martini

Irish Cream Espresso Martini

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Uplifting Aromas: Irish Cream Espresso Martini! Coffee is one of those aromas that has a way of lifting my mood, even if I’m already feeling pretty upbeat. Recently, while discovering a new coffee shop on a weekend getaway, I perused the café shelves until it was time to place my order. Then I saw it…a homemade coffee-scented candle, referred to as Java Nut. It seemed to radiate with the appealing fragrance of roasted coffee beans, generating the hypnotic response of an impulse-buy. What a powerful aroma. I immediately bought two candles, along with a double shot espresso. I guess you could say I have a love affair with coffee. Now I can “light” my coffee and drink it, too. 

IRISH CREAM ESPRESSO MARTINI 

Ingredients:

2 ounces Irish Whiskey 

2 ounces Irish Cream Liqueur 

2 ounces prepared cold espresso 

1 ounce coffee liqueur 

1 ounce vodka

Instructions:

In a martini shaker, combine Irish Whiskey, Irish Cream Liqueur, cold espresso, coffee liqueur, and vodka. Add ice cubes. Shake well until chilled. Strain cocktail into two martini glasses. Garnish with a dusting of nutmeg. Serve immediately. 

Irish Cream Espresso Martini

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Uplifting Aromas: Irish Cream Espresso Martini! Coffee is one of those aromas that has a way of lifting my mood, even if I’m already feeling pretty upbeat. Recently, while discovering a new coffee shop on a weekend getaway, I perused the café shelves until it was time to place my order. Then I saw it…a homemade coffee-scented candle, referred to as Java Nut. It seemed to radiate with the appealing fragrance of roasted coffee beans, generating the hypnotic response of an impulse-buy. What a powerful aroma. I immediately bought two candles, along with a double shot espresso. I guess you could say I have a love affair with coffee. Now I can “light” my coffee and drink it, too.

IRISH CREAM ESPRESSO MARTINI

Ingredients:

2 ounces Irish Whiskey

2 ounces Irish Cream Liqueur

2 ounces prepared cold espresso

1 ounce coffee liqueur

1 ounce vodka

Instructions:

In a martini shaker, combine Irish Whiskey, Irish Cream Liqueur, cold espresso, coffee liqueur, and vodka. Add ice cubes. Shake well until chilled. Strain cocktail into two martini glasses. Garnish with a dusting of nutmeg. Serve immediately.

Quandary About Pearl Onions

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Table Food: Quandary About Pearl Onions! What can you do with a jar of pickled pearl onions, besides the obvious Gibson Martini? Believe it or not, these tiny jewels can be eaten as a snack. They also add an amazing zest to garden salads, charcuterie boards, soups, and grilled or roasted meats. Their refreshing taste might even be served to cleanse the palate between dinner courses. Eat them whole or sliced in half. Be adventurous. And when you get to the bottom of the jar, take heart. You can always make another.

QUANDARY ABOUT PEARL ONIONS

Ingredients:

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup dry vermouth

4 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

8 ounces pearl onions, frozen

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

Instructions:

Bring rice vinegar, dry vermouth, sugar, and kosher salt to a boil. Pack frozen pearl onions, coriander seeds, and black peppercorns into a glass jar. Pour in liquid. Allow to cool completely. Cover; refrigerate one week before using.

Irish Cream Espresso Martini

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Irish Cream Espresso Martini! Head out for “Date Night” that begins with Happy Hour Specials and you’ll notice one of the most popular crafted cocktails these days. It continues to bring raves from bartenders as well as patrons. It’s called the Espresso Martini, which is simply an iced coffee concoction created for adults. It is a sipping cocktail made with alcohol, espresso, and coffee liqueur, with a cream liqueur option. Shaken, not stirred. Recently I overheard a customer tell the bartender she wanted the martini shaken 27 times before he poured it into the classic v-shaped martini glass. By the serious expression on her face, I’m sure she was counting. For this at-home version, I chilled the ingredients overnight to make crafting a breeze.

IRISH CREAM ESPRESSO MARTINI

Ingredients:

1 ounce vodka

1 ounce coffee liqueur

2 ounces Irish Cream liqueur

2 ounces Irish Whiskey

2 ounces prepared cold espresso

Instructions:

In a 16-ounce cocktail shaker, combine vodka, coffee liqueur, Irish Cream liqueur, Irish Whiskey, and prepared espresso. Add approximately six ice cubes. Tighten lid and shake until well combined and chilled. Strain crafted cocktail into two martini glasses. Serve immediately.

Ginger Liqueur

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Start Smart: Ginger Liqueur! There’s nothing worse than enjoying a specialty crafted cocktail on a remote tropical island and then returning home with a craving to have it again. That happened to me about 4,500 miles ago. What’s a girl to do? “Why not make it yourself?” my husband quipped. “Sure…easy for you to say”, I responded. Well, long story short, as long as he agreed to help me as the “taste tester”, it was worth a shot. Between the two of us, I’m pretty sure we came up with a winning combination for my new fav, Ginger Liqueur Martini. Cheers!

GINGER LIQUEUR

Ingredients:

2 cups vodka

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup ginger root, diced

1/2 vanilla bean, sliced horizontally and seeds scraped

Orange peel

Instructions:

Take a quart-size jar. Combine vodka, sugar, ginger root, vanilla bean, and orange peel. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Place jar, away from sunlight, in a kitchen cabinet. Swirl the jar to stir the contents every morning and night for one week. Remove the vanilla bean. Repeat swirling twice a day for 3 more days. Strain solids through a fine wire mesh strainer. Filter remaining liquid again through two coffee filters until no solids remain. Bottle the ginger liqueur. Allow it to “mellow” for another day. Store away from sunlight.

Ginger Liqueur Martini:

4 ounces vodka, chilled

1 ounce ginger liqueur

Garnish with crystallized ginger

Instructions:

Place martini glass in the freezer to chill. Remove glass and add chilled vodka. Set aside. Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Pour in ginger liqueur. Allow it to chill for one minute. Shake. Strain the ginger liqueur over vodka into the martini glass. Garnish with crystallized ginger.

Quandary About Pearl Onions

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Table Food: Quandary About Pearl Onions! What can you do with a jar of pickled pearl onions, besides the obvious Gibson Martini? Believe it or not, these tiny jewels can be eaten as a snack. They also add an amazing zest to garden salads, charcuterie boards, soups, and grilled or roasted meats. Their refreshing taste might even be served to cleanse the palate between dinner courses. Eat them whole or sliced in half. Be adventurous. And when you get to the bottom of the jar, take heart. You can always make another.

QUANDARY ABOUT PEARL ONIONS

Ingredients:

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup dry vermouth

4 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

8 ounces pearl onions, frozen

1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

Instructions:

Bring rice vinegar, dry vermouth, sugar, and kosher salt to a boil. Pack frozen pearl onions, coriander seeds, and black peppercorns into a glass jar. Pour in liquid. Allow to cool completely. Cover; refrigerate one week before using.

Ginger Liqueur

What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? Start Smart: Ginger Liqueur! There’s nothing worse than enjoying a specialty crafted cocktail on a remote tropical island and then returning home with a craving to have it again. That happened to me about 4,500 miles ago. What’s a girl to do? “Why not make it yourself?” my husband quipped. “Sure…easy for you to say”, I responded. Well, long story short, as long as he agreed to help me as the “taste tester”, it was worth a shot. Between the two of us, I’m pretty sure we came up with a winning combination for my new fav, Ginger Liqueur Martini. Cheers!

GINGER LIQUEUR

Ingredients:

2 cups vodka

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup ginger root, diced

1/2 vanilla bean, sliced horizontally and seeds scraped

Orange peel

Instructions:

Take a quart-size jar. Combine vodka, sugar, ginger root, vanilla bean, and orange peel. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Place jar, away from sunlight, in a kitchen cabinet. Swirl the jar to stir the contents every morning and night for one week. Remove the vanilla bean. Repeat swirling twice a day for 3 more days. Strain solids through a fine wire mesh strainer. Filter remaining liquid again through two coffee filters until no solids remain. Bottle the ginger liqueur. Allow it to “mellow” for another day. Store away from sunlight.

Ginger Liqueur Martini:

4 ounces vodka, chilled

1 ounce ginger liqueur

Garnish with crystallized ginger

Instructions:

Place martini glass in the freezer to chill. Remove glass and add chilled vodka. Set aside. Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Pour in ginger liqueur. Allow it to chill for one minute. Shake. Strain the ginger liqueur over vodka into the martini glass. Garnish with crystallized ginger.

Blue Point in San Diego, California

Dining Outside the Home: Blue Point in San Diego, California. Slip into a cozy booth among white linen tablecloths, rich cherry wood, and black leather. One quick glance around the room reveals a nautical theme with impressive bar, a tropical fish aquarium, and raw oysters on the half shell. This supper club embodies old-world class, that’s for sure. Linger over cocktails, especially the Dean Martin-style Double Martini. How’s that for nostalgia. The extensive menu caters to a sophisticated palate from Soups and Greens to Hook, Line, Ranch, and Sinker specialties. For a top-notch evening on the corner of Fifth and Market, Blue Point is no fish story.