Cheers to Pawcurious with the Italian Greyhound!

We're super excited for our client, Pawcurious, is nominated for a Weblog Award (or a Bloggie, as they are also known) for Best Pet or Animal Blog. If you haven't a favorite, you should definitely vote for Pawcurious. I'm not biased at all or anything. No, but seriously, Dr. V's site is chock full of great information and animal antics.

For this week's Champagne Thursday, we'd like to honor Dr. V and Pawcurious with a pet-themed beverage: The Italian Greyhound.  (I couldn't find a Labrador cocktail, sorry, Koa and Brody!)

You can find the original recipe for this beautiful Italian Greyhound with Rosemary Sugar, along with other delicious looking recipes on FamilyStyleFood.com.

Congrats again, Pawcurious. We hope you win! 

Shaken, Not Stirred

Source: greygoose.com via Joelle on Pinterest

Kathy re-kicked off our Champagne Thursdays last week with her favorite adult beverage and the namesake of this (hopefully, weekly) feature, but now it's time for me to bring you an example of my kind of drink -- one with booze, like nature intended.

I do like champagne, but I don't drink it that often. It gives me a wicked headache.  When I choose to libate, 95% of the time, I choose an old school classic -- a vodka martini, preferably made with Grey Goose, but I'm open to most top shelf vodkas.  I've never been one for sweet drinks and always preferred the retro cool factor that a classic martini offers. It's a slow sipper (at least the first one) and isn't full of sugary fruit juices or creamy milky whatnot.

Plus, olives. Mmm... I prefer mine stuffed with blue cheese, if the establishment has them lying about. Ultimately, the olives should be plump (but not huge) and firm, not tiny, hard, speckled or pruned up or that weird shade of green-yellow that happens to olives that sit in a garnish tray too long.  If you're going to indulge in what is basically straight, expensive vodka, please -- for the love of all that is decent and holy -- don't use crapola olives. Do it for the children!

I like my martinis very light on the vermouth. Like, light -- a mere suggestion, a hint, a whisper. So I prefer to use a martini mister for the addition of the vermouth to the shaker. Others prefer to add the vermouth, swirl to coat the shaker and then dump it out (which is my second-most preferred method).  And yet others feel vermouth should be heavy, as once upon a time a classic martini was almost half vermouth.  To that I say, bleh. Also, yuck.  

I also am not one of those girls who seductively asks the bartender to "make it dirty".  I like a little "dirty" (meaning, a bit of olive juice) in my martini, but very, very little and find most bartenders tend to be heavy-handed here, so I end up with a murky drink that looks and tastes like seamonkeys. So I just skip it and let my olive garnish add the "dirty" for me.

Anyway, I picked up this recipe from the website of my favorite vodka, Grey Goose. They include orange bitters, which I've never tried, but am intrigued about, so I may ask for that next time!

The Classic Vodka Martini

Ingredients

• 2 parts Grey Goose vodka (or the vodka of your choice)
• 1/2 part Dry Vermouth
• 1 Dash orange bitters

Instructions

• Fill a shaker with ice.
• Add vermouth. Stir to coat ice and strain out.
• Add  Vodka and bitters, if desired, and stir well. (I shake, not stir. I know some people say that "bruises the vodka", to which I say ,"whatever!".)
• Strain into a chilled martini glass.
• Present with an olive or lemon twist. (Olives! Three for me, please.)

Feel free to experiment with garnishes. Mix olives and lemon twists or use a fresh bay leaf instead. These additions will give subtle yet unique changes to the cocktail.

You can view a video on the Grey Goose website of their mixologists whipping one up if that blows your dress up. 

Finally, please, please drink responsibly -- this is straight-up booze, my friends. Have a snack with it or something so you don't make an ass of yourself. Not that I've ever done that. *cough*

Hello Champagne Thursday! (Where Thursday Means Almost Friday)

Good day! Welcome to Champagne Thursday! I am your gracious hostess, Kathy. *curtsey*  I'm not 100% sure where we came up with Champagne Thursday but I do think it had something to do with the chick flick where Sarah Jessica Parker is a professional man therapist and tries to force Matthew Mcconaughey to grow up and move out of his parents house.  I'm Googling it.... Ah! Failure to Launch! Anyway, I love Champagne.  I kind of like Thursday since it's almost Friday but not enough to not require a little bubbling happy persuasion to get me through.

I looooooooove Champagne.  I know I said that already but I need to actually convey to you how much I love it. So let's enjoy this recipe we found on Pinterest recently.  This cocktail kind of combines two of our favorite drinks into one beautiful libation.

Champagne Cosmopolitan

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 ounces vodka (we prefer Grey Goose or Belvedere)
• 1/2 ounce triple sec or Grand Marnier
• 1/2 ounce cranberry juice
• 1/2 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
• Ice
• 2 ounces champagne (on the sweeter side) 

Combine vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice, lime juice and ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake, shake, shake. (I'll refrain from adding booty to this part).  Pour into a chilled martini glass. Top with champagne and garnish with a couple frozen blueberries or whatever you think looks snazzy.

Cheers!

(Original recipe and photo can be found at InspiredTaste.net)

Spicy Hot Chocolate

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch chili powder
• 3 tbsp Godiva hot cocoa mix
• 6 oz Godiva caramel milk chocolate liqueur
• Garnish: cinnamon stick and marshmallows

Heat milk, cinnamon and chili powder. Stir in cocoa mix. Add liqueur and remove from heat. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and marshmallows.

Recipe and photo courtesy of CocktailTimes.com

Cran-Apple Cobbler

• 1 1/2 oz Smirnoff cranberry twist
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 4 oz apple cider
• 1 oz cranberry juice
• Garnish: apple slice
• Rim: crushed graham cracker

Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass rimmed with crushed graham cracker. Garnish with apple slice.

Recipe and photo courtesy of CocktailTimes.com