Halloween may be my favourite holiday, I absolutely love the surreal sense of fun that it engenders. My friend asked me to help organize a Halloween party for his work. This is the fun bit, he works for a graphic design team and they have their very own machine that does large format printing. I was completely inspired to play with scale and size to create optical illusions for a Mad Hatter’s Cocktail Party. I chose drinks that involved optical illusions and then did massive posters to hang on the walls and tiny menus to put in people’s pockets.
I know, it is simply too much the middle of the summer to start thinking about winter and the onset of fuel poverty. The thing is, I have an oil furnace, so I need to top it up long before the cold sets in. I am actually cash poor at the moment, so I decided to have a Red Diesel Essex party, invite all of my friends and raise money to pay for running my oil furnace all winter.
I decided to serve the most fabulous selection of red cocktails that I could some up with, all of the party guests were asked to wear red clothing and I played some fabulous house music. I am a bit of a glutton for punishment, so I decided to make it a whole day and into the night event. This was simply because one of my favourite all time drinks is the bloody mary, and this doesn’t work half as well after dark. It really is a breakfast drink, the measures below are per drink, but you really do need to make a pitcher. The best way to do this is measure home many glasses your pitcher will hold and then multiply out the recipe:
1 shot of lemon or pepper flavoured vodka
4 oz of spicy V-8 or other multi vegetable juice
splash of Tabasco sauce
sprinkle of celery salt
1 long celery stick with the green bit left on top for stirring the drink
Red Diesel Warmer is a special cocktail that I invented just for the party. It is based on a kir or a kir royal which uses white wine or champagne mixed with creme de cassis which is a black current liqueur. For my drink I used:
1 measure of cherry brandy
1 measure of red grape juice
top up with white wine
The colour was absolutely brilliant, I also made cards that I handed out to people with other drinks that I had available. I did a house cosmopolitan:
1 measure of fruity vodka
1 measure of cranberry juice, I actually used a summer fruit juice blend which was delicious
1 measure cointreau or triple sec
a splash of lime juice
If you fancy breaking out the blender, it is always for to do strawberry daiquiris. I was a bit worried that all of the drinks were a bit girly.
I had a complete brain wave and decided to do shots of red bull and jagermeister, also known as jager bombs, they were stunningly beautiful and a lot of fun.
Slings were used to be generic drinks speared with an alcoholic spirit and moderated by sweeteners and other ingredients and become beverages with water, lime juice and alcohol. Somewhere between 1910 and 1915, Ngiam Tong Boon, a barman at Raffles Hotel, discovered a type of sling for the colonial ladies, the Singaporean Sling. His recipe book was kept safe and was locked in the hotel’s museum.
In spite of all that this lovely drink is a favourite all over the More
If one is on the lookout or trying to work out the best lay out for the tummy then one must try out the Mexican Fiesta spread which includes both the Mexican dishes to be washed down with a margarita. Cocktails of this range are bound to get the guest in a playful mood and if one leaves some sombreros lying around it would soon be picked up and the music would be danced to.
I know, its screams eighties like self storage and mullets, but blender drinks are more than a nostalgic trip to a misspent youth. The one thing that is infinitely more difficult these days is that people don’t have blenders like they used to. A household is more likely to have a hand blender and a food processor, both of which will not do for a proper pina colada or strawberry daiquiri. The classic daiquiri combines rum, triple sec, and lime More
Warm cozy nights by a roaring fire, sweaters, turtleneck shirts and scarves bring to mind the long and at times, dreary months of winter. Now, with the warm weather approaching it is difficult to think about cold weather cocktails. Most of us have endured a long harsh winter and are looking forward to the summer, grilling on the deck and cool refreshing drinks. However, I was introduced to this recipe from some friends and it was so good that I More
So I love me a good screwdriver drink every weekend when I I escape those School Management Jobs. But even though some people believe that it’s the orange juice that makes a good screwdriver, I think it has to do with the brand of vodka used. To this end no two screwdriver drink will taste the same.
Now Vodka is a renowned alcoholic drink famously associated with Russia, although, its origin is More
I threw a fabulous dinner party at the weekend – just me and a few friends, nothing too crazy or hectic, just lots of delicious food (if I do say so myself!) and of course, the best cocktails in the whole universe! Okay, so maybe I am a little bit biased, but my cocktails are without a doubt the best I’ve ever tasted! I bet you’re wishing that you’d been invited to my dinner party now, don’t you! well just More
Located in Kentish Town, London, The Southampton Arms is the only London ale and cider house to only sell beers and ciders from the small independent breweries in the United Kingdom. The pub is an old-fashioned watering hole that eschews the modern trappings of modern pubs. The Southampton Arms do not accept bookings, they do not reserve tables, and they do not reserve areas of the bar. In fact, the pub does not even have a telephone. More
Safety precautions any time on a skiing trip are necessary for a fun and safe time. What type of safety gear you choose is of personal preference and you get to decide what to wear or not wear, if you should use a helmet while on a ski getaway and what other measures you should take. An important safety hint to any one goes skiing to ensure their personal protection,is to wear a helmet.
