My girlfriends all play tennis. And before you think I’m exaggerating, I’m not. They ALL PLAY TENNIS. I don’t. I’m the black sheep. I’m the one coming from Crossfit to meet them for drinks after they’ve played tennis. And they all look darling and have cute clothes, and tennis bags, and clever sayings. I’m just sweaty and have red cheeks.

But I love them anyway. I partnered with my friend Jamie to create a cocktail for post tennis gatherings as we kick off the outdoor tennis season in Seattle! This week marks the beginning of playing outside again and hopefully means we can have a few gatherings with friends post match.

Jamie is also making the cutest tennis clothes for you tennis ladies and fellas. She’s just launching now, so if you’re in Seattle you can pick up at RainGlow. If you aren’t in Seattle, follow her site here and get updated when it launches nationally! I’m holding out for a shirt that just says “rally.”

Back to the cocktail; we wanted something light and spring-y but with just a little punch. Since our friend sent us a case of Deep Eddy to test out - including the new lime flavor! - we had to use those when mixing! We came up with an extremely refreshing cocktail that’s almost a spiked lime-ade, but better!

Apres Tennis

makes one drink

1 ounce Deep Eddy Lime

1/2 ounce cointreau

2 lemon wedges

2 lime wedges

Topo Chico

Honeydew melon balls (frozen optional, but delicious!)

In a cocktail shaker, muddle together one lemon wedge and one lime wedge. Add ice, Deep Eddy Lime and cointreau. Shake well. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice and top with Topo Chico. Garnish with remaining lime and lemon wedges and a skewer filled with honeydew melon balls.

Hot tip: if you are going to freeze the balls, skewer them first then freeze!

Cin Cin!

This is the perfect cocktail for any spring/summer activities and cocktail hosting. I love how refreshing and light it is and do not skip the honeydew. Clearly we did it because it was a funny tennis ball allusion, but it is also SO DELICIOUS! It is perfect with the lemon/lime cocktail.

Enjoy!

Does anyone else have a child obsessed with their bracket right now? Mine is only obsessed with making sure Gonzaga gets to the end because that’s his team to win. Also making sure he beats his friends since they are all competing. He’s hilarious.

When we still had the Sonics in Seattle, I followed a ton of basketball. I haven’t really watched since then, but college ball this year has been a blast! Who are you rooting for? Who’s your team?

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I realized a few years ago that if you shake a martini with basil leaves in the shaker, it dyes the whole thing green. It’s like the perfect St. Patrick’s Day cocktail. Why? Because it’s green, it’s not going to cause beer-bloat, and it’s SO DELICIOUS. I can’t even. If basil isn’t your favorite then we probably aren’t friends.

You should probably mix one of these up tonight just to make sure you’re ready for next week.

I had the most amazing realization this week - if I muddle some green things together it will turn the drink a lovely shade of green! Which means it’s perfect for St. Patrick’s Day without being dyed green or filled with something gross.

This isn’t just a St. Patrick’s Day drink that’s not gross - this is your new favorite spring cocktail. It’s light and refreshing, it’s made with all that mint growing in your yard, and it has a vegetable in it - healthy! I cannot wait for you to drink this. Tonight is the perfect night for it - or tomorrow - or the next day.

BUBBLY CUCUMBER MINT

makes 2 drinks

6 slices of cucumber

10-12 mint leaves

4 ounces Hendricks Gin

Sparkling water

In a cocktail shaker, muddle together mint and cucumber using a muddler or the back of a wooden spoon. Add ice and gin. Shake well. Strain into two glasses and top with bubbly water (try Too Chico if you haven’t already)

Garnish with cucumber wheels and mint leaves.

Cheers!

HAPPY SUPER BOWL WEEKEND! We’re so excited in our family. We watch football all fall. When it’s Monday night and football is in the background of dinner, my daughter rolls her eyes and says “football again?” But she still knows the players and teams, so it’s not like she hates it as much as she pretends. It started with my youngest’s obsession with football as a baby and has grown into a full blown preoccupation.

Super Bowl is literally the biggest thing at our house. Once it is over, my youngest sinks into a small depression when football ends and start watching reruns of games from the season. Then there’s combine, the draft, and the preseason. Do don’t worry about him too much. He’s already started setting up his mock draft for this off season.

For the kids cocktails this year I’ve been making fizzy lemonade. They love it. It’s just sparkling water that I stir in powdered lemonade. That’s what they’ll be drinking this Sunday. But it reminded me of beergaritas - also known as the Lemonade Shandy.

Lemonade Shandies are one of my favorite things to mix up when you host a party for a football game. They are boozy but not so boozy that you can’t keep up with the whole game (and the ads). Clearly we aren’t hosting parties this year thanks to the Covid which has literally ended all fun social interactions. I still left the ratios for the ingredients as punch bowl sized. I don’t recommend you drink the whole thing yourself. Think of it as ratios that you can adjust.

SUPER BOWL SHANDY

36 ounce corona beer

2 cups vodka

52 ounces lemonade

In a pitcher or a punch bowl, combine all of the ingredients and serve with a wedge of lemon.

If I ate a sugar cookie while drinking a Manhattan I would literally go into a sugar coma. I haven’t had that much sugar in a really long time - but I cannot deny it is a dream of mine to eat sugar cookies and drink cocktails. If I had a restaurant, it would serve sugar cookies and boozy drinks - preferably vintage cocktails and champagne. Can you even? Wouldn’t that be the best? What would we name our restaurant? Should we serve charcuterie boards as well? Would that be the most bougie/basic thing ever? Probably.

Until I open my bougie/basic cookie bar (do we name it The Cookie Bar?!?!) I will have to settle for making my own. It’s not that big of a stretch. I make cookies for every holiday and send them around to friends. And there’s no denying I like a good cocktail.

For Valentines’s Day I paired up this natural (?) duo with a Manhattan and sugar cookies. My sugar cookies have become famous in the neighborhood. When everyone else “boo-s” with candy at Halloween, my kids “boo” with sugar cookies. The truth of my sugar cookies is that they are really a quick knock off of Jenny Cookies recipe. Her recipe has things like “refrigerate the dough” and “add the flour a little at a time.” I don’t have the patience for either of those things. Because her recipe is so easy to remember, it’s become mine too.

SUGAR COOKIES

makes 2 dozen

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter (room temperature or slightly warmer)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

STEP 1

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the flour and the baking powder. Set aside.

STEP 2

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until soft and totally incorporated. It’s important you don’t see ‘chunks’ of butter.

STEP 3

Add the eggs and vanilla and combine totally.

STEP 4

Add the flour mixture and combine on low speed until it looks ‘crumbly.’ Then turn up the mixer speed and beat until the dough forms a ball. It legitimately will form a ball and you’ll panic for a minute that you’ve ruined everything and why is it so crumbly, and then it just works.

STEP 5

Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch depth. I use rolling pin with guides on it so I know I’m at the same depth all the way around. If the cookies end up being different depths, you will end up with some cooked and some still raw.

STEP 6

Bake 6-8 minutes until just set. Let cool on the cookie sheet 5-10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before frosting.

The perfect Manhattan is not super hard. But there are lots of opinions on how to make the perfect Manhattan - even saying that is a problem because there’s a variation of Manhattan called “Perfect Manhattan.” {eyeroll}

I turned to my own personal cocktail expert - my friend Eric - who has strong opinions on the subject of cocktails for his opinion on what we would call the perfect Manhattan - the history of the drink seemed like a good place to start.

There’s no exact place the cocktail was invented - the only thing the stories all agree with is that it was developed in the 1880’s in NYC. One story is that it was created for the mother of Winston Churchill before he was born (the timeline doesn’t work) but I’m here for that story. It’s great.

The original drink was made with “American whiskey”, French vermouth and 3-4 dashes of bitters. The “American whiskey” is the critical part. That’s what we would call rye today. It’s not bourbon. You can make this with bourbon, but it’s a different drink. Eric says it sweeter, I say “it’s not as delicious.” Some early versions have a few dashes of gum syrup as well. Gum syrup (or gimme syrup) is basically a simple syrup but with gum arabic dissolved in it as well as sugar. Since that’s just a thickener/stabilizer, we can assume it had nothing to do with adding flavor so really, just a few dashes of simple syrup.

The recipe gets slightly more complicated during prohibition when American whiskey becomes a challenge to get in NYC but Canadian whiskey isn’t the same challenge (geography). Some recipes still use Canadian whiskey because of this hiccup in history.

Before I give you the recipe for a perfect (not Perfect) Manhattan, let me first say that Eric is dying right now that I made my Manhattans on the rocks. He would make them up. Only. And he’s going to call me for sure when he sees these pictures and tell me how wrong it is. So let me say - the correct way is served up like a Martini. But if you’re like me and you drink a neat drink WWAAAYYY too fast, then on the rocks is a liver saver.

Don’t worry, I didn’t shake it - I still stirred it which is the proper way to serve a Manhattan. It’s another controversy, but it’s not to be debated here. Stir it. Don’t shake it.

A PERFECT MANHATTAN

2 ounces Pikesville Rye

1 ounce Carpano Antica sweet vermouth

2-3 dashes Angostura bitters

luxardo cherries

In a cocktail pitcher filled with ice, combine the ingredients. Stir gently with a swizzle or bougie glass stir stick. Strain into glasses immediately (so it doesn’t dilute) and serve with a cherry for garnish.

While I wait to open my bougie/basic Cookie Bar, I made these for girlfriends this holiday since we can’t see each other. It’s a “happy hour” I can deliver and I’m wrapping the whole thing in the “That’s Amore” dishtowel. Aren’t they fun? I made them. If you want one, let me know. I’ll send you one too.

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For Cinco de Mayo, Lars and I made these phenomenal watermelon cocktails that I know you will love too. Lars made one sans tequila since he’s a child - and mine was filled with a delightful splash of tequila. Lars said his was amazing and mine smelled bad. So it’s working. I’m still a good parent.

Watermelon Margarita

3-4 cups chopped watermelon

1/4 cup lime juice

zest of 1 lime

Blanco tequila

STEP 1

In a blender, turn the watermelon into juice. Add in the lime zest and blend another second.

STEP 2

Pour 2 ounces Blanco Tequila into a glass full of ice. Top with 3-4 ounces of watermelon. Drizzle a teaspoon (or so) of lime juice onto the top of the drink. Garnish with wedges of lime and watermelon.

The perfect seasonal cocktail. Literally. The combination of honey, sage, orange, and bourbon create a seasonal flavor that’s perfect. It’s like what you wish those candles at Bath and Bodyworks actually smelled like.

TURKEY TAIL

serves 2

STEP 1

In a saucepan combine honey, water and sage leaves.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and stir until combined.  Let cool.

STEP 2

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine bourbon and 1/2 oz sage syrup.  Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.  

STEP 3

Serve with a sprig of fresh sage and a round of orange.

4 oz bourbon

½ cup honey

½ cup water

8-12 sprigs sage leaves

1 orange sliced

I can’t be the only one who plans their menu around the cocktail? This one is unexpected because its a rum based cocktail and everyone is expecting something bourbon-y or whiskey-y. Mix it up with this sweet, spicy, and boozy cocktail!

There are so many options for how to spend Valentine’s Day, but a fun way to celebrate with all of your friends is with a simple cocktail party - after all, Valentine’s Day is on a Thursday this year! Instead of celebrating just as couples, invite everyone over for drinks and small bites and celebrate together. This is especially great if some of your group is ‘coupled up’ and some of your group isn’t. And the planner-ahead-ers can pop over before their dinner reservation!

I have found when you’re hosting a party that the best thing you can do for appetizers is pick three good ones and go ALL IN! So be prepared to make tons of them because no one will dig into a partially empty buffet. I usually make one batch of each of these per every 10 people. But if you are cheese lovers, then maybe add a little more.

BAKED CAMEMBERT

1 wheel of camembert cheese

10 sprigs rosemary

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a bed of rosemary sprigs on a baking sheet and place the unwrapped wheel of cheese on top.

Bake 30-35 minutes until the cheese browns on top. Remove from the oven and let cool 5 minutes.

Move the cheese to a serving dish and discard the cooked rosemary branches. Drizzle the top with honey and sprinkle with walnuts.

Serve with slices of bread or crackers.

I found all of these serving platters at Anko - my new favorite obsession because everything is darling and really well priced. I picked up these pink platters because they’re pink but not PINK. I was friends with a guy who used to call PINK menopause pink because when he was growing up in the south, every woman around 50 years old remodeled her kitchen and added those pink appliances that were so hot for a while. It was the ‘60’s after all. Ever since then I have been super picky about my color pink. I DO NOT WANT menopause pink in my life.

These are not. These are awesome. There are dinner plates and bowls too.

PESTO GORGONZOLA

Undoubtably the simplest appetizer you will ever make. Two ingredients; ten minutes; served hot or cold!

1/2 cup pesto

1/2 cup gorgonzola cheese

1 baguette, sliced

In bowl, mix together the pesto and gorgonzola until evenly mixed. Spread on the top of toasted bread. Toast again for 2-3 minutes in a broiler - or serve cold. Delicious either way.

CANDY COCKTAIL

1 packet grape poprocks

slice of lemon

1 tablespoon chambord

champagne

Rub the edge of a champagne coupe with the slice of lemon and rim with poprocks. Pour in chambord and top with champagne. Serve quickly!

I love combining new things with my collection of vintage barware. These champagne coupes are from the 1950’s and I adore them. I use them all the time because there is literally never a time when gold rimmed champagne coupes aren’t appropriate. If you can find some yourself, I highly encourage you to grab them! I set them on top of a marble board from Anko. I like to have everything grouped together - the marble is a great landing place for glassware ESPECIALLY if you have marble countertops. The slab creates a spot that’s unique but won’t damage your real marble counters in the event anyone spills.

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