Browsing Tag

Maria Hunt

Champagne, Drinks, Pop Culture
Champagne: The ultimate lifestyle & luxury drink for #ChampagneDay

I love champagne. Its effervescence excites me, its crispness makes me smile and its very aura is appealing. I drink it all, from the little grower champagnes to the Grand Dames. No other drink has the same complex creation, the unique history or the emotional impact. Today on Champagne Day, I’m sharing a piece I wrote a few years ago about the way champagne is marketed to maintain its unique pop culture status. Clear morning sunlight is just breaking over the distant hills, but I’ve been sipping champagne for an hour, floating in a hot air balloon at 2,500 feet above the Sonoran desert near Phoenix. A white scarf that recalls the magnificent men in their flying machines is draped around my neck. The silence is broken by the roar of the propane burners that keep the elegant white balloon with its silvery vine logo afloat. The occasion? Krug Champagne…
October 28, 2011
Drinks
Strawberry Smash Cocktail Recipe

This variation on the mojito lets you mix strawberries with your favorite herb such as mint, basil, lemon verbena, cilantro, rosemary or thyme. Be sure to try the drink out before serving it to friends so you get the amount of herbs dialed in to your taste buds. It’s tasty with the alcohol or without; for a totally non-alcoholic drink, use sparkling water instead of the prosecco. 3 ripe organic strawberries, hulled and sliced 6 leaves of one fresh herb such as mint, basil, verbena, cilantro OR 1-inch section of fresh rosemary or thyme 1 ounce good white rum like 10 Cane or clean white gin like Bombay Sapphire 1 ounce all-natural sour mix (see note) 2 ounces prosecco Add the strawberries and your selected herb to a rocks glass. Smash the strawberries and herbs gently with a muddler until the berries are a pulp and the herbs smell strong.…
January 31, 2011
Drinks
Raspberry Royale Cocktail Recipe

The luscious flavor of raspberry dessert wine marries with bubbly and a twist of lemon, creating a sophisticated and seductive drink. Makes 1 cocktail 1 ounce Trader Joe’s Raspberry Dessert Wine, chilled 5 ounces brut sparkling wine, chilled lemon twist 1 fresh or frozen raspberry Add the chilled raspberry wine to a champagne flute. Top with the champagne or sparkling wine. Garnish with the lemon twist and the raspberry. © 2011 By Maria C. Hunt, author of The Bubbly Bar: Champagne and Sparkling Wine Cocktails for Every Occasion published August 2009 by Clarkson Potter, a division of Random House
January 31, 2011
Bubbly Events
The Bubbly Girl at Epcot International Food & Wine Festival

Sparkling wine and gourmet cuisine might not immediately come to mind when one thinks of a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida. But right now during the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, which runs until Nov 14, the park has been transformed into a culinary amusement park. Epcot has attracted an exciting line-up of celebrity chefs like Cat Cora of The Food Network, Boston’s Todd English and Art Smith of Table 52 fame to do cooking demonstrations and appearances. I’m looking forward to seeing Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods at a Celebrating Family & Friends Luncheon Oct. 22 and Gale Gand at her Sweet Sunday dessert tasting and brunch on Oct. 24. Throughout the park, international chefs are serving up tastes of German spaetzle, Spanish Serrano ham and Korean barbecued ribs paired with regional wines and beers. I’ll be speaking on Oct. 22, 23 and 24 as a…
October 19, 2010
Cocktail Recipes
Two Sparkling Sangria Recipes for Mother’s Day Weekend

Sangria is traditionally made with dry red wine, but there’s no reason you can’t mix it up. Try these two party-sized recipes: a potent Brachetto berry sangria spiked with Cognac, and an authentic sparkling cava sangria that I discovered in Spain.
May 6, 2010