The Bubbly Girl

Real Aphrodisiacs for Valentine’s Day Drinks: Passionate Pomegranate

February 9, 2010

Not only does the pomegranate suggest fertility, it also boosts libido.

A red orb with all those juicy seeds inside, a pomegranate just suggests fertility and promise. It’s thought to be the tempting forbidden fruit that seduced Adam and Eve in the Bible. In the Greek myth, Persephone was forced to spend half the year in the Underworld after she was tricked into eating a few pomegranate seeds during a visit to Hades. All in all, these myths make the pomegranate a pretty fascinating and tasty fruit.

We’ve all gotten word that pomegranates are chock full of healthy antioxidants, vitamins and minerals which scientific studies show can help reduce wrinkles, lower blood pressure and prevent heart disease. Pomegranate is also a great source of folic acid, which is an important nutrient for pregnant women. If you’re trying to get pregnant, it turns out pomegranate can help in that department too. A researcher at the University of California found that pomegranate is good for men with erectile dysfunction and prostate health. And a study at the University of Sussex (another sex study from the UK, hmmm) found that drinking pomegranate juice increases the libido in women and even more so in men.

Featured on San Diego Fox 5 my cocktail called Kismet – which means fate – is sure to get something started with this combo of pomegranate, passion fruit and ginger which is great or heating things up. To make a non-alcoholic version, substitute pomegranate juice for the Pama, ginger juice for the ginger liqueur and sparkling water for the wine. Kismet was one of the romance enhancing cocktails I featured on San Diego Fox 5 this morning.

With tangy pomegranate, passion fruit juice and ginger in the Kismet Cocktail, it's sure to stir something up.

Kismet

1 ounce Pama pomegranate liqueur
1-1/2 ounces passion fruit-orange juice
1/2 ounce ginger liqueur
3 ounces sparkling wine
3 pomegranate seeds

Add Pama pomegranate liqueur, passion-fruit juice and ginger liqueur to a champagne flute. Top with chilled sparkling wined. Garnish with the pomegranate seeds.

Real Aphrodisiacs for Valentine’s Day Drinks: A Taste of Honey

February 3, 2010

Besides being sticky and sweet, honey is endowed with vitamins and minerals that help humans produce sex hormones. (Courtesy Photo)

It’s so easy to take honey for granted: sweet, cloying and sticky stuff without much personality. But it’s always been one of those foods, along with strawberries and whipped cream that shall we say has plenty of sex appeal.

The term honeymoon comes from the Viking tradition of leaving newlyweds alone for a month to get to know each other. They were encouraged to drink lots of mead – wine made from fermented honey – as it was considered an aphrodisiac. Even today, Indian bridegrooms are given honey on their wedding night to increase their stamina.

It turns out honey contains boron, a trace mineral that’s important for a number of different body functions including hormone production. Boron helps increase estrogen levels in women as well as testosterone levels in men and women, which is important for libido. Honey also contains B vitamins which play a role in estrogen production and another natural substance called chrysin that helps keep testosterone levels constant. For more details, read up on boron at Organic Facts.net and Gynecomastia.org

But enough of all that. Now that you know what’s in it, here’s a charming little cocktail I created that makes good use of honey and damiana extract, another natural aphrodisiac found in the supplement aisle at Whole Foods.

The Bee Charmer tempts with honey, lemon, lavender and a bit of bubbly.

The Bee Charmer

small section of honeycomb
1-1/2 ounces Barenjager Honey Liqueur
1/2 ounce bourbon whiskey
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce egg white – the real thing, not pasteurized
pinch dried lavender (optional)
2 drops damiana
2-3 ounces brut sparkling wine or champagne

Put the honeycomb in the bottom of a champagne coupe or small cocktail glass. Add the honey liqueur, bourbon, lemon juice, egg white an lavender if using and damiana to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake hard until will chilled and frothy. Add the bubbly to the coupe, then strain the contents of the shaker into the glass. Garnish with a couple lavender blossoms.

Real Aphrodisiacs for Valentine’s Day Drinks: Watermelon

January 29, 2010

Watermelon has scientifically proven effects on libido, making it a great Valentine cocktail ingredient.

Every year when Valentine’s Day rolls around, lots of foods start getting mentioned with the label “aphrodisiac” attached to them. Shopping for foods that have been thought to have an effect on passion would take one to every aisle of the supermarket: strawberries, steak, avocados, potatoes and oysters have all had their day in the sun.

This year, I decided to research food that have a scientifically documented effect on libido or blood flow, which is generally what an aphrodisiac is all about. Over the next few posts, I’ll be sharing recipes for drinks made with foods that can help put you in the mood.

It turns out that watermelon is good for more than cooling off in the summertime; this juicy fruit is also being called “nature’s Viagra.” A study at Texas A & M University’s Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center found that watermelon contains a substance called citrulline that helps blood vessels relax, just like Viagra. For more details, check out this post at Science Blog.com.

Watermelon is delicious mixed with all kinds of spirits; I created this cocktail called Watermelon Kiss using NUVO sparkling vodka and brut rosé sparkling wine. It just may do the trick this Feb. 14.

The Watermelon Kiss cocktail is sweet and juicy, just like a kiss.

Watermelon Kiss
1 tsp pink peppercorns, crushed
1/2 tsp. pink decorating sugar
1-1/2 ounces watermelon juice
1 ounce NUVO sparkling vodka
3 ounces brut rose sparkling wine
dash orange bitters

On a small flat dish, combine the crushed pink peppercorns and the pink decorating sugar. Moisten the rim of a champagne flute with a wedge of lemon. Press the glass in the pink peppercorn/sugar mixture to coat it. Pour the watermelon juice and NUVO into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until well chilled then carefully pour into the prepared glass. Top with sparkling wine. Finish with a dash of bitters.
Now make another one for someone special.

Bubbly Events

Days of Wine & Chocolate: A Valentine Dinner Feb. 11 in San Diego

January 20, 2010

Valentine Feb 11 flyer cropped small

Every year as we approach Valentine’s Day, you hear the word aphrodisiac tossed around. Spanish fly, bananas, potatoes, strawberries, chili peppers – you name it – has been considered an aphrodisiac at one time or another in human history. But this year, I decided to research the foods that have a documented scientific effect on arousal.

Two foods that just happen to have an actual effect on pleasure and libido (the goal of most aphrodisiacs when you get down to it): wine and chocolate!

Come indulge in some of both and pick up some romantic tips on Feb 11 as I team up for a dinner class with LA chocolatier Susie Norris, the author of the hot little book Chocolate Bliss and chef Isabel Cruz of Isabel’s Cantina. I’ll be making cocktails from my book The Bubbly Bar: Champagne & Sparkling Wine Cocktails for Every Occasion (Clarkson Potter, 2009) and sharing a couple new ones for this event; for tickets and info visit www.Warwicks.com.

In case you’re curious about how these foods work to get things heated up; let me share some science. Chocolate causes women to release endorphins, those. In fact a 2007 study at the University of Sussex in Great Britain found women release four times as many endorphins – the body’s natural opiates – after eating chocolate as they do after when making out.

Wine grapes – specifically the skins – contain the antioxidant resveratrol. Researchers at Northwestern University (my alma mater – Go Cats! ) found in a 1997 study that resveratrol – most present in red wines – acts in the body like an estrogen which is a key component in sex drive and arousal.

Wow, just think what will happen after eating those two at the same time!

Even without the science, there’s something tantalizing and romantic about sparkling wine and champagne- another reason why I think these wines should be enjoyed much more often.

Sparkling Wine

Bubbly Girl Drink of the Week: Bagrationi 1882- From Russia with Love

January 15, 2010

While the first bubbly we think of may be champagne from France or California brut, actually bubbly is made all over the world.

The other day I was telling a PR friend named Debbie about tasting a great sparkling wine from Virginia called Thibaut-Janisson. I met winemaker and owner Claude Thibaut at Le Grand Champagne in Washington DC. A few weeks later, Thibaut Janisson Blanc de Chardonnay was featured at the Obama’s first state dinner honoring India’s prime minister, as this Washington Post story “Drinking Local at the White House” details.

“Well, I have a sparkling wine from Georgia,” Debbie said. Georgia — why not? — I thought. Wine is now made in all 50 states. But when the bottle of Bagratioini 1882 arrived, I realized my mistake. This wine was from the Georgia back in the former USSR.

Bagrationi 1882 Reserve tastes just like champagne crafted from chardonnay - but it's from Georgia.

According to the company’s web site, Ivane Bagrationi –Mukhraneli is descended from an ancient royal family that started making sparkling wine in Georgia back in the mid 1800s. In 1882, the wine won an international Grand Prix held in St. Petersburg. The winery was formally established in 1937.

Bagrationi 1882 Reserve was the first wine I tried. I took a sip and was rewarded with a crisp nicely balanced, methode-champenoise wine with fresh citrus and light peachy flavors and creamy bubbles. Ah yes, I could taste the juicy chardonnay. I looked at the label and discovered I was wrong again. The Bagrationi 1882 is made with native Chinuri, Tsitska and Mtsvane grapes grown near the Black Sea. I also liked the 1882 Classic, a lighter style of wine, made with the tank fermentation method.

I decided I could get used to drinking sparkling wine from Georgia. The only challenge is getting my hands on more; a review of Wine Searcher.com only turned up a handful of shops including All Corked Up in Santa Clarita, Georgian Wine House in Maryland and Schneider’s Capitol Hill in Washington DC that carry the Bagrationi 1882 wines, which can range in price from $12 to $24 a bottle. Of course, if you ever find yourself in Tblisis, they are happy to arrange tours and tastings.