“What are you going to make for cocktails?” Suzen asked.
“I don’t know yet,” I said. No panic. I had two hours to figure it out.
“And you need to clean out the refrigerator, too. Please.” The please was intense.
We were about to have a dinner party and the refrigerator was something that we did not want others to see. There was nothing particularly contagious in our fridge but everyone gathers in our kitchen. They would see inside and either be impressed with our clean, orderly way of life. Or, they might reach for their personal bottle of Purell.
For this party, we had all new recipes from appetizers to dessert. I felt an obligation to come up with a new, grand cocktail.
So, once again, I turned to www.giffordsguide.com, the most fabulous site and resource for home bartenders on the planet. The picture at the top is a screen shot of the cocktail page. It’s sitting there ready for you to make selections, say for the base liquor, and the application will come up with one or more recommendations [okay, you can specify so many things that there are no recommendations; in which case, try again!].
It’s a delight to just play with the choices and see what happens. Suzen wanted gin and I had lots of cranberry juice in the fridge. I entered those two ideas and up came a dozen recommendations. All I had to do was scan through those and find something that appealed to me. I did not want to make something with 10 ingredients, so I began the elimination process. I did have fresh orange juice in fridge. And I had my supply of simple syrup sitting there, too.
In the Giffords list, I found this Between Decks combo featuring just what I had on hand. Everyone was delighted with this cocktail, a perfect match for our appetizers [to be blogged tomorrow!].
I invite you to enjoy this lovely cocktail and you owe yourself a trip to www.giffordsguide.com for a playful experience.
I have experimented with this recipe and substituted lemon juice for lime. And, being me, I’ve doubled the amount of sugar syrup. The result then was a much more mild drinking experience, which can befriend those who are not into cocktails with a kick.
Between Desks
Servings: 1 cocktail
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ shots of gin
- 1 shot freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 shot cranberry juice
- ½ shot freshly squeezed lime juice
- ¼ shot simple syrup
Preparation:
Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Vigorously shake until quite cold, at least 30 seconds. Pour into a cocktail glass [or a wine glass!] filled with shaved ice.
Source: www.giffordsguide.com