Jun 172011
 

Shaker One here.  I was recently invited to join a friend for a little tuesday happy hour fun at a place I had not tried yet-The Westside Tavern (downstairs).  He promised delicious cocktails including a Watermelon Flip, which intrigued us both.  Sadly, when we got there the bar did not have the watermelon drink available.  But we consoled ourselves with two other tasty beverages.

Nothing like walking up to the bar to meet your friend and they already have your drink waiting for you.  A Grapefruit Rickey .  This is a really nice not overly tart version of the classic rickey.  St. Germain is added to soften the tang of the grapefruit juice.  A fantastic summer sipper.

Next up was our replacement for the watermelon flip:

The Strawberry Tarragon Flip

 

 

Wow.  I think I’m glad they were out of watermelon.  Fresh strawberries and tarragon muddled with lime juice, vodka, simple syrup and pasteurized egg whites-shaken, strained into a martini glass and garnished with a spanked tarragon leaf.  What?  You don’t spank your herbs to release their essential oils?  Naughty, naughty tarragon.

This cocktail knocked my socks off.  Subtle and airy.  You could taste the freshness of the ingredients and no one overpowered the others.  I could have put away several of these.  Easily.  I look forward to crafting this at home.  Though I’ve used thyme, rosemary, basil, cilantro, and of course mint in cocktails, I’d never thought to add tarragon.  I can’t wait to try tarragon with other fruit/booze combinations.

Sadly it was a school night, so our happy hour sipping stopped there.  But I will be back to sample the rest of their cocktail menu another time.  A great spot to grab well crafted drinks before/after a movie and super convenient location smack dab in the middle of the West Side.  Now I’m off to buy some tarragon.

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Jun 132010
 

After far too long away from the Balcony Bar, Shakers One and Two got together to celebrate (somewhat belatedly)  two very important events:  Shaker Two’s Birthday and the one year anniversary of The Red Shaker Blog!  Awww, they grow up so fast don’t they?  It seems like just yesterday we were picking out a name…….

Back to the shaking shenanigans.  We were joined by two lovely guests to help us try out a few new martinis.  On the menu, some old favorite treats from the first year of the blog:

Gougeres, shrimp cocktails, stuffed mushrooms and vichyssoise! (YAY!! some of my favorite niblets from the Shaker One kitchen!! ~Shaker Two)

Stuffed Mushrooms

Gougeres, shrimp, vodka

vichyssoise

We began the evening with a champagne toast.  If you’re looking for a lovely bubbly, this is the one to try. Marc Hebrart Brut!

Our first ‘tini of the evening was The Pineapple Basil Martini

Pineapple basil martini

“Refreshing” “The basil made the pineapple taste more mild” “An interesting touch”

Shaker One and our two guests enjoyed this a bit more than Shaker Two (who is not the biggest basil fan out there)

3 3/4 to 4 olives from S1 and guests, 3 1/2 from S2.

Next up: Rosemary Ruby Cocktail

Rosemary Ruby Red Cocktail

I know, I know- it’s from Rachael Ray.  Cast aspersions at will.   I can guarantee you neither Shaker One nor Shaker Two has ever been considered perky.

The consensus here was enjoyable, but a bit too sweet.  It needs to have more grapefruit flavor, perhaps a splash of lime juice to brighten it up and definitely dial way back on the simple syrup.  Pleasant, but as one taster put it “it smells better than it tastes”.

As written 3 olives…..needs improvement.

We moved on to a take on The Rosemary Lemonade Cocktail– martini style.   I found this recipe in the comments section here

Rosemary Lemonade Cocktail

A refreshing cocktail, but needs more lemon.  We all agreed it would be fantastic over ice as a summer sipper.  Shaker One says this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship with iced tea for an herbal Arnold Palmer.

As written 3 olives, over ice 3 1/2 +

We ended the evening with a special birthday cake made by Shaker One. (soooooo awesome and soooo tasty!! I hated to cut into it!!)

Martini cake!!!

All in all a  lovely evening and a wonderful double celebration.  Thanks to Jenna and Lyndsey for helping us taste, rate  and mark our first year of martini madness.  Here’s to another year of searching out the best things you can put in a martini glass.

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May 232010
 

The Shakers just came back from a surprise birthday for a friend of ours, Simon (aka the Simonster) In honor of him notching another year on his belt, Shaker One created a lovely custom ‘tini for our friend.

The Simonstertini is a delicious concoction of grapefruit juice, lemongrass syrup, St. Germain and a few other ingredients that blended into a delightful drink. As a nod to Simon’s insane metabolism, we added in some “tape worms” made of long strands of grapefruit zest. Anyone who knows Simon knows his slender frame hides a rather freakish ability to down vast quantities of calorically dense food without normal human repercussions. In other words, we secretly hate him. 😉

The party was a fun affair and loaded with a number of Simon’s favorite take-out items, including Taco Bell, Popeye’s fried chicken, KyoChon, and pizza. Simon brought some amazing carnitas nachos he had made (he thought he was coming to dinner with a couple friends.) The decor was ocean themed in honor of Simon and Jenni’s impending trip to the Bahamas. There were shots of Crown Royal downed and a truly entertaining game of Celebrity played – the three round version for even more silliness, natch.

Special thanks to Jenni for planning the get-together, George for hosting, Kara for the Celebrity suggestion and the rest of the group for a fun evening.

Happy birthday, Simon!!!

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