In the Land of Fairy Tales

Life is a dream when the week ends at cocktail night. This week is was more dreamy than usual-- our theme being Fairy Tales! We didn't get very Grimm but nonetheless it was a lovely, tasty evening.

The Hansel and Gretal Martini

 I had the first drink of the evening, inspired by the story of Hansel and Gretal.If you remember, it's the touching story of a cannibalistic hag who lives deep in the forest in a house made of candies. After their trail of breadcrumbs (worst idea ever) is devoured by birds, the little brother-sister pair are at the mercy of the half-blind hag. She stuffs them into an iron cage and tried to fatten them up before she slaughters them for dinner. I focused more on the candy.

 

The Hansel and Gretal Martini

- 1 ounce vanilla vodka

- 1 ounce Frangelico

- 1/2 ounce butterscotch schnapps

- shake over ice

- add 4 ounces of ginger ale

- garnish with a stick of  gum drops (to tempt little children)

There's one now! Quick! The iron cage!

The next drink was Arjen's cleverly modeled after the story of a very wily family of billy goats. Apparently a terrible troll was guarding a certain bridge. This troll was really looking for trouble, and dinner (I detect a theme). When a little billy goat came to cross the bridge the troll stopped him and threatened to attack him and feast on him. The little goat was very cunning and told the troll to wait until his older brother came-- the older brother was bigger and would have more meat on his bones. So the troll agreed, letting the little goat pass. Sure enough, the older brother came along and the troll made the same ugly threat. But, like the youngest goat, the brother was clever and told the troll to let him pass-- the oldest brother would be along soon and he was far bigger and therefore juicer. So the idiot troll lets the middle brother pass over the bridge and, sure as sh*t, the oldest brother comes along. He is bigger and meatier. But he's also stronger and apparently a hellishly difficult goat to beat in a battle. The oldest goat was able to defeat the troll and the whole family was saved.  

The Billy Goat's Gruff

 The Billy Goat's Gruff
 - 1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
- 3/4 ounce jonge jenever
- 1 ounce oude jenever
- garnish with a cherry
(the strength of the drink increases in increments, like the ascending strength of each new goat) (clever!-- and this drink will give you a POWERFUL kick!)

It wouldn't be fairy tale night if we couldn't snack on magic bea

ns?

BE MY VALENTINE (and make me a drink quick)

VALENTINE THEMED COCKTAILS

My Funny Valentine

Although it was a small group this past week, the evening was made of delicious drink to love forever and ever!

Astrid made the first cocktail of the evening--here she is in the picture muddling away!

  This cocktail has the cryptic name, the '2011'
Even past its expiration it was fabulously good!
2011
- 1 1/5 oz rum
- 1 tsp sugar
- 12-16 berries
- 10 basil leaves
- 4 mint leaves
- 1/2 lime
- top up with soda
(serves 4)

so early in the evening, and this little cub is konked out!

Arjen's drink was next. It was warming and beautiful-- can be done as a shot, but I thought that was too quick.  He named the drink 'The Butterfly' (de Vlinder)-- because of the butterflies you get in your stomach when your in love. A sweet sentiment.

The Butterfly

 1/2 Baileys

1/2 once Butterscotch Scnapps floating on top

And now for the Cupid's Bow... this was my drink of the night. It was inspired by Teddy's perfectly bow-like lips (and his perfect cupidy physique). A nice, creamy dessert drink perfect for any day. 

The Cupid's Bow:
1 teaspoon Rose Liqueur
1/ 2 oz grenadine
1 oz Yogurt Bols
1 oz cream
shake over ice
garnish with a bow of cherries
(serves 1)

so many valentines to choose from!

And then on the REAL Valentine's Day I made a special dessert drink to my grown-up valentine.

The I'm Yours Martini:
- 1 ounce Baileys
- 1 ounce vodka
- 1 ounce white curacao
- 1 ounce yogurt Bols
(serves 2)

Happy belated Valentine's Day everyone!

This coming Friday: Fairy Tale Cocktails!
Glass slippers... pumpkin coaches...frighteningly long hair...poisoned apples... thorn bushes... young women locked up for dead... can be Grimm or traditional!

Fine Art Cocktails

At last, cocktailers! I have been meaning to post our last cocktail blog since December, but adorable distractions keep coming up:

So back in December, before I delivered the most special person who was ever born, we had our last REAL cocktail night-- complete with excellent theme. In honor of my sister Jessica being with us we came up with a  fine art theme. Everyone chose a painting that could translate into a delicious cocktail. The result were some BEAUTIFUL and DELICIOUS drinks!

Astrid made some amazing Munch's Scream cookies to get us in the mood!

the original

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

an exact replica!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The  first cocktail of the evening was Arjen's inspiration, based on The Son of Man painted by Magritte. The apple probably catches your eye-- and gives you a clue as to the nature of the drink.

(secret ingredient: Groene Pommeranz)

The Son of Man
- 2 dashes of green apple bitter (as seen above)
- 1 ounce apfelkorn
- 1 1/2 ounce vodka
- shake over ice
- add a splash of apple juice

And cheers, m'dears!

Proost to Wolfie and Astrid!

note: pregnant lady not imbibing!

Next drink of the evening involves a spot of impromptu crafting...

For anything with a French theme: must shape cocktail umbrellas into Moulin Rouge style windmills (obviously) 

the inspiration: At the Moulin Rouge by Toulouse-Lautrec

This drink was a  yogurty shot of heaven that we hoped would come out layered, but came out more marbled...also artistic!

Kick you in the Can-Can:
- 1 teaspoon absinthe
- 1tablespoon yogurt Bols
- 1 teaspoon rose liqueur

This drink is SO pretty and SO fragrant! And SO dangerous!

the 'Kick you in the Can-Can'

Someone had to do it, so I took Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Can.  It could only BE a Bloody Mary (and thank you, Arjen, for finding a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup in the Netherlands!

It could ONLY be a Bloody Mary (with a twist)!

 The Bleeding Mary
- dash of tabasco
- dash of Worcester sauce
- pinch of celery salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of horseradish
- 1 1/2 ounces vodka
- add ice cubes
- top up class with mixture of tomato juice and Campbell's Tomato Soup
- garnish with a celery stalk filled with cream cheese
(got to get the white in there to represent Warhol himself)

The Bleeding Mary works as a virgin cocktail quite well

Lunchbox enjoying a last night with momma's big, warm belly

This inspiration for Remco's drink was a classic: Seurat's Un Dimanche Apres-Midi a Ille de la Grand Jatte. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon-- or a Friday night! 

The man with his art...

Sunday Afternoon:
- 2 splashes of raspberry rum
- 2-3 ratio of vodka and proseco
- shake over ice
- add a splash of absinthe
-add a splash of rose liquer
- garnish with rosemary leaves and mint

a masterpiece!

Next up... Wolf's artful concoction, inspired by the colors and mood of Monet's Water Lilies

Here she comes, sporting the souvenirs of two previous drinks..

The Water Lily:
- 2 ounces gin 
- 1/2 ounce of black vodka
- add eucalyptus for scent (and to make a lily pad!)

Beautiful, delicious, and POTENT!

Isn't art wonderful?

absolutely no way of making this one non-alcoholic

The muse of the evening with her Water Lily

And last but never least, Astrid brought us the last drink inspired by Mucha's Hyacinth

Et voila!

The Hyacinth! (and it's so sexy it actually has a sex)

The Hyacinth (female):
- 1/2 blue curacao
- 1/2 vodka
- add mint

The Hyacinth (male)
- shot glass

- 1/2 whiskey

- 1/2 lemon juice

So thanks for a lovely and BEAUTIFUL evening everyone! Now that momma's back on the bottle (I don't mean baby, I mean momma), it's getting to be time to reinstate our themes. If you have an idea for a great theme we didn't do in 2011-- now is the time! The blog is back!