Nutella Hot Chocolate

I am a hot chocolate fiend. However I have started to notice that in my old age that hot chocolate keeps me up at night if I drink it too late in the afternoon. So instead of downing the Swiss Miss (ah the days of my youth!....or grad school) I now try to stick to yummy hot chocolate drinks and special occasions. This delicious Hazelnut Hot Chocolate fits the bill! It's easy and fancy enough for a special occasion.

Hazelnut Hot Chocolate

(From Martha Stewart Living)

Ingredients:

1.5 cups milk

1/3 cup hazelnut spread (I like Nutella)

Directions:

1. Combine the milk and Nutella in a sauce pan. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, whisking until smooth. Divide between two cups and serve with whipped cream!

Spiked Hot Chocolate Snow Day

This hot chocolate recipe was a delicious change up from the traditional Bailey's or Kahula spiking. The orange and cinnamon made it taste like one of those chocolate oranges. It was just what we needed for our little snowy adventure!

 The secret is to start with a good base. You could use water and a powder mix but I brought out the big guns for our first major snow of the season: milk and chocolate shavings.

Hot Chocolate with Orange Liqueur and Cinnamon

(Pinterest find!)

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
5 tablespoons chocolate shavings
1 cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons orange liqueur
Cinnamon for sprinkling
Whipped cream
Directions:
1. In a small pot bring the milk and cinnamon stick to a simmer.
2. Whisk in the chocolate shavings.
3. Remove from heat and whisk in orange liqueur.
4. Top with whipped cream and a generous shake of cinnamon.
5. Go play in the snow!

Time to cross off some Winter Bucket List items!

The park was empty and snow-quiet. Only our footprints decorated the pathways.

 I couldn't resist the 1st snow angel of the season!

 These nifty little seed pods looked like snow covered ornaments.

 Back in the apartment, keep the snow coming!

My fingers are crossed for a snow day.

Pimm's No. 1

Pimm's No. 1 is a secret combination of dry gin, liqueur, fruit juices, and spices. It's different but in a good way. If you top Pimm's No. 1 off with ginger ale or lemon-lime soda you get a Pimm's Cup, the official drink of Wimbledon! It has a herbaceous-cola flavor. Mr. Lawyer and I both enjoyed it.

His & her glasses

Round Ice, Square Glass.

Rebel.

Pimm's Cup

(Canal House Cooking)

Ingredients:
2 ounces Pimm's No.1
Ginger ale
Cucumber spear or lime wedge for garnish
Directions:
1. Fill your glass with ice and add 2 ounces of Pimm's No. 1
2. Top off your glass with ginger ale and garnish with cucumber or lime.

Drink of the Day!

We have a shore tradition that involves coming off the beach for some appetizers and the drink of the day before dinner. This summer Mr. Lawyer and I have been stepping up to the plate and trying our hand at mixing up the drink of the day. So far we're 2 for 2! The Sunrise Margarita was a big hit (and my favorite so far) and this weekend's Paradise Cocktail wasn't too shabby either. As you can see in the picture, it looked absolutely hideous when we tried to layer it so I just ended up mixing them all up with a spoon which resulted in a purple kool-aid colored drink. Despite looking like rainbow vomit it tasted perfectly fine, kind of like a pina colada. It's definitely on the sweeter side of things so it goes down smoothly, watch out!

Paradise Cocktail

(Pinterest Find!)

Ingredients (for 1 drink):

1/2 ounce grenadine

1 ounce light rum

1 ounce coconut rum

2-3 ounces pineapple juice

1 ounce blue curacao 

Directions:

1. If you want to try to layer them, go ahead! It didn't work out well for us as you can see in the above picture. You could mix it all together for a fun purple colored drink. Serve over ice. 

Creme Brulee Revisted

I decided to take another stab at the creme brulee cocktail. What else am I going to do with a bottle of vanilla vodka (Suggestions?). This one used butterscotch schnapps and a bit of cream. I liked this cocktail better than my original try but the butterscotch still overwhelmed the vanilla flavor just like the hazelnut did. I need to find a way to amp of the vanilla...or maybe my bottle of vanilla vodka is subpar. I also greatly enjoyed the brown sugar rim on this one. I didn't think brown sugar would stick well but it did.

Creme Brulee Cocktail

Ingredients:

1 ounce vanilla vodka

.75 ounce butterscotch schnapps

Splash of cream

Brown sugar for rimming

Directions:

1. Rim glass using schnapps and sugar.

2. Add vodka and schnapps into a shaker with ice and shake, shake, shake!

3. Strain into a glass and top with a splash of cream. Mix gently with a swizzle stick.

Creme Brulee Cocktail!

I've been a huge creme brulee kick this school year. Every time we go out and it's on the menu it must be mine. A couple of weeks ago I had a particularly rough day and Mr. Lawyer surprised me with this delicious Ben & Jerry's Creme Brulee Ice Cream...a vanilla custard flavored ice cream with burnt sugar swirls? I was in heaven. When I saw this creme brulee inspired cocktail I was excited. I was also super excited to use my new stemless martini/cocktail glasses (Thanks Aunt Sandy!). The glasses did not dissapoint: they have good heft and are going to be super awesome for drinks, desserts, and serving shrimp cocktails. I need a dinner party ASAP so come on over!

The drink fell a little flat. It tasted perfectly fine but it did not taste like a creme brulee. The hazelnut was a tad overpowering. I've seen other versions that used butterscotch which might be a better bet, others had splashes of cream. I will continue to tinker with the idea of a creme brulee cocktail...it just has so much potential! Plus it was fun to finally use my vanilla sugar for something!

Creme Brulee Cocktail

(From the Food Network)

Ingredients:
1 ounce vanilla-flavored vodka
1 ounce Frangelico
1/2 ounce Cointreau or Triple Sec

Vanilla sugar or brown sugar
Directions:
1.Rim glass using Frangelico and vanilla sugar or brown sugar.

2. Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Stir gently and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Shore Heaven

Helloooooo summertime! Our first trip to the shore for this season was a success: good food, fun family, yummy drinks, and a good start on my no tan line wedding dress tan! Mr. Lawyer and I were assigned bar duty for the weekend so it fell on us to organize, restock, and create the cocktail of the day. A Mexican themed dinner was planned so we decided on margaritas. As an added bonus the margarita glasses are gorgeous and need to be used more, I'm completely in love with them and hope to use them a ton this summer.

Enter the Frozen Sunrise Margarita! An all around crowd pleaser for both the sweet and tart taste lovers. I would amp up the tequila next time as the original recipe tasted only like a slightly alcoholic orange julius. We decided to change up the deliver by sticking with the traditional margarita glass and mixing the grenadine with the mix just a tad. The original called for filling a tall tom collins glass and then floating the grenadine down the side of the glass so it pooled at the bottom...but then you're left with a bunch of grenadine at the end of your drink and you don't get to use the sweet margarita glasses.

Frozen Sunrise Margaritas

(Pinterest find! Adapted from epicurious.com)

Ingredients:
Margarita or coarse sea salt, for rimming glass
1 lime wedge, for rimming glass
1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 cups orange juice
3/4 cup (6 ounces) tequila (I would up this to 1 cup)
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) Cointreau or triple sec
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 cups crushed ice
1/4 cup grenadine
For Garnish:
4 orange slices
4 maraschino cherries

Directions:
1. Spread a layer of salt in a shallow dish. Run lime wedge around the rims of 4 highball glasses to moisten; dip rims in salt.
2. Place orange juice concentrate, orange juice, tequila, Cointreau, and lime juice in a blender. Add ice and pulse until smooth. 

3. Divide margarita evenly among glasses. Tilt glasses and pour 1 tablespoon grenadine down the side of each drink; grenadine will sink to the bottom and create a sunset effect. Garnish with orange slices and maraschino cherries and serve.

OR

3. Add 1 tablespoon grenadine to the bottom of each margarita glass and then pour in the margarita for a more mixed ombre effect.

A Spicy Kind of Night

As my 90 year old former co-worker use to say: this drink is hotter than the hinges of hell! I must have picked an amped out jalapeno because even seeded it was a beast! I was intrigued by the spicy citrus combination and we had a bunch of rum (leftover from our hurricane preparations) to use up so why not. It might have been luck of the jalapeno draw but the spiciness overpowered any pineapple flavor and I couldn't taste the rum at all. It's an intriguing recipe but it didn't wow me and won't be making a repeat performance! And then I spent the rest of the night rubbing my eyes with spicy jalapeno fingers. Fun times.

Pineapple-Jalapeno Daiquiris

(from the Food Network Magazine)

Ingredients:
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced and seeded (or maybe just half!)

2.5 cups fresh chopped pineapple

3/4 cup rum

3 tablespoons sugar

1 lime, juiced

1.5 cups ice

Directions:
1. Combine sliced jalapeno with pineapple in a shallow dish. Freeze until firm, about 3 hours.

2. Transfer the pineapple mixture to a blender and add the rum, sugar, lime juice, and ice. Puree until smooth.

3. Divide among four glasses and garnish with a jalapeno slice or cilantro sprig.

Little Colonel

This wasn't my type of drink but Mr. Lawyer is trying to use up the SoCo. It burns on the way down! But if you like that type of thing then this is for you. Mr. Lawyer said it was similar to a whiskey sour.

Little Colonel

(from the Ultimate Bar Book)

Ingredients:

1.5 ounces bourbon

1 ounce Southern Comfort

1/2 ounce fresh lime juice

Orange and Peach slice

Directions:

1. Shake all the ingredients with ice. Strain into an ice filled glass. Garnish with the orange and peach slices.

Fancy Pants Manhattan

What the heck Philadelphia. It's not suppose to be 92 and humid as heck in MAY. This does not bode well for the summer. Plus I'm out of tonic. Sighs. In order to beat the heat Mr. Lawyer mixed us up some these beauties. The vermouth takes the edge off but it still has a nice burn. Top it off with the fancy Luxurado cherries Mr. Lawyer got for Christmas and BAM! Delicious.

Classic Manhattan

(from the Ultimate Bar Book)

Ingredients:

2 ounces rye

3/4 ounces sweet vermouth

2 to 3 dashes Angostura bitters

1 to 2 maraschino cherry

Directions:

1. Stir the liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice.

2. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

3. Garnish with the cherries.

Spring Cocktail

Lillet is a French aperitif wine. I couldn't find the rose but the blanc was just fine. You cannot underestimate the gin in this recipe. I would recommend a very neutral tasting gin which obviously I don't have. I actually liked this cocktail better without the gin. The two different gins (Aviation and Barr Hill) I tried it with make it too floral. I also didn't invest in the edible flowers. Overall not bad but more of an acquired taste, at least when the gin is added.

Lillet Rose Spring Cocktail

(from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients:
2 ounces Lillet Rose (I used Lillet Blanc)
2 ounces grapefruit juice
1 ounce gin
edible flowers for garnish
Directions:
1. Combine the Lillet, grapefruit juice, and gin in a shaker with ice.
2. Shake, shake, shake!
3. Strain into glasses and garnish with edible flowers.

Chilly Day Drink

Mr. Lawyer makes the best chai tea. He brews a chai tea bag with hot water, then adds a mystical combination of milk and honey. I can't figure out the proportions at all, mine never taste as good! He even gets all fancy and serves it up with a cinnamon stick.

Cheese and Drinks!

I made leftover mac & cheese last night. It wasn't half bad considering I winged it and didn't measure anything. I based it loosely on my recipe for Devil's Mac & Cheese and used all of my party leftovers. I used a mix of leftover cheese (cheddar, colby, mozzarella), replaced the cream/half&half with milk, and used the improper type of noodle....the horror! Speaking of horror, it's nights like this when Mr. Lawyer comes home and announces that I'm five years old. In my defense we had leftovers to use up and I refused to go to the store for random ingredients like hot dog buns....and maybe some days I just want mac & cheese and hot dogs.

The Mother Unit played mixologist genius this weekend before passing the duty of the Mr. Lawyer. This drink was decent but really, really sweet. I think it's the dragonberry rum. One is okay but two is way too much. We solved this problem by adding a splash of sparkling wine. I'm sure seltzer would also work.

The Patriot

(from the Mother Unit)

Ingredients:

4 ounces Cranberry Juice Cocktail
1 1/2 ounce Bacardi Dragonberry Strawberry Rum
1 tablespoon frozen strawberries, thawed
Mint sprig, garnish

**Splash of sparkling wine or seltzer recommended** 

Directions:

1. In a cocktail shaker filled halfway with ice, add all ingredients except garnish and shake well. 

2. Strain into a glass filled with ice. Garnish with mint sprig.

Fancy Ice Cubes

This has been the year of ice cubes! The one and only Sandy has gifted us with Gin & Titanic cubes and large square cubes. After our amazing cocktail experience at the Farmer's Cabinet I added sphere cubes into the mix as part of Mr. Lawyer's bar gift which also included fancy garnish picks, Luxardo cherries, and orange bitters. According to the boy the only "problem" with the square and sphere cubes is you end up drinking more because you finish your first drink and you still have this marvelous ice cube.

Sphere Cube! So. Much. Fun.

 We started to experiment with the orange bitters last night. I thought this gin based drink would be a good starting point because the bitters are not the focus. It was very drinkable. But because it was such a mix we didn't use the good gin or good cherries. Ha.

Abbey Cocktail

Ingredients:

2 ounces gin

2 ounces orange juice

1-2 dashes orange bitters

cherry for garnish

Directions:

1. Shake together gin and juice. Pour over ice. Add orange bitters and garnish with a cherry.

Spa Water

If you want to believe in all the wishy washy health nut stuff then this spa water is suppose to help jump start your metabolism. I am a skeptic but thought that it might be a nice change from regular water. It does have an interesting taste, heavier on the cinnamon than the apple and it hits you more at the end. The verdict: a different way to consume your water and a great way to use up that apple that was a tad on the soft side!

Apple Cinnamon Spa Water

(Pinterest Find!)

Ingredients:

1 cinnamon stick (I snapped mine in two)

1 apple, sliced thinly

Directions:

1. Add apple and cinnamon stick to pitcher. Add some ice and fill with water. Chill at least 10 minutes before serving.

We continue our detox day with a hummus platter! Mr. Lawyer had to put in a couple of hours of work this afternoon so I figured this hummus platter was in order. It was perfect and allowed us to graze at our leisure. I used my fool proof pita chip recipe and cleaned out the fridge of random veggies (which is why there isn't a ton of each item). Good deal.

It's Got Some Kick!

Deliciously spicy is how I would describe this drink. The first time I had one was at a cousin's wedding and man oh man did that one have some kick. We recently had one down in Disney which reaffirmed the fact that we needed to make these! Plus I just happened to have some extra ginger beer in the fridge leftover from our Dark & Stormies. There are a bunch of different recipes for the Moscow Mule and the quality really depends on the spiciness of the ginger beer.

The Moscow Mule

Ingredients:

2 ounces vodka

1 ounce fresh lime juice

.5 ounces simple syrup

3 dashes of Angostura Bitters

3 ounces ginger beer

Directions:

1. Pour into your shaker all ingredients except the ginger beer

2. Add ice

3. Shake, shake, shake!

4. Strain into an ice filled glass

5. Top with ginger beer

6. Garnish with a lime wedge or mint sprigs

Gin & Pineapple!

I needed to use up the leftover pineapple juice from our Lapu Lapu adventures so I found this quick and simple (and delicious!) recipe. I won't use a good gin as the pineapple juice over powers any delicate gin flavors (especially in something like Hendricks).

Gin & Pineapple

(from the Beefeater Gin website)

Ingredients:
2 parts gin
3 parts pineapple juice
Directions:
1. Mix it up!

The Tale of Two Hurricanes

I'm not going to lie: we have gone through an embarrassing amount of rum this weekend and the hurricane isn't even over. We've killed half a bottle of Kraken Rum (my fav), two-thirds of Gosling's Black Seal Rum, and half of Barcardi 151. Not to mention I'm almost out of juice for mixing. Mr. Lawyer started to drink orange juice this morning (straight out of the jug by the way, gross.) and I quickly admonished him. That juice is for mixing and now I'm almost out of mixing juice. Now he can't have his yummy Lapu Lapu drinks. Lesson learned.

This is what a well stocked storm fridge looks like:

Milk, several bottles of Ommegang, Simple Syrup/Grenadine/Key Lime Juice/Dirty Martini Mix, Multiple Ginger Beers, three types of juice (Orange, Pineapple, and Passion Fruit), and Sweet & Sour Mix. Plus there's a full wine rack in the apartment.

In addition to the Lapu Lapu and Dark & Stormy cocktails we've tried out some Hurricane recipes. Now I'm sure that professionally made Hurricane's are delicous. The two we made were totally drinkable but I'd rather make a Lapu Lapu than a Hurricane. The first, made with passion fruit, was very sweet. The second, a slushy beverage, was not as sweet but the ice got in the way (plus it separated). I would definitely omit the blender part and just serve it over ice.

Hurricane #1

(Pinterest find!)

Ingredients:

1 ounces light rum

1 ounces dark rum

2 ounces passion fruit juice

1 ounce orange juice

Juice of half a lime

1 tablespoon simple syrup

1 tablespoon grenadine

Orange slice and cherry for garnish

Directions:

1. Squeeze juice from half a lime into a cocktail shaker over ice.

2. Pour the remaning ingredients into the cocktail shaker.

3. Shake, shake, shake!

4. Strain into a hurrican glass.

5. Garnish with a cherry and orange slice.

You can see the ice separating from the alcohol.

Hurricane #2

Frozen Hurricane, N'Awlins Style!

(recommended by my friend Nyk, a Tulane graduate) 

Ingredients:

1 ounce light rum

1 ounce dark rum

1 ounce Bacardi 151

3 ounces orange juice

3 ounces pineapple juice

1/2 ounce grenadine

2.5 cups ice

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients into a blender.

2. Add ice and blend until slushy.

3. Pour into a tall high-ball or large margarita glass.

Dark & Stormy

Oh my god ya'll, it's dark and stormy out. I'm trying to think of a time I dealt with crazier winds but I can't. The rain hasn't really been that bad, and has stopped for now, I know I've been in worse rain/flooding storms but this wind is off the hook or "out of pocket" as my students would say. I should probably find a different place to sit as the sliding glass doors by our couch is flexing and moving like crazy with each gust. The wind has opened the dumpsters at the college across from us and stuff is swirling around. The chinese restaurant's sign has been dashed to pieces and is strewn down 18th street. There have been several blueish flashes that I'm pretty sure were transformers and not lightning. We're keeping out fingers crossed that only the garage in the shore house is flooded and the upper level remains untouched. And as the news has pointed out, it smells like the ocean. I hope it's over soon and every one stays safe.
To get through the storm we have been making yummy drinks. Saturday night we made delicious Lapu Lapus, not going to lie I've switched over to them tonight. Last night we made Dark & Stormy cocktails! Because it's dark and stormy out. They were good, had a very molasses taste to them. I think it was a combination of the ginger beer and the type of rum we had. It looks pretty when you float the rum but I had to mix it in order to drink it. If you don't it's straight rum followed by ginger beer....blerg. Also, look at nicely I rimmed the glasses! Score.

Dark & Stormy Cocktail

(Pinterest find! From the framedtable.com)

Ingredients:
2 oz Gosling’s Black Seal Rum (or any dark rum)
4 oz ginger beer
lime wedge
Directions:
1. Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour in the Ginger Beer, then pour in the Dark Rum over the back of a spoon to help keep the darker layer floating on top. Garnish with a lime wedge. 

2. For the optional sugar garnish shown in the photo, rub a lime wedge or some simple syrup around the rim of an empty glass, and then tip the glass over into a plate of raw sugar and proceed with assembling the drink as noted above.

Lapu Lapu

Yesterday I received a concerned text message from the Mother Unit asking if we were prepared for the oncoming "Frankenstorm". I informed her that yes, we had a nice stock pile of non-perishables including cereal and many cans of beans. Her exact response was "Uhm...beans? CNN says the city of brotherly love could be a direct hit. More important...got liquor?" Well, at least I know where I get it now. Thanks for your concern mom!

I have incorporated a cocktail a day into our storm meal planning for the next couple days. In honor of this insane storm we now have the ingredients to Hurricanes and Dark & Stormy cocktails. However today we pre-gamed the storm with happy memories of tropical Disney World where we sampled the wonderful Lapu Lapu.

The Lapu Lapu was a wonderful Hawaiian style cocktail we had in Ohana, the Polynesian Resort's restaurant. The drinks were amazing and the food delicious. The Lapu Lapu is heavy on rum and fruit juices and comes in a pineapple. It was the best drink I had in Disney, hands down. Also, it's dangerous. You could probably leave out the Bacardi 151.

The Lapu Lapu

(inspired by the Polynesian Resort, Disney World)

Ingredients:

2 parts Myers's Dark Rum

2 parts pineapple juice 

3 parts orange juice

1 part sweet and sour mix

1 part Bacardi 151 rum, floated on the top.

Directions:

1. Mix the dark rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, and sweet and sour mix. 

2. Float the Bacardi 151 on the top.

3. Serve with ice, preferably in a hollow pineapple.

Sadly I did not have a pineapple but I did have an umbrella!