Shake It Up!

I tried something a little different this month for The GrapeVine Tasting Club. Instead of just going through wines and sniffing and tasting and doing the whole, regular wine tasting thing...we mixed it up a bit, literally. Cocktails are so popular now from new inventive one, to re-creating old classics with a new spin. So since I'm a wine girl, I figured my cocktail spin would be making them with wine and sharing that recipe with the Tasting Club. We made like 9 different drinks, trying a couple of different wines with the same recipe and changing the alcohol. The crowd had a few favs, and there was only 1 real miss...Wine Spritzer. But they still had fun tasting everything. A few had a little too much fun if you know what I mean, LOL!

Here are a couple of the main drinks. They're all super easy and hopefully you'll enjoy some of these at home or your next party.

Kir & Kir Royale
Creme de Cassis, White Wine (Sparkling Wine for Kir Royale)

Sour Grapes
Pinot Grigio, Sour Mix (we tried this with Sauvignon Blanc as well)

Wine Spritzer
White Wine, Club Soda

Calimocho
Rioja, Cola, Shot of Rum

Ice-tini
Ice Wine, Vodka (we used a white wine & a red wine)

Something Blue
Hypnotiq, Ginger Ale, White Wine

Cuckoo for Cocktails

Clearly I'm a wine drinker, but sometimes my palate wants a little something different. Which seemed to be the case this weekend. Perhaps since it was so hot, only a drink with some ice would do the trick. Either way, starting from Friday until today, cocktails were the drinks of choice.

Friday night I was lucky enough to have tix to see Jill Scott and Maxwell in concert. My girlfriend's husband wanted her to get out and enjoy herself before the baby comes so he scored the tix for us. It was a surprise for her...and it actually worked! She had no idea and was so excited! Before the show we went to Coco Sala for dinner. The 1st cocktail on the list caught my eye, the Alisar - cucumbers, vodka, and lime juice. This drink was absolutely amazing! It just had a slight hint of the cucumber flavor, but the tartness of the lime juice and the vodka...well you know how that tastes.

Saturday was 'Get my house in order day' so I did just that. I had a little sweet tea vodka and lemonade to help me with the tasks at hand.

Sunday I had a mimosa for brunch at Ulah Bistro to go with my crab & brie omelet. Then later on met up with a friend at Ping Pong Dim Sum for happy hour and had a kumquat mojito. Harris Teeter has a special on kumquats, I will be going back for some!

Speaking Your Language

I am always into something. This time, I'm learning French. I just finished up a semester of Beginner French I through the Global Language Network at The George Washington University (my grad school alma mater). A full immersion class, we spoke 90% French in class when we met for 2 hours every Tuesday. In the beginning, I mostly looked at the instructor with a real blank look because I had no idea what she was talking about! But now, I can figure some of the words out and even form complete sentences in French. Go me!

For our last class we went to Bistrot du Coin in Dupont. Since I'm a wine blogger, I arrived a bit early to enjoy some French wine at the bar. I decided on an Alsace, melon & honey on the nose. Honey, lemon, tart aftertaste. Once the class had arrived, we were seated in a table close to the open windows and had a French waiter and ordered in French. My French is definitely shaky but I do know my foods :-) Steak Frites!

Doing at the French do, I ordered a Kir Royale as an aperitif to enjoy before my Tournedos au Trois Poivres, which is pan seared steak with red wine peppercorn sauce, arrived. Kir Royale is Champagne and Chambord (a raspberry liqueur) and very popular among the French. I was ordering them quite often when I first got back from France last year and had forgotten how much I enjoy the drink. It was a fruity crisp flavor that was perfect for the heat of the day. And my steak was amazing!! I have to go back there again to try the moules (mussels) and canard (duck)

Our teacher brought a French exchange student with her so I had the pleasure of trying out my French on her, a high school freshman. And she had the opportunity to work on her English with us. After a bit of confusion in the beginning, laughter, and Google translate, we were able to communicate some basic sentences and ask her some basic questions. She really likes shopping at the Gap in America :-)

Flair for the Fabulous

Have you ever been to a bar and saw the bartender flip the shakers, toss the bottles behind his back, juggle with glasses? It is a pretty cool sight. To do something exciting and different, I went to Great Gatherings in Annapolis and watched Chris Cardone bartend 'with flair' as he flipped cocktail shakers and balanced bottles on the back of his hand...and then make us a cocktail!

He made 2 standard cocktails, The Manhattan, and a Mojito. Then as a twist on the Pisco Sour, Chris gave us the Passion Pisco Sour. We of course got to sample all of them and get his tips on how to make a great cocktail at home. He was also very knowledgeable about current cocktail books and which ones would be most helpful. I have the internet, so no books necessary for me ;-) But I did go out and buy pisco later that evening, that drink was my fave!