what i'll be drinking.

The London Special.

photo and recipe via hip hip gin gin, a just discovered, amazing blog that reminded me i should be drinking more of this.

Even though Sparky and I will be enjoying a quiet lovely evening at home with the girlies two on New Year's Eve, I still plan on making it fun, festive, and fabulous.  We will be toasting the New Year at 9 pm (as it will be midnight in NYC) and I'll also be drinking my favorite champagne cocktail.  I first discovered this drink at Cafe R&D* when the adorable waitress suggested it as my girlfriend Becky and I were perusing their bubbly selection one afternoon.  I fell in love at first sip.  Unfortunately, our waitress never mentioned the name of the drink and I never asked.  I left not knowing what I was drinking!  I only knew that I'd been sipping a fabulous flute of subtly (flower) flavored champagne yumminess.  I'm pretty sure I called R&D to find out the name of the drink and whomever I talked to didn't have a clue about what I was talking!  It became my mission at restaurants to find my new love and yet, maybe I was asking the wrong people, no one knew my drink.  And people, it's not that complicated of a recipe!  Disappointed and desperate (yes, i sometimes get desperate over food/cocktails,) I threw a few ingredients together in an attempt to recreate this glass of yumminess.

Scrumptious Champagne Cocktail = Rose Flower Water + Sugar Cube + Champagne (This is also called La Vie en Rose, although I did not learn that until well after consuming many a flute. =)

Random find in the spice section of Gelson's

And while this version of making-do is in fact quite delicious, it just wasn't the perfection I was looking for.  Plus, I wanted to drink this OUT of the house, not just while I was building blocks with the two year old or coloring with the five year old.  Last October, I hit the proverbial jackpot at my good friend Kim's rehearsal dinner when the lovelies at The Ritz* knew what the hell I was talking about when I attempted to order my cocktail.  FINALLY.   So now I can enjoy it anytime I want, where ever I may be.  And you can too.  Cheers!

*I highly recommend the roast beef sandwich at R&D (the best you'll ever taste unless my mom makes you one) and if you feel like traveling back in time to a swanky club of the 50's visit The Ritz.  Both are in Newport Beach.