Sidecar Saturday: Literally

Travel for two

yield
Makes 1 drink: Sidecar
This adaptation of a classic recipe comes from Eben Freeman, bartender of Tailor Restaurant in New York City.
ingredients
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
1 lemon wedge
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) Cognac
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) Cointreau or other Triple Sec orange liqueur
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) fresh lemon juice
1 cup ice
preparation
Spread superfine sugar on small plate. Rub lemon wedge halfway around rim of chilled martini or coupe glass. Dip moistened side of glass in sugar to lightly coat outside rim of glass. Set aside.
In cocktail shaker, combine Cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice. Add ice and shake vigorously until well chilled, about 30 seconds. Strain into prepared martini or coupe glass and serve.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/drink/views/Sidecar-350783#ixzz2aIMEswTf

Maybe drink a sidecar in your sidecar…passengers only. NO DRINKING AND DRIVING!!!

Friday: Friends, a Frosty Drink, and a Ford (Harrison that is)

Friday is my art day. I go over to Towne Creek around 2:30, but I was a little late, as I stopped at Michael’s Crafts. What can I say… there was a sale! I made cheese quesadillas for our snack and I did a demo of some hanging wisteria flowers with pastel chalk. No photo…I forgot. The hours really fly by when I’m painting, cooking, cleaning and answering a zillion art questions. (If I don’t know the correct answer, I just make stuff up. But, that’s OK. I told them up from that I do) So, that’s the friends part.

Friday nights are my favorite. I always have a cocktail and the end of the busy day. Sometimes it’s just a rum and Coke, but today was warm and muggy out and that called for my famous Black Russian. A couple scoops of chocolate ice cream, 1 shot of Kahlúa, and 2 shots of vodka. Voilá…a frosty drink.

While sitting in my Lazy Boy chair, (They really should market a Lazy Girl.) flipping through all the bazillion channels on the TV, I was left with a conundrum. What is that you ask? Well, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Presumed Innocent” were both on at the same time. I love Harrison Ford, so how do I choose between the two movies? Harrison’s hair is short and strangely weird in “Presumed Innocent,” and he plays an awful arrogant cad, but it’s an interesting story line. Then in “Raiders,” Dr. Jones is a ruggedly handsome archeologist who saves the Ark from the evil Nazis. What do I do? The answer…just flip back and forth and watch them both. Two Fords for the price of one. A little popcorn and my frosty drink, now that’s a fun Friday.

Tipsy Tuesday

Somewhere in the lunacy that is my life, I lost a day…again. How do you lose a day? I’m doing it more and more lately. I knew yesterday was Tuesday. I go to Zumba on Tuesday. I went to Zumba at 8:30. My plan was to have Tuesday be my “Tips from Toni Tuesday” for my blog. Well, by the time 10 pm slithered by, I was convinced that it was Monday night and I had already posted Monday’s blog earlier that morning. But, NOOOOO!

To my horror, when I glanced at the Dallas Morning News, there it was, in black and white…Wednesday, January 30, 2013. Well, at least it wasn’t 2033. I haven’t pulled a Rip Van Winkle, at least not yet. (Trivia Note: Rip slept for 20 years, not 100.) Then, I remembered my phone conversation Monday night with my son. He told me that Saturday, he went to his buddy’s 30th birthday party. I asked, “Rob was in the same class as you, how come he is so much older?” He kindly informed me that he was born in ’83 and it’s 2013, “Do the math, Mom.”

Oh, man! I lost a year. Most people would be concerned for their sanity. Not me, I like it. When everyone else is getting old and grey, I’ll be comfortable in the knowledge that I am so much younger than all my friends. Yes, it’s a good thing!

So, here it is. Better late than never.

TUESDAY’S TIPS FROM TONI

If you have any of those silicone baking pans for cute cupcakes, they make great ice cube trays. But, instead of freezing water, use lemonade and then you can pop them into iced tea for a lemony tea. Or you can freeze different juices and add to drinks, and they won’t dilute your beverage. Plus, they look cute! Make sure you place them on a cookie sheet to freeze because they are wobbly. After they are frozen, you can wrap them individually in plastic wrap and freeze a whole bunch and put them in a ziplock bag and keep frozen.

They come in all kinds of cute shapes for the ladies, and they even have footballs, soccer balls, golf balls, etc., for the macho guys who don’t care to have roses or butterflies floating in their manly martinis.