Sapphire Martini

I have a to do list for today, and I will get it done. It's not even that long or filled with distasteful things, I've just become so so so lazy. Definitely a reason I'm eager to re-enter the world of academics before my body shrivels until only my eyes, ears, hands, mouth and stomach work. Those will never atrophy because you need them to watch things on the internet and eat food. Brain? Size of a pea. Stomach? Reaching out to the outer edges of the universe and expanding along with it.

But today, today I have showered and have almost finished cleaning my room. And now I'm blogging, which has unfortunately turned into something I put on my to do list. A couple of days ago, I realized I was actually behind in my drink making. For shame. I've completed 77 recipes when I should have 80 done. It's getting tough because I need to make a trip to the liquor store but I'm trying to save money for my trip to the East Coast. At least I have three jobs now, if only I could get hours at two of them.

So all of that was basically just prelude to me not really remembering the drink that I'm supposed to be writing about. I think it was okay, much better than I thought it was going to be and certainly drinkable, but nothing to write the folks at home about. Do what you will with that. Thanks for reading my drivel to get two wishy washy sentences about the actual drink. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 ounce Bombay Sapphire gin

1/2 ounce blue Curaçao liqueur

-Stir with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Ruby Martini

This is another instance where the picture looks nothing like the actual drink: the real thing is stirred so the blue and red mix and form a very dark blue (a color I wasn't expecting to ever drink in my life), and it's in a cocktail glass with no ice. Google images was being a bitch a giving me martini glasses that were either ruby colored or literally MADE FROM RUBIES. Not helpful.

The drink itself was good, but the most remarkable thing about it was the color. Another in the long line of good but not amazing. In general, I'm a little burnt out on cocktails and really prefer beer and wine right now. Sitting at home, watching Doctor Who, eating potatoes, drinking red wine, reading TFLN is pretty much what I do these days. Theoretically, I should be less poor soon, as I now have three jobs. But somehow I think I will still manage to be broke. Oh well, it's part of being young, right?

1 1/2 ounce vodka

1/2 ounce cranberry juice

1/2 ounce blue Curaçao

-Stir with cracked ice and strain into cocktail glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Blue Margarita

The blue margarita is kind of a silly drink. It basically tastes like a margarita except that it's blue. Does what it says on the tin? Warning: will leave your tongue stained!

1 1/2 ounce tequila

1/2 ounce blue curacao

3/4 ounce lime juice

-Shake over cracked ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into an iced highball glass.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Hemingway's Floridita Daiquiri/Blue Velvet Martini/Wild Blue Yonder/Extra Dry Martini

Yes, all of those were from last night in a relatively short period of time. I am currently in bed recovering, eating the crumbs of my tortilla chips since I have no food in the house. I actually ended up writing notes to my future sober self in order to remember what to blog like a less riveting version of Memento. The notes are, however, surprisingly coherent and very helpful.

Hemingway's Floridita Daiquiri:

2 ounces light rum

2 ounces grapefruit juice

1 ounce fresh lime juice

1 ounce simple syrup

-Mix in cocktail shaker, pour over crushed ice.

Pretty girly drink, eh? Not really that surprising: his books doth protest a little much in the masculinity department. Despite my distaste for grapefruit juice, this was really yummy! I actually juiced my own lime as well, so that was fun and delicious. I didn't have crushed ice though, so mine was with cracked ice. I drank this while chatting with one of my besties from NY on the phone, which made the drink that much sweeter ;-)

Blue Velvet Martini:

1 1/2 ounces vodka

1/4 ounce blue Curacao

Dash of Rose's lime juice

-Stir over cracked ice and strain into cold cocktail glass.

To be honest, this drink and the next one have blended together in my mind and I don't really remember it that much. My notes tell me that I am learning to appreciate the burn of vodka when it's not mixed with much. Maybe I will start enjoying martinis. This drink should have been my last of the evening. I really hadn't eaten enough to have four drinks in quick succession while sitting down.

Wild Blue Yonder:

1 1/2 ounces vodka

1/4 ounce peach schnapps

1/4 ounce blue Curacao

-Shake with cracked ice in cocktail shaker and strain into rocks glass over ice.

This drink was hindered by my terrible peach schnapps. I'm going to say that no one should buy Potter's Peach Schnapps. You will regret it. This and the previous drink were about the color that my blue Hawaiians were supposed to be, so I think I get points for presentation. Still, even with good peach schnapps, I don't think this one is anything particularly special.

Extra Dry Martini:

2 3/4 ounces gin (or vodka)

1/4 ounce dry vermouth

-Stir with ice cubes and strain into chilled glass.

So I don't think I could have tolerated this without the previous 3 drinks. Talk about the burn of vodka...It was really intense and not very enjoyable. Good if you want to get drunk fast and don't mind the pain. Unfortunately, I was already pretty drunk at this point, talking to myself while watching Project Runway. Complete disaster. I think this is the point when I started looking up strictly platonics on craigslist. Yikes.

Enjoy and bottoms up!

Blue Hawaiian/Purple Haze

So these are both from a couple days ago...I'm getting to be a bit of a lazy blogger already! Thursday night El and I decided to sit around the apartment drinking cocktails and watching Top Chef, which is a pretty magic combination if you ask me.

Since El isn't a big drinker, I thought I would go for something tropical and girly. Blue Hawaiians seemed to fit the bill:

1 ounce light rum

1 ounce blue curacao

1 ounce cream of coconut

2 ounces pineapple juice

-Mix in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice and strain into an iced highball glass.

Okay, seems like it should be pretty delicious, yeah? NOPE! This was the first drink that I didn't finish. I gave it several sips and poured it down the drain. Mine did not resemble the above photo AT ALL. For those of you who have seen Bridget Jones' Diary, it was pretty much like the blue soup she makes for her birthday dinner. To make this drink better, I would go with coconut milk or water instead of cream of coconut. I even went with the more expensive version and it was still awful. Yuck.

The purple haze, however, was pretty decent. It's not one that I would go out of my way to order, but it was pretty good. Decidedly bluish in color and not purple, it still satisfied nicely:

1 ounce vodka

1 ounce blue curacao

cranberry juice

-Mix vodka and curacao in cocktail shaker with cracked ice and strain into iced glass. Fill with cranberry juice.

Curacao is a liqueur with an orange flavor. It can be blue or white and, as far as I can tell, is only blue when you want the drink to be blue. Kind of cheesy, but there you go.

I'm also taking the week off from cocktails so I can get some legit work on grad apps and GRE studying done. Also, I overindulged in wine Friday night and now alcohol is less than appealing. Should be updating by Friday or Saturday though.

Enjoy and bottoms up!