Archive for Mixed Drinks

As my daughter pointed out to me today, I’ve had a bit of a pear fetish lately.  I’ve made pear vinaigrette and wine poached pears and have included slices in my wraps.  So, continuing on this same thread, I decided to create a pear cocktail.  Instead of using a pear liqueur for flavoring, I thought I’d try my hand at making a pear-flavored simple syrup.

Having made simple syrups before, I knew that part of the recipe would be easy.  I decided that if I just added some peeled and diced pear and allowed it to simmer it would produce the desired result.  Luckily, I was correct.

Choosing to use a pear simple syrup instead of a pear liqueur had an extra benefit.  I could mix it with plain seltzer to create pear-flavored Italian sodas for the kids.  They found them to be quite tasty.

While it will take a little extra time and effort, it is worth it for this drink.  Of course, if you prefer to keep your drink making more simplistic, I am sure some pear liqueur would be a fine replacement.

Subtle & Bubbly Pear

1/2 oz. pear-infused vodka

1-1/2 tsp. pear simple syrup*

brut champagne

Pour vodka and simple syrup into a champagne flute.  Top with champagne, and stir well to combine.

Pear Simple Syrup

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

2 bosc pears, peeled & diced

Bring water to boil in medium pot over high heat.  Add sugar, and stir until dissolved.  Add pear, reduce heat to simmering, and cook for 30 minutes.  Remove pear cubes with a strainer, pressing back of a spoon against pears to release any remaining juice.  Allow syrup to cool to room temperature.  Then transfer syrup to a storage container, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Do you know what cocktail you will be making for your valentine?  If you need a suggestion, how about the cocktail that 1,007 readers voted as the best?  Cupid’s Kiss!

With steady voting until the poll closed, it was a close race for Cupid’s Kiss and Cayo al Corazon.  However, when the votes were tallied, the whisky & rum cocktail creation pulled ahead with a 150 vote lead.

As promised, we now offer the recipe for this winning cocktail.

Cupid’s Kiss

1 ounce Canadian Club Whisky

1 ounce Cruzan Raspberry Rum

Cranberry juice

Fill highball glass with ice.  Add whisky and rum, fill with juice, and stir.

Enjoy!

Valentine’s Day.

When you hear those two words, what is your reaction?  Do you see hearts and flowers and eagerly anticipate the holiday that you will spend with your one true love?  Perhaps you roll your eyes back and wish that you could hide under the covers all day?  Or maybe you really have no opinion about it, it just is another day of the week?

Regardless to how you feel about Valentine’s Day, there’s no reason not to have a cocktail in honor of this day.  Even if you don’t like the day, you still can enjoy a delicious cocktail.  To help you find the perfect cocktail, Parched No More has collected a dozen recipes that will appeal to those who are in love and those who feel scorned.

Check out our Valentine’s Day cocktails, decide which you like best, and then share your thoughts.  On Friday, February 12th we will announce which cocktail was the most popular and share its exact recipe.  Being two days before the holiday, you’ll have time to gather all of the ingredients and make a drink for you (and others, if you wish). (more…)

Married to a Baltimore native but living in New England, the amount of Ravens games that we can watch are limited.  So, when the Ravens had a Monday night game a few weeks ago, I decided to create a fun dinner to accompany the game.  Serving raven didn’t seem like a good idea, thus I opted to create a purple dinner menu.  Included in the menu were eggplant salsa and wine poached pears.  Both of those dishes were delicious and purple.

The next thing I needed to do was create a purple cocktail.  It would have been simple if we had Chambord, but unfortunately we didn’t.  Rather than taking a trip to the liquor store, I decided to use basic art lessons to create a plum-hued beverage.  Unfortunately, I learned that combining blue and red liquids does not necessarily create a purple liquid. (more…)

Recently, there was a posting on Idea Offer , a Wasabi Ventures property, about what should be the official drink of the game of polo.  I always have been intrigued by the game, and it is on my things-to-do list to attend a match some day.

The answers to the idea request were wide and varied, but the three winners ended up being from Captain, LaShan Arceneaux, and Mirilee.  Of these the one that was of the most interest to me was from LaShan:

Pimms Cup is the official drink of polo. It is a gin. There is a drink called polo, that can be made using the gin:
1 oz gin
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp orange juice

Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.

But these days all types of drinks and food are found at polo matches because people are allowed to bring in food and drink to most matches. We bring tons of stuff and then share with our neighbor and vice versa.

While I have never had a polo, I am sure I will be trying it soon.  It even sounds like a drink that would work for a brunch spread.

Here is to the sound of the thundering hooves and the excitement of another chukker!