Category: cocktails

cocktails, cooking, Entertaining, Family, food, Mr. KK, recipe, thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving…Told In Pictures

littleshoeprincess

This post is always meant to be one you can “read” with mindless scrolling through photos to experience our Thanksgiving. For those keeping track at home, the day started at 6:30am and ended at 10pm when the last guest left. A full day of food, laughs and drinks.

This photo diary includes recipes from our Thanksgiving meal! So here we go!

Today started before the sun came up. This is me, Black Friday shopping and simultaneously planning out the day’s timeline while lying in bed.

If you look closely you can see the reflection of the phone in my glasses.

I shared this tip last year, but here it is again. Your 2 best friends on Thanksgiving Day are: chicken stock and your phone – the alarms on your phone that is. I plan my whole day out and set alarms to keep me honest.

Next, you should be sure to taste taste everything to see if it needs more salt, or more bourbon.

Crazy hair, no makeup and full-on prep mode. Taste-testing the punch at 10:39am.

Our first step in making Thanksgiving a little easier (besides my phone alarm trick) was to make a punch ahead of time so we could eliminate the need for Mr KK to make 1,000,000 drinks before he could get a sip of his own cocktail. This punch was a crowd pleaser! Highly recommend – here’s the recipe for Bourbon Rosemary punch.

Aren’t they beautiful?

When we prep for hosting, I’m usually in charge of the inside of the house – which includes watching the dogs and entertaining Little Mister – while Mr. KK handles the outside. Yesterday was a little over 50 degrees, so we were able to set up our patio heater and chairs on our new deck in case anyone wanted to get some fresh air.

Mr. KK in his signature party day move: blowing leaves.
Two minutes before everyone arrived…let’s hope this all goes well! (Little did I know the fried turkey fiasco that was to follow!)

No one wanted to enjoy the deck…but we found 5 minutes to take a breather out there.

Let’s talk turkey…and everything else!

We did 2 turkeys again this year: a full turkey in the fryer (house in still intact) and a turkey breast in the oven. Both turkeys came out amazingly juicy! My mother-in-law preps the turkeys, and my father-in-law drives the birds over the morning of Thanksgiving and enjoys a drink with Mr. KK (and me!). Our turkey breast had a garlic and herb marinade and the fryer turkey had a rub on it.

Everyone makes jokes about my mother-in-laws breasts (we are nothing if not inappropriate) as part of tradition.

Another punch for me!

Thanksgiving Menu 2022

Appetizers

Butternut Squash Soup Shooters with Creme Fresh. I used this recipe for the soup and it was delicious. The sage and ginger really added a depth of flavor.

Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Rugelach

Every Christmas I make cinnamon and sugar rugelach, but this is a savory take on one of my favorite cookies. I used this savory rugelach recipe, but substituted gruyere for the cheddar, and candied pecans for the candied walnuts, just to put my own spin on it.

Interestingly, I found the recipe in a magazine – yes, a paper magazine – and I didn’t even look it up. Well, if you click on the recipe link, you’ll see that this recipe only got 1.5 stars from 2 reviewers. From personal experience, this recipe got 5 stars across the board from our family! Perhaps it was the subtle changes I made (nuttier cheese vs boring cheddar). But I highly recommend. Plus, you make it with pre made pie dough so it’s super easy.

Getting ready to cut and roll the rugelach.
Here they are! The can brown quite a bit on the bottom when the sugar from the pecans oozes out, but that just adds flavor!

The last appetizer I made was the Spicy Whipped Feta from this blog post. Somehow, I didn’t get a pick of it, but it was also really good; I served it with baby naans.

Soup Course

Our cousin (cousin in law?) made a delicious, light soup. I’m going from memory, but it was a veal stock with chicken and mortadella meatballs, with escarole and ditallini. It was the perfect first course!

Main Meal

The turkeys were the real stars of the show, and TBH, I don’t even really love turkey. But I loved picking off the crispy skin and dark meat that fell off the fried turkey!

That is one nice looking breast (well, two actually).
Dueling carvers! And a very messy kitchen!

This is happiest Mr. KK looked after an hour of stress when the new turkey fryer pan set up DID NOT WORK and he put the turkey in the oil and it barely covered the turkey. This was after the oil wasn’t hot enough and we had to heat it for another half hour. This was all going on while we were serving up the soup course, so thankfully no one heard all the swearing going on in the front yard. But it all worked out and we ended up with one golden brown bird. The best part about the fried turkey is that a 16 pound bird cooks in about 45 minutes!

For sides, we had stuffing (made with sourdough, apples, pancetta and apricots), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing and Ina’s Cacio e Pepe Asparagus.

All assembled, it looked like this:

Little Mister was not a fan of any of the food we were serving (aren’t 8 year olds fun??) but he agreed to try some foods (which was a win). Here is his plate, which could easy be called “Deconstructed Thanksgiving” and be served in a Michelin Star restaurant for $50.

After he finished “eating” the plate looked the exact same except a small piece of turkey was gone (he gave turkey a “Maybe”), the tip of the asparagus was missing (10 minutes of chewing with a weird look on his face) and all of the sweet potatoes were gone (“this tastes like pumpkin pie filling”).

Dessert

Pecan pie, pumpkin pie and cheesecake!

I am done fighting with WordPress and why it keeps adding this photo upside down. I have tried to fix this about 4 times. You get the idea.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving with loved ones!

8:04am…time to start changing this house into Christmas!

cocktails, recipe

My New Favorite Cocktail

littleshoeprincess

Because it’s Friday – and because I’m doing this crazy diet that doesn’t allow any alcohol – let’s talk cocktails!

Backstory: Mr. KK loves bourbon. As for Moi, I do not drink brown liquor. I can’t even get past the smell when the glass is under my nose to even taste it, but the fumes tell me all I need to know: hell to the no.

But, love does crazy things to you, like the time I made myself like IPAs and it made Mr. KK so happy that all those calories were worth it!

When it came to brown liquor – and acquiring a taste for it – I knew it wasn’t going to be from me popping open the Pappy and drinking it straight. It would require a cocktail – the right cocktail – in order for me to overcome my nose-wrinkling reaction to bourbon.

And boy, did I find it!

I introduce to you, the cocktail that will make anyone like bourbon (at least in this drink): the Rosemary Brown Derby!

I found this amazing recipe here, but I listed the ingredients below. You simply take tangy grapefruit juice, woodsy rosemary, sweet honey and nostril-burning bourbon and voilá: you have the drink of the summer (and fall, and spring…)

Rosemary Brown Derby Cocktail

Makes 1 drink

Ingredients:

  • Ice
  • 2 ounces bourbon
  • 3 ounces fresh grapefruit juice (you really need to use fresh grapefruit juice here, the bottled stuff will not taste the same)
  • 1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary, plus more to garnish
  • Soda water (club soda)
  • Sliced grapefruit for garnish (optional)

Instructions:

  • Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the bourbon, grapefruit juice, fresh lemon juice, honey and small piece of fresh rosemary to the cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for 10-20 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice and top with soda water, fresh spring of rosemary and slice of grapefruit (optional).

Now, I like to add a little something special to this drink: grapefruit ice cubes!

Look at the color of those cubes! GORGEOUS!

This is where the bottled ruby red grapefruit juice comes in handy. I simply pour the grapefruit juice into an ice tray and let freeze. Instead of using regular ice cubes that can water down the drink, these will melt adding more grapefruit flavor.

This cocktail would be FANTASTIC for before dinner drink for Thanksgiving with the citrusy grapefruit and lemon, and the woodsy rosemary. I highly recommend making one…or four.

Cheers!

cocktails, NaBloPoMo

Your New Go-To Cocktail

littleshoeprincess

If you don’t like Aperol, you might want to skip this blog post. Because today’s post is an ode to the orangey bitter yumminess of Aperol. Oh Aperol, I love you in a spritz in the summer, and I love you in this deliciously amazing cocktail that goes down like water (like WATER, people! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!)

Intro to Aperol Cocktail

Serves 1

Served up in my vintage coupe glass I found at a flea market this summer!

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 ounces Aperol
  • 1 ounce gin
  • 3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/4 ounce simple syrup (see NOTE)
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters
  • Twist of orange peel, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Add the Aperol, gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and bitters. Shake well, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass (I prefer a coupe glass). Twist the orange peel over the drink to release its oils, then drop it into the glass. (Full disclosure, I never garnish with an orange peel).

Cheers!

cocktails, Gifts, Mr. KK, NaBloPoMo

Give the Gift of Drink

littleshoeprincess

Gift giving is especially interesting this year. But based on the last 8 months, I feel you can’t go wrong with alcohol. And if you have friends who enjoy fancy libations, this will be their favorite gift.

For Father’s Day, I got Mr. KK a 3-month subscription to Shaker & Spoon Cocktail Club. Our date night’s out had turned to date night’s in, so why not kick off the night with craft cocktails?

The idea behind this subscription box is simple: each month you receive a box of 3 recipes and everything you need to make 12 drinks (4 from each recipe) of cocktail goodness. The only thing you need to purchase is the spirit: one bottle makes cocktails for the entire box (and then some).

The recipes are crafted from mixologists across the country, with little-known ingredients such as fancy bitters or aromatics, hard-to-find sodas and garnishes.

For our subscription, we enjoyed the tequila, Japanese whiskey and mezcal boxes. It was fun trying new cocktails, and pairing foods and snacks to match.

Tonight we sampled the El Palenque, made with Mezcal, pineapple shrub, lime ginger beer.

Each drink comes printed on it’s own recipe card with full directions, method and glass type.

This was my first mezcal drink, and it was…smoky. Not offensive, but you can definitely taste the smoke. When we make our second drinks (each kit makes 4 of each kind of cocktail!) we substituted tequila for the mezcal, and I got stronger notes of pineapple. Both versions were good, and were a drink I would never think up on my own (let alone have pineapple shrub lying around!)

We had so much fun with our subscription box, and helped us try new cocktails and break us out of our “old standbys”.

I love this gift!

Past subscription boxes have included vodka, aperol, elderberry liquor and more. Each cocktail is unique. You can skip any box you’re not interested in (how cool is that?) And the best part of the gift is the active social community on Facebook for members: people who post photos of drinks, their at-home bar set ups and glassware – these are my spirit (animals).

Cheers!

cocktails, NaBloPoMo, Pandemic

Who Wants Cocktails?

littleshoeprincess

It’s not surprising that liquor stores are up like 35% in sales during the pandemic. This has been a crazy year.

There have been many beers shared in the KK household over the last 8 months after a stressful day.

My drink of choice is usually seasonal – is there anything better than a cold, hoppy beer on a hot summer afternoon? Or a glass of red wine on a chilly winter night by the fire? But I have a problem that I’ve shared before: I don’t have a go-to cocktail.

And while I don’t have a cocktail, I believe I have found my spirit (animal): Aperol. First, I single-handedly kept Aperol afloat with all of the Spritzes I consumed this summer. Then, during the summer storm that took down half the trees in our yard, right after the power went out, we tried a new Aperol drink: Intro to Aperol. GUYS, this drink is amazing!

Intro to Aperol

Let’s start with how gorgeous the color of this drink is. A vibrant not-quite-red but more of an orangey-pink.

Intro to Aperol is on the right – look at that color!

Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces Aperol
  • 1 ounce London Dry gin (we used Tanqueray)
  • 3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice, from 1 lemon
  • 1/4 ounce simple syrup
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters
  • Garnish: orange twist

Directions:


Fill a cocktail shaker 2/3 full with ice. Add Aperol, gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and bitters. Shake until well chilled, about 20 seconds. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with orange twist.

Then start making another round because these beauties go down SMOOTHLY and you’ll need another in no time. (I mean, these craft cocktails are so small, am I right?)

cocktails, kk special

I’m down with the 2-1-2 cocktail.

littleshoeprincess

While I love trying different types of IPA beers, when it comes to cocktail, I’m a little bit of a fraidy cat. I don’t have a “signature” drink, andI often find myself in bars and restaurants where I don’t want beer or wine and I’m in a bit of a pickle.

At home, however, I have a go-to cocktail that has been my favorite for quite some time. It’s aptly named the “kk special” because I basically made it up based on ingredients I like. And even though every time we have cocktails I swear I’m going to find something else I like or to try, I always come back to my old faithful.

I have had this drink for every occasion that has come up in the last decade.

The “kk special” cocktail recipe

This cocktail was born out of my weird mindset that I only liked vodka (besides tequila in margaritas) and my favorite flavor was grapefruit. And that I didn’t like anything sweet. Thus, Mr. KK worked his magic and the kk special was born. And the 2-1-2 cocktail recipe.

Ingredients

2 parts vodka

1 part Aperol

2 parts fresh squeezed grapefruit juice

Garnish of thin-sliced grapefruit wedge optional

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake vigorously until ice cold. Pour into a coup glass. Garnish with a thin sliced grapefruit

I’ve asked for these drinks at bars, and 9 times out of 10, then mess it up. They either get the ingredients/balance wrong, or they don’t have fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Those small cans of grapefruit juice just aren’t going to cut it. Or they don’t have Aperol.

IMG_7817

You can’t go wrong with the 2-1-2 cocktail combo. This drink goes down smoothly and is the perfect “starter” for any occasion.