It’ll Be 5:30 Somewhere!

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

Under any other circumstances, mid-morning might be a smidgen early to start serving alcohol, but since it is a wedding and it does fall in the acceptable brunch imbibing zone, I don’t think too many folks will bat an eye at it. Though some will undoubtedly try to ease the social stigma of morning drinking by joking about it being “5 o’clock somewhere.”

(For kicks and giggles I looked it up: it’ll be 5:30 in Greece when our cocktail hour starts.)

Whatever.

For those not quite ready to partake of our signature cocktail (more on that in a minute), we will have other bevvies available, of course!

Honey Lake didn’t really have a brunch-level event package when we booked with them, so that meant we could pretty much cobble together what sounded good to us from their standard event menus. Since they do business retreats and the like, they did have options for breakfasts, so what we did was request the “Free Range Continental”

Assorted Breakfast Pastries and Muffins, Bagels with Cream Cheese, Fresh Whole Fruit, Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice, Freshly-Brewed Regular and Decaf Coffee, Assorted Herbal Teas and Water

but asked to take out the bagels & schmear (a little involved for mingling—breaks the 2-bite rule) and sub for it one of their Display Options: the “Imported and Domestic Artisanal Cheese Board”

Assortment of hard & soft cheeses from around the world, organic fruit, marcona almonds, crafted breads, quince jam, tupelo honey.

for a slight upcharge for the usual continental price.

We’ll have the usual high-top tables scattered around the bend of the fountain circle for people to cluster about (haven’t discussed whether or not there will be chairs set out—I vote no to encourage mingling, but we’ll see), the guest “book” set up on a table in front of the fountain, and an antique desk holding our programs (that will get its own post soon). Both Mr. Road Trip and I will be there greeting our guests and taking some semi-candid photos during that time (having gotten the family formals out of the way just before).

But, of course, it wouldn’t be cocktail hour without a cocktail!

I’m in 100% agreement with the practice of having a signature cocktail to both cut down on bar costs and to personalize the event that much more. And creating cocktails is something I really enjoy doing, so it was a no-brainer that we’d be coming up with something very us for the wedding.

Brunch cocktails usually fall into the Mimosa or Bloody Mary camp, and since our wedding is wine-themed, it makes sense to go with the former and use a sparkling wine as the base for our cocktail. I actually have my own signature drink, The Snarky Tart, that I created years ago and I wanted to include a nod to that, and other flavors that we both enjoy.

This is what our tasting session looked like, trying to figure out which bubbly to use…

Which bubbly will it be? | personal photo

Which bubbly will it be? | personal photo

Oh, the rigors of wedding planning 😉

What did we decide on? Stay tuned…

AlcoHOLidays | 4th of July | Patriot Punch

Sips

KB_StrokeOfMidnight2_Bowl

As promised, here is the second part of our 2-week Independence Day extravaganza!

This week’s cocktail comes to us courtesy of Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey (which we reviewed last month) and they are doing their level best to show us all the ways to include darker spirits in our summer entertaining. By combining the whiskey with juice and champagne is really a great way to lighten up a traditionally winter liquor.

Kilbeggan Patriot Punch

2 parts Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey
1 part DeKuyper Apricot Brandy
1 part Cranberry Juice
2 parts Champagne
Lemon Wheel (thinly sliced)

To Serve As A Cocktail: Build all ingredients over ice in a stemless red wine glass. Garnish with a lemon wheel.

To Serve As A Punch: Double the recipe and multiply by the number of guests you plan to serve. Add Kilbeggan Irish Whiskey, DeKuyper Apricot Brandy and cranberry juice to a punch bowl, stir and refrigerate. When guests arrive, add champagne and lemon wheels. Serve over ice in stemless red wine glasses.

Just do me one favor, okay? Promise you won’t mix cocktails and fireworks–designated drivers and designated lighters, too! Have a safe and festive 4th!

Cheers!

Best for Less: Sparkling Wines for New Years

Sips

Have you ever heard of Cheapism.com? I hadn’t until a few weeks ago when I was contacted by one of their representatives about their findings for the best cheap champagnes. Of course, a true Champagne (from the right grape and region of France) is seldom if ever to be found “cheap,” but you can find plenty of lovely sparkling wines (the larger category that Champagne belongs to) in any price range.

Their suggestions?

Experts note that not all sparkling wines pass as a substitute Champagne, and champagne reviews discuss factors such as bubbles, sweetness, and taste. Topping Cheapism’s list of best champagne buys are Roederer Estate NV Brut, Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut NV, and Freixenet Cordon Negro Extra Dry — all priced at less than $20.

And if you try any of them to ring in the New Year, please let me know.

our sparkling wine choices for 2011Todd and I prefer our sparkling wines on the sweeter side, so those Brut recommendations just don’t do much for us. We rang in 2011 with a couple of inexpensive Italian sparkling wines on the sweeter side: one white and one red.

Wait, red sparkling wine? Oh yes, my friends, it’s out there and it’s fabulous!

The red is Costarosa Sangue di Giuda Oltrepo Pavese and is, as best I can tell as the label is 100% in Italian, a blended red wine with just enough bubbles to keep things interesting. It was recommended by the guy in the liquor store when I said I wanted anything but Brut. Good call.

The white is Ca’D’Gal Lumine Moscato d’Asti. Moscato is very popular these days as more are discovering this sweet wine in both still and sparkling styles. I think Moscato is doing quite a lot to dispel the negative opinions many people have of champagne. And we just a bottle of Cupcake M0scato d’Asti with Thanksgiving dinner that was pretty fabulous, too.

And sweet champagne is nothing new–in Europe it’s always been available but not a lot made it to the United States as our palates were, somehow, not interested in sweet wines.

Thank goodness times have changed!

We haven’t decided, yet, what we’ll be sipping when ’11 turns to ’12, what about you?

Variations on a Theme: 40s Romance

Third Time Wife, Wedding Planning

So the 50s idea didn’t fly when placed under close scrutiny, but what about a hop, skip and a jump back about 10 years to the fabulous 40s? Mr. Road Trip’s favorite movie is Casablanca and one year for Christmas a certain little elf bought him the deluxe gift set that had just been released. I’d actually never seen the movie all the way through in one sitting (I know, there are some serious gaps in my classic movie history course; just like there are some major one’s in T’s pop culture movie appreciation) so our plan for New Year’s Eve became a quiet night in with Rick and Ilsa, champagne and strawberries and enough of a break to watch the ball drop. It was a fabulous night.

It was also followed up by a viewing of Carrotblanca–the Looney Toons parody of the feature film that, I have to admit, was more my speed than the source material.

Still, can you imagine the WWII fashion options, the dreamy music playing during the reception and the old Hollywood glamour; silver, black, and white decor with a hint of icy Tiffany’s blue, and–of course!–black and white photography!

1940s glam wedding inspiration board

Images via (L to R, top to bottom): Fairytales & Chandeliers; All Made Up Team (photography by Duc Pham of Tacolayo Photography); Paperspines; Best of Texas; Dirty Fabulous Vintage; Wedding by Color (uploaded by mechelle); Retro Art Glass; Saks; Skyscraper.org

Wait, why didn’t I want this theme?

Oh, right! As wonderful as it all was, to do it right–for us–would have meant a much more formal ceremony and reception than we really wanted and it could easily veer towards stuffy and trigger some major perfectionist tendencies. While there are many elements of this theme that I really loved, overall it just wasn’t the right fit for us as a couple or the event we wanted to host.

Are you as in love with the WWII era fashion and feel as I am?

Random Appetites: Leftovers

Nibbles

And not just any leftovers, but Champagne leftovers! (or, more often than not, sparkling wine leftovers)

I realize some may never have this “problem,” but often a bit of the bubbly goes a long way for me and, in striving for moderation in all things, I’m usually left with at least half the bottle once the celebration has passed. What’s a girl to do?

Before I get ahead of myself, let’s start with some basics.

  1. Champagne (with a capital ‘c’) technically only comes from the Champagne region of France. Other sparkling wines from France and other countries can be called champagne (little ‘c’) and anything from American wineries that uses the capital-c version is just putting on airs. Still, there’s nothing wrong with sparkling wines by any name, but you should know the difference.
  2. Champagne can be dry or sweet. Brut is the driest of the dry, followed by Extra Dry and then Dry (or Sec) which is what most people are used to drinking and what I usually consider “sweet” by comparison. Everything is relative. Demi-Sec and Doux are the sweeter and sweetest sparklers and generally not found in the States but apparently Latin America really likes the sugar so that’s where most of them go.
  3. Bottle sizes vary. The usual 750 ml bottle that you find in most shops is also known as a Bouteille. A “split”, which you might see on some restaurant lists or hear bandied about from time to time, is a little Quart or quarter-bottle at 187 ml and will give you 2 small glasses and are a bit smaller than those old glass soda bottles. Great for trying out new champagnes or putting into gift bags or baskets. FInally, a Magnum is essentially a double-bottle yeilding 12 servings (the single bottle should serve 6) and looks kind of impressive. Bottles larger than the Magnum are named after Biblical figures: Jeroboam, Rehoboam, Methuselah, etc. all the way up to the Nebuchadnezzar which is a whopping 20-bottle/15 liter behemoth!
  4. If your champagne overflows its bottle when you open it: you did it wrong. Do not shake the bottle or treat it badly, you’ll waste all the bubbles that way. Instead, remove the outer wrapping (there should be a little tab on the foil) and gently loosen the wire cage that keeps the cork in place. Holding a small towel over the top of the bottle, gently work the cork out and you should hear the faintest “pop” when the cork comes loose. Pour and serve immediately.

That being said, let’s get back to the leftovers and what to do with them.

First things first, try a champagne cocktail! Add orange juice to champagne for a mimosa (great with brunch!) or peach nectar for a bellini which is good any time. Pretty much any fruit juice can top off your champagne flute and be very tasty. You can also add other liqueurs to champagne for a variety of different tastes. I found an interesting list of champagne cocktails here that you might like to try. My personal favorites include “Nelson’s Blood” (port and champagne) and the “Flirtini” (champagne, vodka and pineapple juice) but I think I’ll stay away from the “Blue Velvet” or any of the drinks that look like drain cleaner. (Anyone else remember that scene from Heathers? Exactly.)

The other way to use leftover sparkling wine is to cook with it! Over time the bubbly will lose it’s fizz, but that’s about all. So pop it into the fridge (use one of those wine stoppers that seals the bottle, like the Vacu Vin Wine Saver Extra Stoppers, Set of 4, instead of trying to fit the cork back into the bottle) and it’ll keep for a while, at least for cooking purposes. Leftover champagne works great in salad dressings in place of all or part of the vinegar and in any recipes that call for white wine (since most champagnes are white). In fact, I made my favorite risotto the other night and all I had in the house was a sweet white wine instead of the usual dry but it substituted with absolutely no problem so you can even use sweet sparklers in savory recipes without fear. After all, you should only cook with the wines you’re willing to drink, so this fits nicely.

One last thing. Did you accidentally leave the champagne out instead of putting it back into the fridge? Well, one night (especially if it’s a cooler one) probably won’t kill it, but if you detect a change in flavor, why not try making your own wine vinegars? Here’s an interesting article from holybasil.wordpress.com.