Browsing Tag

vanilla

Drinks
The Raspberry Dream: A Yummy Valentine’s Day Cocktail

It’s that season when people start thinking about red and pink drinks — the two staple colors of Valentine’s season entertaining. I love working with red fruits like raspberries because the color is so inviting and the sweet-tart berries add such a bright flavor. I was thinking about a grown-up raspberry milkshake when I came up with this Raspberry Dream cocktail that mixes the fruit with the black raspberry liqueur Chambord, vanilla-infused vodka and a splash of half-and-half. If you need another reason besides deliciousness to drink your raspberries, it turns out they’re really good for you. Raspberries are high in ellagic acid which helps prevent free radical damage and the flavonoid compounds quercetin and kaempferol, which play a role in fighting a number of diseases, according to World’s Healthiest Foods. Black raspberries may help ward off colon cancer, according to this study from the University of Illinois at Chicago…
February 3, 2011
The Bubbly Girl Drink of the Week: Spicy Sparkling Cider Recipe

I get lots of questions about sparkling wine and champagne at my web site The Bubbly Girl. Some times they’re asking my opinion of a certain wine, or whether it’s alright to drink an old bottle of champagne they’ve been saving – I always say yes to that one; you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised. Other times they want me to help divine the name of a wine they liked from a few flavor clues. I got one of those questions the other day from a woman who had been served champagne at wedding that tasted just like apple cider. Since champagne is made from grapes and many people are trying to save money at a wedding, it’s very likely what was served as “champagne” at this nuptial was closer to a sparkling cider like Martinelli’s than Moët. But the question got me thinking about the delicious bright and sweet taste…
December 28, 2009
Celebrities & Champagne
Bubbly Girl Drink of the Week: The Rich Girl

It’s been a busy week since The Bubbly Bar launched last week with an awesome bash for 400 who sipped Domaine Chandon sparkling wine cocktails at the Hotel Solamar. The fun continued this week when I was the guest mixologist at Rock the Cure, a benefit to raise money for juvenile diabetes research through JDRF.org. My signature event cocktail was The Rich Girl named in honor of the event headliners Hall & Oates. A deliciously potent blend of brut sparkling wine, Grand Marnier and Navan Cognac, the Rich Girl was a revinvention of The Stiletto cocktail from the book. I wish Navan had been around when I was writing The Bubbly Bar; the fine French cognac is infused with Madagascar vanilla and has a wonderfully warm and complex flavor. It blends perfectly with the natural curacao orange in Grand Marnier, which is also a cognac based liqueur. To make it…
September 5, 2009