posted by Hilary on Apr 6
Well with two Bank holidays coming up I thought I’d prepare for the the predictable cures over the next couple of days, some daft some common sense.
Look I’m not going to patronize you by saying ‘the only cure is not to drink’ yeah yeah yeah does help after the event NO OK!
Right then
1) Eat a bag of skips,the strong prawn flavour removes that manky taste you always have in your mouth and the salt tastes good
2) Ice cold Dr Pepper laying down so stop the fainting and head rushes. right ready to move….two options
3) option a
Bert’s Banana
1. Get yourself up to the supermarket. Or prepare the day before.
2. Buy a banana, a pint of milk and a small jar of runny honey.
3. Cut up the banana, blender with the milk and a spoonful
or two of honey.
4. Mix it all up into a nice milkshake.
5. Drink.
3) option b
Morning-after Bloody Mary
Yes i know this is the last thing you need but seriously it does work
Stuff
1 tsp thick horseradish sauce (optional)
1 handful ice cubes (or frozen cherry tomatoes)
1 shot vodka
1 squeeze lemon juice
100ml tomato juice
4-5 dashes Worcestershire sauce
2-3 drops Tabasco sauce
1 slug medium sherry (Optional)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 celery stick
I’ll make it easy as know the hard thing is just getting the stuff together. Chuck together with ice and serve up with a couple of paracetamol.
posted by Hilary on Apr 6
Well my blog page would a blog page without a post about the most fabulous drink of all time Bellini. There are many a version of it of which I will explore but you have to start with the original.
Did you know: It was invented in Italy in the 1930’s and got its fabulous name from because of its unique colour. It was named after the color of the toga of a saint in a painting by 15th-century Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini.
Classic Bellini
Ingredients
- 1 peach stone taken out and halved or peach liquor
- chilled champagne
- Champagne flute
Method
Blend peach till smooth or bash like mad, Put in flute and top up with Champers. As mentioned you can add a shot of peach liquor and if on a budget can use cava
Bellini Martini
Ingredients:
- 8 cubes Ice
- 3 oz Vodka
- 1.5 oz Peach nectar (mush up peach
- 1.5 oz Peach schnapps 1 Lemon peel
Method
Add ice cubes to shaker. Add vodka, peach schnapps and peach nectar. Shake. Strain into glass. Add lemon twist.
posted by Hilary on Apr 5
Well with me previously writing about a Sidecar recipe, it got me thinking, where does the origin of the Fabulous Sidecar come from. Well to set the record straight to begin with what goes into a side car.
One shot Cointreau
One shot Grand Marnier
One shot of triple sec
Splash of lemon
Serve chilled and the glass rim dipped in sugar.
So where does it come from? Thisis a little unclear but it seems to point as way back as the First World War from either London and Paris. It started out as just equal parts Cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice, now known as “the French school”. Later, an “English school” of Sidecars emerged, called for two Cognac and one each Cointreau and lemon juice. The sugaring the rim on a Sidecar glass came about in the 1934. But way call it a side car? Well by looking into this I have to reluctantly believe it was invented in France. Harry’s Bar in Paris is generally credited with inventing the Sidecar for a patron who often rode in the sidecar of a motorcycle. 
posted by Hilary on Apr 5
Well hello I thought of it first, those boys on something for the weekend just had to copy me and the whole lemon spring feel. But hey isn’t being copied the best form of compliment!!
So here’s what was on this week
Lemon candy side-car
This is a desert and booze all in one say no more
Right so what’s in it
1 scoop of ready-made lemon sorbet, melted
35ml/1fl oz cognac
15ml/½fl oz triple sec
2 tsp vanilla syrup
20ml/1¼fl oz freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus extra to serve
2 tbsp brown sugar, to serve
Lets get to it
1. Pour the melted lemon sorbet, cognac, triple sec, vanilla syrup and lemon juice into shaker and add a scoop of ice. Shake .
2. Squeeze the remaining lemon juice onto a saucer and sprinkle the sugar onto another. Turn a glass upside down and dip the rim into the lemon juice and then sugar to coat the rim. Strain sorbet loveliness into the prepared Yum yum
posted by Hilary on Apr 4
To continue my Brandy experience on the Greek islands here is a little tipple that can introduce you to the smooth delights of Metaxa Brandy. This was shown to us by a local restaurant owner and is a great finish to a romantic meal for two.
Brandy and Benedictine
Take one Brandy glass (very important)
Add a measure of Benedictine
Tilt glass and using a small flame gently warm the Benedictine before allowing it to catch the flame and burn for a few second till the flame is extinguished.
Add a measure of Metaxa Brandy (other Brandy will do)
Sit back and enjoy!
I can picture myself now sat at the restaurant, by the sea with my other half without a care in the world.
posted by Hilary on Apr 3
One of my favourite tipples as a result of a holiday to the Greek Islands some time ago is Brandy. There are a number of producers of Brandy, it comes in various types made from different ingredients and can range in price from £10 to thousands. Now getting back to Greece the Brandy which started things off for me is Metaxa, Metaxa is produced from Savatiano, Sultanina and Black Corinth, distilled and then married with aged muscat wine from Samos & Lemnos, a secret blend of botanicals is then mixed in before finally being aged in oak casks to obtain that smooth flavour for which it is recognised.
I could go on about Metaxa, it has different ages or stars and comes in various bottles but I think I will leave that for another day!
posted by Hilary on Apr 2
Well since Hilary has included a blog with regards to Malibu it immediately bring up images of Sun Sea and sipping cocktails
So where does it come from? Well….. It was first blended and brought out in the 1980s and started out made from fruit spirit flavored with rum and coconut flavoring in Curaçao.
The idea was to help out the bartenders who where sick to death of Pina Coladas so it was made to make life easier for them! When it got popular production was over to Barbados and the quality of the ingredients used in it was improved.
Advertising campaigns label it “Seriously Easy Going” (have you seen them) the ads featuring people from the Caribbean taking life seriously, a parody our Western urban lifestyle!!!!
Malibu Dreams recipe
3 shots Malibu coconut rum
1 splash grenadine syrup
7-Upsoda
Combine the Malibu and grenadine. Fill with 7-up or lemon-lime soda.
Malibu Sunrise recipe
2 oz Malibu® coconut rum
Fill with orange juice
1 oz grenadine syrup
Pour Malibu rum in glass, and top with orange juice. Stir.
Add grenadine by tilting glass and pouring grenadine down side. (By flipping the bottle vertically very quickly). The grenadine should go straight to the bottom and then rise up slowly through the drink.
posted by Hilary on Apr 2
Well I wanted write about all thing yellow and spring like today but I had to include this little number below as it did make me smile. I don’t want to jinx this lovely weather but it is very appreciate.
April Rain
Stuff
- 2 oz vodka
- 1/2 oz lime juice
- 1/2 oz dry vermouth
- Lime peel for garnish
Mixing
Pour all into shaker with ice cubes.
Shake, Strain into glass.
Garnish with the lime peel.
The next one is a bit of a cheat as really the only thing that does make it spring like is the colour but hey ho it tastes good, oh and silly the Malibu – surely Malibu is a holiday in a glass.
Come to think if it what really does make a spring cocktail a chicken in it!!!! Tee hee
Spring Martini
Stuff
- 5 Oz. Malibu Coconut Rum
- 2 Oz. Stole Lemon Vodka (or lemon flavored vodka of choice)
- 2 Oz. Pineapple Juice
- 1 Oz. Cranberry Juice
Simple bung together over ice shake, strain and serve
posted by Hilary on Apr 1
Well it’s about time the Circle club in Manchester changed – does anyone agree? It’s been so tired for so long now and soo last season darling!
Well good news the Circle Club is opening a new restaurant, Kitchen at the Circle, in April 2009, above the club in Barton Arcade.
For those who have been from Mars the Circle Club is the supposedly executive members club. But for the last year or so the image of an executive chilled bar have been replaced with wanna-be-chav-tarts who just want to be seen and have no interesting where they are, just the fact that it’s an it place to be seen or their mates got them on the list! .. Push off and get your ass to Weatherspoons! Anyhow (can you tell I have pent up rage there)….back to it.
The new gaff will be offering a classy dining experience including a ‘vertical garden weaving its way around a sweeping staircase’! The food will be posh British grub and the good old Sunday Roast with all the trimmings
To quote what they the Circle manager Craig Ince “Kitchen at the Circle will be unlike any other dining room in the city because of its stunning setting and design,”
Yeah yeah yeah he’s hardly going to slam it let’s just see… I’ll keep you posted its opens beginning of April
