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.

the detox

I'm only sharing this here (with you-- my nine readers) with the hope that if I write it out loud, I will actually abide to it.  So here it goes.  For the next two weeks (14 entire days,)  I GIVE UP SUGAR.  And by sugar, I mean sweets, desserts, cookies, ice cream, candy, and foods with added sugar in them.  I DO NOT in any way mean wine.  Just to be clear.

The cupcake that put me over the edge.

Update:  I must confess that during a semi-breakdown after an epically bad day, I ate an entire Hershey's chocolate bar smeared with Skippy creamy peanut butter Wednesday night while watching a dvr'd (or is it dvred?) episode of Parenthood.  Please don't judge me.

let them eat cake.

A macaroni and cheese cupcake, that is.  I am so making this for my next party.  (Really, though who needs a party?  The girlies can have these with a side of broccoli for dinner, Sparky would eat about 15 of them, and I'll munch on one (or two...) while sipping a glass of cabernet as I watch the first season of netflixed Mad Men.)

Photo and recipe courtesy of Framed Cooks.

And consider the possibilities of what else might be made into a cupcake?

a book and its cover

As my friends will attest, I like a good glass (or two) of wine.  I generally lean toward a full bodied cab, but am not opposed to a zin or a chianti (which reminds me of my Italian honeymoon,) just don't ever ask me to drink a pinot noir.  On a hot summer day, my preferences shift to a crisp chardonnay, some bubbly champagne, or a tart fume blanc.  I have my favorite bottles in the $15 range and really, I should just stick with those.  However,  I seem forever to be searching for a darling bottle...but something about my love of beautifully well designed packages does not usually translate into a delicious bottle of wine.  When I choose a bottle solely for its label, the wine is quite often an epic disappointment.  I've poured many an entire bottle down the sink (which is why I don't spend over $15!)  Life is too short to drink even one bad glass of wine in my opinion.  So when I purchased this beautiful bottle the other day, I had decided that I would not even open it.  You can't quite tell in the photographs (which I took with my cool new hipstamatic iphone app!) but the label is the perfect shade of aqua, with gold and black highlights.  I thought this would be a pretty addition to my kitchen decor and I would be DONE with my ridiculous experiments of tasting new wine based on a label.  The problem is that since making that decision,  I've had at least four friends tell me that they love the Sofia line from Coppola Winery.  What to do, what to do...?  To drink or not to drink, that is the question.

Oh, and p.s. wouldn't any of the Sofia line of bottles make darling favors (or even center pieces) at a bridal shower?