I had the pleasure of working with some really creative folks a few weeks ago on a rosé wine tasting party held by The Urban Grape. Helping to style a shoot like this really doesn’t count as work because I got to hang out all day with amazing company, eat a tasty lunch al fresco on a gorgeous wrap around porch, and learn all about (and taste!) delicious rosé wines on a warm summer day. I shared a few of my favorite outtakes from the day here, but click over to Boston.com to read the full article with smart tips from Hadley & TJ of The Urban Grape to throw your own rosé party.
I have the delicious drink recipes from our Ladies Whiskey Party to share with you today! One of my favorite details from this day was the incorporation of the recipes into the event — I wrote the ingredients out on brown paper bags and tied them on whiskey bottles to match each drink so it was easy to identify each one. And because the idea of the party was all about sharing these whiskey drinks and making whiskey drinking a bit more approachable, we gave everyone a stack of recipe cards with the ingredients and instructions written out on them so they can recreate them at home. Now, onto those recipes!
Classic Whiskey Smash
Half a lemon, cut into wedges
6 mint leaves
.75 oz simple syrup
2 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon
In a shaker, muddle lemon wedges with mint leaves and simple syrup. Add ice and bourbon, shake vigorously. Strain over crushed ice and garnish with a tall mint leaf.
The Ladies Manhattan
2 oz Michter’s Rye
.75 oz Dolin sweet vermouth
.25 oz Luxardo maraschino liqueur
2 dashes Regan’s orange bitters
Cherry garnish
Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, cherry garnish.
The Bee Keeper Punch
1.5 bottles Overholt Rye
16-18 oz fresh lemon juice
25 dashes bitters
2 cups honey spice simple syrup (go slowly to taste)
1 bottle inexpensive Prosecco
Combine first four ingredients and chill for several hours. Before serving add Prosecco. Serve over rocks with a twist of lemon. (To make simple syrup: 16 oz clover honey, 16 oz water, 1/4 cup mulling spices. Bring all ingredients to boil, turn off heat. Steep for 15-30 minutes. Strain the ingredients and cool the syrup.)
One of my favorite things about this blog is the great people I get to meet and collaborate with on projects, like the one I’m sharing today. A few weeks back I worked with the Urban Grape to style a Ladies Whiskey Party, a little get together intended to share some recipes all around whiskey. Brian Samuels shot some amazing pictures of the spread — which included whiskey-glazed bacon BLTs and a bourbon caramel drizzled chocolate cake. And the lovely Abby of Farm & Fable lent us the prettiest vintage glassware to highlight the whiskey cocktails. The whole recap can be found over on Style Me Pretty Living today, but here are a few of my favorite pictures (check back tomorrow for the detailed drink recipes!).
Last night we had an awesome time with the Boston Bloggers group at the cutest South End shop — Farm & Fable. Abby, the owner of the shop, hosted a handful of us for some prosecco sipping, snacking, and late night shopping of her vintage cookbooks and artisan kitchenwares. After we mix and mingled for a bit, we headed down to the awesome test kitchen space below the store to learn all about mulling wines, and then we all dug in to bowls of coriander, anise, and cinnamon to mix up our own little mulling spice kits to take home! I love a warm mulled cider during the winter, but Abby opened my eyes to something I’ve never tried before: mulled white wine. She mixed hers with a pear brandy and there were a few sweet pear pieces filled with the spiced mixture at the bottom of my cup — I’m ready to try that recipe at home!
A few weeks ago I was having brunch in the South End with a friend, and we made it a point to stop into the a new shop that I had been hearing about called Farm & Fable. It’s kind of like dying and going to vintage kitchen heaven. The store specializes in vintage cookbooks and serveware, and has an awesome collection of new heirloom kitchenwares — and it is some kind of miracle that I didn’t buy every single item in the shop on our visit. Oh also, they are starting a Cookbook Book Club where all of the attendees make a recipe from one cookbook and bring it for a potluck to chat about the recipes, how cute is that? I’m sad I can’t make the first meeting, but am definitely signing up in the future — that’s a book club I can get behind. If you’re in the neighborhood you must check it out!
