Cloudy Apparent

I liked the Spring Apparent so much I wanted to see what it would be like if I added a little more pastis (1/4 oz) and added some more ice and club soda to it would it make it get cloudy like just plain pastis and water. And guess what? It did! 

Spring Apparent

Wanted something sophisticated but refreshing to sip on the porch on a fine spring evening. This fit the bill soooo well. I tweaked the Apparent recipe in The Ultimate Cocktail Book and replaced the Dubonnet with Lillet blanc. There's a new bottle chilling in our fridge for the upcoming season, taking my own advice about always having a bottle on hand.

Equal measure of a dry gin and Lillet blanc, and a dash of pastis - or maybe a little more - I like pastis! Shake with ice and pour into chilled glass with lemon twist.

More spring please.

Saketini

 

There was a sushi restaurant we used to go to years ago that had a Saketini that we loved that had a great cucumber flavor. Alas the restaurant is no longer there but I threw together in its memory with what was left of sake and Lillet Blanc in our fridge. This is the kind of cleaning out a fridge I like!

2 parts chilled  sake
1 part chilled Lillet Blanc
1 part gin (optional)
Slice of cucumber for garnish

Stir together and sip. Sip!

Negroni plus

 

More than pasta or gelato, a Negroni is a taste of Italy for me and it's so easy to make - equal measures of gin, campari and sweet vermouth stirred in a glass of ice with a slice of orange. I had a longing for one recently and it was perfect - all I needed was to drink it standing up at a bar after my evening passegiata.

Of course I had to play around with some other ingredients to make it mine (it's a hard job I do you know) and this is what I we had on hand: 

1 1/2 oz Absolut citron

1 1/2 oz Campari

1 1/2 oz Lillet Blanc (You should always have this in the fridge)

To make it a long drink, add a little soda water (or lavender soda if you just happen to have it in the fridge). Now splash out for a table on the piazza and waiter service. 

 

Cherry Blossom Mix off

 

It's spring! It's cherry blossom time in DC! Well, it should be but the weather has been too chilly for the tender blossoms so they're staying where they are for now and who would blame them. Still, blossoms or not - it didn't stop us on our quest to bring in the spring with a little drinkie and it ended in a little mix off.

Which one do you think wins this mix off?

Himself riffed on a drink called Paddington which he found on Mixologist app and it was next to perfect - grapefruit juice is a favorite of ours and the color was spot on.

1 1/2 oz Bacardi light rum
1/2 oz Lillet Blanc
1 splash of Ricard pastis
1/2 oz freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1/2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice

Shake with ice and garnish with grapefruit twist.

I went down a more literal route and mixed a cherry-smash-saketini type of drink and it was equally good and let's face it more original than his!

3 frozen whole cherries
tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
tsp sugar
1 oz Bombay London Dry Gin
3 oz Fu-ki sake

Muddle the cherries with the lemon juice and sugar, then add the gin and the chilled sake. We keep our gin in the freezer and the sake was chilled so no ice was needed for the mixing. Strain the mixture into a cocktail glass and garnish with a cherry.

Here's to some cherry blossoms! Eventually.

Vesper

 

Of course I'd have a cocktail ready for our Oscar viewing pleasure and when I heard there was a Bond thing happening well it was an easy decision to make - the Vesper martini.

1oz vodka
3 oz gin
1/2 oz Lillet blanc
Orange twist

And yes, shaken not stirred.