I stumbled upon this recipe one day when setting up a champagne cocktail bar. I knew I wanted to include one of my favorites, the French 75. I had some fresh raspberries, so I decided to do a simple Chambord and Champagne. To create a “bar”, though, I felt I needed three drinks. So off to the internet I went.

A quick search returned the classic champagne cocktail. It was easy enough. Just a few ingredients, sugar cube, bitters, brandy (and of course, champagne). But how would it taste? (more…)

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Dairy free, Drink Time, Gluten free, Vegetarian by Courtney

Recipes, or deviations from, must be the theme this week. Earlier this week I posted about a pimento cheese that started off from a friend’s recipe, but rapidly developed into its own. Now there’s this French 75, which I first saw in The Art of Bar, never made, finally got around to making, and decided I liked it a different way better.

Wait, what? Yes, that was a bit confusing. Let’s start from the beginning. When the hubby and I got married, we registered for this cocktail book, and some lovely family friends bought it for us. Whilst flipping through it, I came across a recipe for a French 75, which I’d never heard of before. It called for brandied cherries, which needed to be made separately, so I never got around to making it. (more…)

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Dairy free, Drink Time, Gluten free, Vegetarian by Courtney

With peach season in full swing, I decided it was time to make a favorite of mine (and really, when a sparkler is added, when is it not a favorite?), the bellini. As I’m sure you already know, the bellini was invented at Harry’s Bar in Venice. It’s a blend of white peach puree and prosecco, two sweet items. While I think it is a grand marriage of two yummy things, I always like adding a bit of liquor to any of my champagne/fruit juice cocktails. It cuts down a bit on the sweetness, which is perfect for me. As you can imagine, this caused tremendous confusion at Harry’s, me toying with their decades-old drink. (more…)

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Brunch, Dairy free, Drink Time, Gluten free, Italian, Vegan, Vegetarian, World traveller by Courtney

A few years back I bought the book French Women Don’t Get Fat. I’ll admit it, I was intrigued to see what this book would have to say, whether it would reveal some magical secret that allowed me to eat croissants and drink red wine all day long. Or at the least, it would tell me the magical secret was to drink red wine all day long!

What I hadn’t anticipated about this book were all the yummy recipes. One of them, Chicken au Champagne, I’ve had my eye on quite a while, but it’s taken me 5 years to get around to making it. This week, when I received a shipment of new Champagne glasses, I decided it was time. (more…)

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Dinner, French, Gluten free, Gourmet, Wine pairings by Courtney