I should’ve realized much earlier; the recipe called for vodka. Not just plain vodka, but flavoured vodka. Not just flavoured vodka, but TWO flavoured vodkas. Not just any two flavoured vodkas, two flavoured GREY GOOSE brand vodkas. It’s kind of like the adage about the dog you kick but still keeps coming back; but the cocktail recipe you know is wrong in every way possible, but you still tried making it.

I blame it on my qualifiers, which has affected my palate till I’m practically pregnant. Case in point; I really really wanted a creamsicle. I never want a creamsicle! And I wasn’t going to go to the store to buy a bag of creamsicles of which I’d eat a quarter and then throw away the rest of the box.

Thus, this Vanilla Creamsicle cocktail appears to be the perfect answer.

Vanilla Creamsicle
Ingredients:
- 1 oz Grey Goose La Vanille (substituted with UV vanilla vodka)
- 1 oz Grey Goose L’Orange (substituted with Svedka clementine vodka)
- 3 oz Orange juice
- 1/4 oz triple sec
- fresh cream
Garnish: orange peel

The promise

What can I say, I’m a sucker for things served in parfait cups. *sigh*.
However, when I tried to make the concoction myself, it looked alot more like baby formula from China pre-FDA-chief-execution, than anything non-toxic.

The truth

It tasted pretty foul too — had to dump it out after the tiniest sip.
I think I’m going to stick with White Russians to get my creamy cocktail fix from now on.

Last Friday, I re-entered the high heeled shark-infested waters known as the New York dating scene… to the great delight of more geriatric friends who love to live vicariously through me. The gent & I were meeting up at Union Square and winging it from there, and being a 21st century woman and all, I figured I should contribute some ideas for dinner & a bar afterwards. A New Yorker friend recommended a hidden bar, Angel Share, haphazardly located in the middle of a busy Japanese restaurant.First of all, let me say… this is not a bar for first dates. Or second dates even. Unless you’re 100% sure you’re madly in love with this guy/gal. This bar has romantic down to an art form, to the point where you’re going to want to take your pants off, regardless of how unattractive, uninteresting and repulsive your date might be. It’s insta-hook-up in bar form.

Three restaurants, 1 bartender with a chip on her shoulder, 1 run-in with a friend, and a flight of stairs later, we found ourselves inside a sushi place, standing outside a wooden door that could’ve easily passed for the entryway to a storage cabinet

“Are you sure it’s here?” my date asked. “I’ve been to this restaurant a couple times and never noticed a bar.”
“No no,” I insisted. “My friend said it was completely unmarked.”
I opened the door…

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Well. I’m drinking a cocktail I just made and despite being both a biologist and a budding statistician, I think I may contract salmonella tonight (around 1/20,000 chance). Oh well. At least I’ll have a blog post to show for it.

I got through the first hurdle of my grad school qualifying exam today! So to celebrate, I opened up a bottle of sherry I got recently (the cheap stuff, but hush, it’s my first time) and decided pretty soon after pouring off a taster size portion into my wine glass that 1) port is better and 2) maybe I should’ve spent more than $4.49 on the sherry. Now what to do with a whole bottle that I don’t particularly want to drink from again. I’ll definitely cook with it a bit, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to make cocktails out of the stuff too. A quick Google search tells me that Cream Sherry Flips are the most common cocktail made with cream sherry… but it involves an egg.

Cream Sherry Flip

2½ oz Cream Sherry
2 tsp Table Cream
1 tsp Simple Syrup (2:1)
1 Fresh Egg
Nutmeg

Instructions: In a cocktail shaker combine sherry, cream simple syrup and an egg. Shake vigorously (or use a stick blender) for 30 seconds. Add ice and shake again for 30 more seconds. Strain in to a mug or coffee cup and sprinkle with nutmeg.

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