ensures the creative juices flow!

Some days, when you’re whiling away your time behind a bar, a sudden flash of inspiration hits you! It’s like being struck by lightening, of the culinary kind. Then it is time to create! This happened to me a wee while back now, and I have perfected it.

It contains some of my favorite flavors, and has just a few simple ingredients in it! It contains four ingredients, and it has regularly been said that a cocktail must contain at least three ingredients to be a cocktails (a point hotly debated by the martini enthusiast out there). So I have made sure that there are plenty, although don’t be afraid to experiment at home if you only have a couple of the ingredients- these ingredients match each other individually as well as when combined!

So now I’ve whittered on about it I’m sure you’d like to know what it is! It is the Raspberry Haven! Because believe me it’s heavenly to drink!

Ingredients;

45ml Amaretto

15ml Chambord (black raspberry liquor)

½ cup raspberries

Squeeze ½ lemon

Method;

Add the raspberries and the squeeze of lemon into the glass boston, then muddle the raspberries for about 30 seconds. Then add the amaretto and Chambord, top the boston with ice and shake for the next 40 seconds. Then pour into a short glass, and add a whole raspberry on the top.  This mixture makes one scrummy cocktail!

You should always feel free to ask for a cocktail the way that you like it, as a good cocktail bartender should always be able to make a cocktail more sweet or sour! And the same applies when you are making your own delectable cocktails- if you like your cocktail more sweet, try adding some sugar syrup/ less lemon. If you like your cocktail more sour, add more lemon! 

Go create, live and enjoy your cocktails!

makes you feel fruity!

Today I was passing a fruit street vendor, and they had a special on bananas. Such a good special in fact that I couldn’t resist and purchased a bunch. Then it occurred to me that they were going to be going off in a few days, and so needed to be consumed, and fast. I racked my brains for a whole ten minutes. It was very taxing, and then I came up with the answer. The rocky-road. This is a cocktail that I was shown long ago. It is a cocktail that reminds me of children’s birthday parties (even though it is entirely unsuitable for children), for it is a real treat!

It tastes like a slice of rocky road with every mouthful that you take! Now are you ready….

Ingredients;

2 bananas

½ cup of raspberries

30ml baileys

30ml frangelico

45ml cream

2 cups Ice

3 swirls of chocolate sauce

Method;

Add all the ingredients into a mixer/blender, and blend until smooth. Then pour out into martini glasses, and put a swirl of chocolate sauce on top of each one, and garnish with a raspberry! This mixture make 2-3.

Now its time to turn up some cheesy 90’s pop and dance your heart out ! Just like you’re at a birthday party from way back! But be warned, too many of these and your head is going to be feeling pretty rocky in the am! 

makes your grey skies go away!

Oh god, Tuesdays are worse than Mondays haven’t you ever thought that. At least on Monday you can gossip about the weekend, and by Wednesday you’re thinking about the next weekend again. But Tuesdays are terrible. However you can brighten your Tuesday with a Tuesday tipple, and my tipple of choice for this Tuesday is a toblerone. 

Your thinking, so, now she’s telling me to eat chocolate but no, this is a delicious cocktail that will take you to somewhere far beyond a chocolate bar and into another world, one in which Tuesdays almost don’t exist.

So whip up one of these beauties, to melt all your cares away.

Ingredients;

30ml baileys

30ml frangelico

30ml crème de cacao

30ml milk

dollop of whipped cream

Method;

Add all of the ingredients to the boston, except for the whipped cream. Then shake them vigorously. Double strain the liquid into a martini glass, and top with a dollop of whipped cream.

This cocktail is one that many bars and restaurants will serve as a ‘dessert cocktail’ , but often they use a pre-mix, and rarely do they serve it with whipped cream on the top. So do yourself a favor and make this one your self, take your time and make it perfect. You can even sprinkle flakes of chocolate on top if it has been a particularly bad Tuesday.

Now cuddle up under a blanket, preferably with someone that you love, and let your cares melt away, because tomorrow is another day! 

makes a Saturday more than ok!

“Saturday, Saturday, Saturday nights all right” Said Elton John. But really don’t you sometimes feel that Saturday nights are a bit of a let down. You’re hyped up all week about what you’re going to do, what you’re going to wear and who you intend to meet. However it all seems to go a bit pear shaped more often than not. You usually have one too many overpriced drinks, and then manage to sprain your ankle, before seeing your ex out with some stupid young thing… right…. I can  see you nodding. However, I have the solution. Are you ready??  A mojito night. 

It is on the face of it just a slightly gimmicky idea… like a mojito and burrito dinner….but please wait, stick with me and I’ll show you. It consists of just the slight variations on the normal. It switches it up. It turns it around and suddenly we’re in Havana, grooving to the Cuban beats and feeling the Latin spirit.

Best of all you can be doing this with some friends in your own living room! No ridiculous cover charges, no snobby door staff, no lecherous men or disgusting cougars. Just some good friends and superb drinks.

Then we need the juice to limber up the soul, ready to dance… so here are a couple of my favorite mojitos!

1. The mango and passion fruit mojito. This little number will have you singing the cha-cha-char. It’s fruity and sweet and instills a sense of fun into every gathering! So lets begin…

Ingredients;

60ml white rum

45ml mango pulp

30ml passion fruit pulp

6 mint leaves

squeeze ½ lime

Method;

Firstly add the rum, passion fruit and mango to the boston. Then tear the mint in half, squeeze the lime into the boston and then top boston with ice. Shake hard for thirty seconds and then pour into a long glass, and add a straw!

2. The vanilla and honey mojito. This luxurious mojito will have you singing its praises all night long.  Its velvety texture and aroma of pure goodness will have you coming back for more!

Ingredients;

60ml golden rum

15ml honey

30ml vanilla infused sugar syrup

4 mint leaves

squeeze ½ lime

Method;

Firstly the rum, honey and vanilla syrup in the boston. Then stir them vigorously for thirty seconds. Add the mint leaves to the boston, and squeeze the lime into the boston. Then top the boston with ice and shake! Pour the contents of the boston into a long glass, and drizzle a little honey on top!

Now go out or rather stay in, and enjoy these delectable mojito and the Cuban beats!

keeps the blues away.

It's raining today. Not just showering, but torrential rain. The type of rain that chills the soul and makes you want to hide under a blanket and dream of summer. I was depressed for a time, until I remembered a little cocktail that i'd had when I was in Mexico.

 It reminds me of days on the beach and sultry summer nights, when you do things that are just a little bit naughty! 

This delectable drink is rather unorignally named an "Orange and Passionfruit Margarita", I prefer to think of it as a passionate orange love potion. So do you think you're ready to try one, it'll chase away the blues of everyday life and take you to a sultry summer night, when things were definitely less complicated. 

There are two versions to this cocktail..... the frozen and the straight up. 

For those of you that like your power tools lets begin with the frozen version..... it cools you down in the heat of the moment. 

Ingredients;

60ml golden tequila

30ml cointreau

90ml fresh squeezed orange juice

60ml passionfruit pulp

15ml Sugar syrup 

squeeze 1/2 lime

2cups of ice 

Method;

Well it's pretty simple, add all ingredients into a mixer/blender and blend! Then serve into margarita glasses. This recipe makes at least two scrumptious glasses. 

If you like you can sugar rim your margarita glasses, as the traditional salt rim will leave a bitter taste in your mouth. 

Ok now for you purists. Here is the straight up version. 

Ingredients;

30ml tequila 

30ml cointreau

30ml fresh squeezed orange juice 

30ml passionfruit pulp

15ml sugar syrup

squeeze 1/2 a lime  

Method;

Add all ingredients into a boston, top with ice. Then shake it for at least thirty seconds. Then double strain the liquid into margarita glasses. This mixture should make one tongue tingling cocktail. 

If you're feeling flash, you can garnish it with a slice of orange and a passionfruit cup float. 

Now drink up, and imagine the sand between your toes and the sun setting. Smell the sweet and fruity goodness.