Cocktail Time

I'm a big fan of funky little cocktails, and I found myself in need of a recipe for one at a recent dinner party.  The party had a Greek theme, and as I don't particularly care for ouzo (yuck), didn't want to serve beer, and was generally disinterested in a number of other Greek drink options, I decided to make up a specialty cocktail.  Thus, Persephone's Kiss was born.   There's nothing about this that is actually Greek, but I squeaked by because of the pomegranate.  When in trouble always look to myths and folklore!

Persephone's Kiss

ingredients:

1 oz pomegranate juice

3 oz Champagne 

1 small scoop pomegranate-blueberry ice cream*

Pour pomegranate juice in a champagne saucer.  Top with Champagne and gently in drop ice cream.  

*A melon baller makes small, pretty scoops

I love that these were a little fancy and a little like dessert.  I had seconds.

Banishing HFCS: Margaritas

I think high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is the devil, and I'm on a mission to remove it from my diet altogether.  Sometimes this is simple, but it seems that I really run into trouble when I try to find drink mixers sans HFCS.  This was recently the case when I set out to find sweet and sour mix for margaritas so I decided to make my own.

Sweet and Sour Mix

ingredients:

3 cups water

3 cups sugar

2 cups lime juice

2 cups lemon juice

Combine water and sugar in a stock pot and stir to dissolve sugar.  Bring to a boil then remove from heat.  You now have simple syrup.  Allow the simple syrup to cool.  Add lime and lemon juice.  Refrigerate until cold.

I like my margaritas on the rocks with plenty of lime and no salt.  Feel free to modify to fit your particular likes and dislikes.  (Charlie always goes for the salt.)  Here's a loose recipe.

Margarita

Fill a low-ball glass with ice.  Combine one part tequila and two parts sweet and sour mix.  Top with a splash of orange liqueur (I like Patron Orange) and a slice of lime.

Fentimans Tonic Water

Charlie and I have been on a quest to completely knock high fructose corn syrup out of our diets. Sometimes this is easy: don't buy Gatorade, drink water; always read labels; eat whole foods.
We cook a lot of our food from scratch and enjoy the process so that helps tremendously. However, there has been one product we haven't been able to find without high fructose corn syrup. Tonic. I love a super-cold vodka tonic with a slice of lime. There really is no equal (or substitute) for that particular drink. Charlie and I tried to fake our way past the HFCS problem by creating a new drink, but club soda and extra lime just really don't cut it.
SO, when we found Fentimans Tonic Water this weekend we were overjoyed. The ingredient list includes actual sugar. Wonder of wonders! We stumbled upon Fentimans while perusing Belly General Store, a wonderful gourmet food and coffee shop in our neighborhood. They had the tiny bottles of chilled tonic snuggled in with other gourmet sodas. We snatched two bottles, purchased them, and took them home to try.
Boy was I impressed! The flavor does not even compare to other tonic I've tried. It's so crisp, clean, and natural. Even with Smirnoff vodka (reputable but not top shelf) it was easily the best vodka tonic I've ever had. So, problem solved, right? Wrong. The adorable bottles contain 125 ml of tonic -- enough for one drink. At $2.76 a pop they're just too expensive for casual use. I checked online to see if I could order a case at a discount rate, but it seems that this option is currently only available in the UK. Too bad! For now it will have to be a special occassion drink, and I'll continue searching for another brand that uses sugar.
Belly is the only place I know of in Atlanta that carries Fentimans. If you live in town and enjoy tonic you should really do yourself a favor and pick up a few bottles. They are expensive but also delicious!