New Year's Eve

Happy new year's eve!!!

Celebate the end of a year and the beginning of the next. With champagne, of course. Repeat a few times until toasty.

Enjoy your party if you are celebrating at one. Me? I will be at home like I have been for the past years. One year, quite a long time ago, I watched the new year celebrations on television with champagne and tunafish sandwiches. That was actually one of my more fun and memorable New Years. Celebrating the new year can be plain and simple. But fun.

Have a fun...and safe new year!

Happy Hour Friday - Midori Champagne Cocktail

Midori Champagne Cocktail

In a champagne flute:

Add 1 oz. Midori.
Fill with champagne.
Squeeze fresh lemon juice.

Happy Hour Friday - Greyhound Champagne Cocktail

I am not sure what the official name of this drink is because I made it up. I just thought of what I would like to mix with champagne.

Greyhound Champagne Cocktail

In a champagne flute:

• Fill 3/4 glass champagne.
• Fill with red grapefruit juice.
• Squeeze lime juice.

Happy Hour Friday - Champagne Cosmo

Champagne Cosmo

• Add ice to a shaker.
• Add 1-1/2 oz. vodka.
• Add 1-1/2 oz. cranberry juice.
• Add 1/2 oz. lime juice.
• Add splash of Grand Marnier or Triple Sec.
• Shake until chilled.
• Strain and pour into a champagne flute.
• Fill with champagne.

Happy Hour Friday - Bellini

A tasty favorite of mine. Three versions of the drink. Try and see which one is your favorite. I like mine with white peach juice.

Bellini

In a champagne flute:

• Fill with champagne
• Add 1 oz. Peach Schnapps
• Garnish with lemon twist

Bellini (White Peach Juice)

In a champagne flute:

• Fill with champagne
• Add white peach juice

Bellini (Peach Nectar)

In a champagne flute:

• Fill with champagne
• Add peach nectar

Happy Hour Friday - Mimosa

A classic brunch drink...

Mimosa

In a champagne flute, fill with:

• 3/4 glass champagne
• 1/4 glass orange juice

Garnish with orange slice (optional).

Happy Hour Friday - Champagne Cocktail

Getting ready for New Year's Eve. Or just plain good at any time. Just a few champagne drinks for the next few posts.

Champagne Cocktail

In a champagne flute, add:

• 1 sugar cube
• Splash 2 dashes of bitters
• Fill with champagne

Christmas!

Today is Christmas. Christmas gives me warm and fuzzies. I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday as they celebrate it.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Nogged Out

It is Christmas eve. I am nogged out on an eggnog shake from Chez Jacques. Tasty. So I am in a food fugue at the moment.

I have brownie cookies waiting for Santa at midnight.

Happy holidays!

Happy Hour Friday - Three Wise Men

The name is cute if you just stop for a minute and think about it. Tee hee.

Three Wise Men

• 1/2 oz. Johnny Walker
• 1/2 oz. Jack Daniels
• 1/2 oz. Jim Beam

Pour all three liquors in a shot glass.

Cute, eh?

Happy Hour Friday - Brandy Alexander

I guess I must have the holiday bug.

Brandy Alexander

• 1-1/2 oz. brandy
• 1/2 oz. dark creme de cacao
• 1 oz. cream

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
Add brandy.
Add dark creme de cacao.
Add cream.
Shake until very cold.
Strain into a martini glass.

Happy Hour Friday - Hot Toddy

If you feel the sniffles coming on, try this.

Hot Toddy

• Sugar cube or honey
• 1 oz. whiskey
• Hot water
• Lemon wedge and slice

In a mug, add a sugar cube or honey.
Add whiskey.
Fill with hot water.
Squeeze lemon wedge.
Stir.
Float lemon slice on top.

Happy Hour Friday - Brandy Coffee

For those chilly evenings after dinner.

Brandy Coffee

• 1 oz. brandy
• Hot coffee

In a coffee cup, add sugar.
Add brandy.
Fill with hot coffee.

Happy Hour Friday - Eggnog

Okay. I know it is not Friday but I just want to keep it all easy to find. I guess I am just in the holiday mood. Well, actually, I just love the holidays for the...eggnog! This is just something simple that I (and probably a lot of other people) have during the holidays. This is not the actual recipe but this is just my plain simple eggnog from a carton.

Eggnog

• 1-1/2 oz. rum
• Bud's Egg Nog
• nutmeg

Pour rum into a coffee mug.
Add Bud's Egg Nog.
Heat in microwave until hot (1-1/2 minutes or more depending on your wattage).
Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Mmmmmm...yummy. I just love this on a cold evening curled up watching telly.

BK Confession

Okay, I am now coming clean. I am usually a health nut and do not go near the fast food joints. I was feeling hurky queasy from the drink I had at brunch. I needed something greasy to quell the queasy. (As I say in Cat in the Hat lingo.) I eye spy Burger King. That will do. That fits the greasy bill. To my sister's total surprise, I order us Whoppers. Not sure if she caught this or not but for sake of speediness I ordered it full blown. With mayo. I always order burgers without mayo. The fast food joints tend to slather the stuff on drowning the poor burger. I am usually a lettuce, tomato, onion, sprouts kinda gal. I take a bite. Oh, oh. This...is...not...bad. Few more bites. Gone. I guess this is a twisted meaning of "guilty pleasure." I now freely admit that I liked it. The Whopper, that is.


(You do remember I like to eat, right?)

Craving Won Ton Mein

I am watching an episode of Diary of a Foodie on PBS. There is a segment on won ton noodle soup. Mmmmm. Chinese comfort food. They are in Hong Kong in the Causeway Bay neighboorhood. Gosh, the food looks so good! But it is a simple dish. Simple in means of it being a simple food. But it is anything but simple to make. I used to make it when I was a kid. My dad taught us how to make it from scratch and it takes more ingredients than you think and a lot of time to make. But homemade won ton is just soooooooo good.

Happy Hour Friday - Candy Cane Martini

Well, the Christmas holiday is coming up. It is not too early to think about merry cocktails.

Candy Cane Martini

• 1 oz. vodka
• 1 oz. peppermint schnapps
• candy cane (optional)

Fill cocktail shaker with ice.
Add vodka.
Add peppermint schnapps.
Shake mixer about 12-15 times until contents are really cold.
Strain contents into a martini glass.
Add candy cane to martini glass.

Med Food

Went to a so-so new restaurant. Mediterranean food. Mmmmmm...yummity. Meze platter was a meal in itself. Hummus, baba ganoush, tabouli, haydari, ezme, falafel and squash dip. Entree was a mixed grill. Grilled shrimp, ground beef/lamb, chicken and beef kebabs.

I really dig Mediterranean food. It is really tasty and more on the healthy side (always a plus). Just not too many Mediterranean restaurants and especially surprised that this one is local. The other ones that come to mind are in different parts of the city and is more of a destination spot. This place is definitely a repeater.

Mmmmmm... yummity...Gosh, I do like to eat, dunt I?

Canned Comfort

Another one of those cravings hit me. This time for a can of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee ravioli. I used to eat this as a kid and came to be a comfort food. My dad would make (well, heat up...really) a can for lunch and fell in love with it as a kid. I really tried to stave off that craving (the chugging water trick usually works) but I eventually gave in. I guess something in me just wanted that comfort food to throw me back into that time of innocence. I must have been moody and just wanted to embrace some nostaglia. To lessen some of that tastes-so-good-but-so-bad-for-you guilt, I opened a can of fat-free ravioli (yep, they actually make it) but, yes, yes, yes, all that sodium. Would be heaven if they would fat-free low sodium. But, in the meantime, I will enjoy this can of comfort and think of my dad with every bite.

Happy Hour Friday - Kir Royale

It is that time of the week...happy hour Friday!

I nostalgically thought of a Kir Royale since I used to order them for brunch at a restaurant called Cheers which has been closed a few years back. It had great food in a casual atmosphere with white table cloths. Great American fare with a killer creme brulee. Oh, I can just vividly remember the crunch of the caramelized sugar down to the Tahitian vanilla. Mmmm...yum...

Kir Royale

• Add 1/4 oz. cassis into a champagne flute.
• Fill with champagne.

Enjoy!

Pizza, Pizza

I did something totally out of character today. I was at the supermarket and I bought two frozen pizzas. I guess out of curiousity and being cheap. I never bought a frozen pizza in my life. Until now. I thought I would doctor it up with fresh veggies and toss some basil (love basil) on top at the last few minutes.

• I guess a few factors were involved that influenced me to pick up the pizzas:
  I actually had been craving a Round Table gourmet veggie for months now. Yes...months! But I have not given in yet to that craving.


• I had just ordered and received my silicone baking sheets and am curious as to how good they are in the oven - baking, roasting, clean-up, etc.


• They were cheap. They were three bucks and change apiece.

But...the pizza is, of course, high in fat grams. That is the first thing I check. Fat grams. This part of it blows but I succumb. I toss them into my cart and off I go.

Another Commuter Pet Peeve

Guys that sit with their legs wide apart. C'mon on now guys. What gives? There is no reason why you should be taking up so much air space. Stay on your side of the seat. Ego, maybe? Marking your territory? The alpha male thing? Get over it. Close your darn legs and be a gentleman. Lose your inner Al Bundy.

Horrible thought -- when it is a woman. Blechhh!

Signs of Christmas

I cannot help but laugh hysterically at the seasonal television commercials just in time for the Christmas season. You know Christmas is just around the corner when you see these commercials:

• Chia pets in the craziest configurations
• Salad Shooter (do they actually still make this product???)
• Clapper (clap on, clap off)

Can you add any more to the list? I am sure there are more!