST) olives, and the Pear-a-dise cocktail (for a Happy Hour cocktail, that shit was STRONG). Already in heaven right here.

Fried pecorino with green olive, red onion, parsley

Up next: Fried pecorino cheese. If you know me, you have heard 2390482094283 times that I have been to Greece and my favorite dish in the entire universe is Saganaki (a greek fried cheese). This may be my favorite happy hour plate EVER. It was so good. I mean, how can you go wrong with fried cheese? Then you add some olives on there…God, I can’t even handle it. I want to eat the above picture right now.

The special happy hour pizza of the day, truffle popcorn, and wings.

After my fried cheese binge, we ordered some more. At this point we had no natural daylight left and the bar got super dark. Please bear with this picture I tried to brighten up, it doesn’t do the food justice!

1. You can’t go wrong with $1 truffle popcorn.

2. Wings weren’t on the happy hour menu, but me and a certain someone find wings hard to resist. Especially when they are fancy wings with house made date molasses…

3. The happy hour pizza of the day…the blackboard said “local hedgehog…mushrooms, ricotta, fried sage.” Since hedgehog was written above mushrooms, I was secretly hoping to get REAL hedgehog on the pizza. When I asked the server if that’s what we were getting, she tried to be nice and said, “No…hedgehog mushrooms. But you’re not the first person to ask that…” Silly me.

4. Not pictured: Beef tartare (so good) and anchovies (so gross). My “anchovy connoisseur” friend said they were delish though. He made me try one. I hate anchovies. I was burping up salty fishy grossness an hour later when I really was hoping to be burping up the taste of hedgehog (mushrooms). TMI? yeah, probably…

Despite the minor anchovy debacle, still one of the best happy hours in town!

Cicchetti

121 E Boston St
Seattle WA, 98102

Happy hour Tue – Fri from 5PM – 6:30PM.
206.859.4155