Vampire Punch

For this year's Halloween party I made Vampire Punch. The trick was to make a dark red drink that was ever so slightly cloudy, to look like blood. It was quite a hit and I had to send someone to the store to get more supplies! To set the mood I served this in a large crystal punch bowl. I added a few red glow sticks. Some other creative ideas would be to stick plastic spiders in ice cube trays and fill them with water, creating spider cubes for the drinks. You can also fill a latex glove with water and freeze it so you have a large floating hand in your punch. The recipe below is for a punch bowl worth of drinks.

1 bottle Cranberry- Pomegranate Juice
1/8 cup ruby red grapefruit juice
1/4 cup Chambord
1/2 handle of Vodka

1 cup club soda

Pour all the above ingredients into the punch bowl and gift it a few stirs!

Fairvalley Wine

I think I discussed this wine in one of our South Africa Entries on Do Travel Stuff (http://dotravelstuff.blogspot.com/). We accidentally discovered this wine at Stew Leonard's at the suggestion of one of their wine enthusiasts. It was during the summer and we were looking for a light crisp wine. Well this day, we hit the jackpot. The wine enthusiast suggested a new one they had gotten in for the spring. It was a Chenin Blanc from a small winery in South Africa called Fairvalley.

The Chenin Blanc is crisp and light- just perfect for a summer evening (we still drink it in the winter now and then as well). It is not easy to find, but I have been able to buy a few cases from Stew's. We always have it on hand just in case we have guests. Any of our dinner guests that have tried it usually love it. We have been able to find a few of the reds at other, smaller wine shops, but have yet to stumble across a vendor that carries the Chenin Blanc.

This winery is located in Paarl South Africa. The Fairvalley winery, from what I can understand, is a winery started by the workers of a larger winery and estate called Fairview. The grapes are Fairview grapes, but the wine is a creation of the Fairvalley winery. While we were visiting South Africa in the spring, we went and visited the Fairview winery because we love the Fairvalley wine so much. Fairview also has great wine, but there is just something about that Fairvalley Chenin Blanc that is just so special.

Check out their website here: http://www.fairvalleywine.co.za/

Argo Tea

The most exciting thing to note drink wise from my trip to Chicago is definatelya non-alcoholic beverage we picked up at our pit stop at Argo Tea Cafe. At the suggestion of one of our clients, we hopped inside this little tea shop. The menu board was overwhelming (in a good way) with pictures of each flavor and type of tea. They offer a tons of different flavors of several different types of teas, everything from Chai to Bubble teas. I tried their seasonal pumpkin Chai tea, which was just as comforting as a fresh cup of hot chocolate on a winter afternoon. I usually have to be in the mood for Chai, but this was scrumptious. My coworker Laurie had the green tea with ginger twist. This I would imagine would be more appropriate for a summer day, but it was yummy and refreshing.

This is now on my list to go hunt down in NYC! Check it out for yourself at www.argotea.com.

The Strawberry Jalapeno Martini

Our first night in Chicago we met up with one of my coworkers at the bar/restaurant in our hotel (Hotel Felix). At the suggestion of our doorman, we tried the Strawberry Jalapeno Martini. It actually wasn't half bad. It wasn't exactly spicy though. It actually tasted more like pink grapefruit juice in my opinion. It is definitely an interesting combination and I'd be curious to create a drink at home that may be along the same lines. The restaurant had a nice atmosphere, dimly lit with a little bit of swanky-ness. We didn't end up eating there so I can't comment on the food.

http://www.elatechicago.com/

Sarah's Signature Pomtini

I figured, what better way to start off a blog about drinks than to post the recipe for my signature pomtinis. They are always a crowd favorite. The key to making a good drink is to home squeeze your own juice whenever possible. Any juice from concentrate, or out of a bottle, will just never taste quite the same as if you squeezed it yourself.

I must also note, one of the easiest ways to mix up a batch of martinis for a group of people is to throw all the ingredients into a nalgene bottle. Just add ice, ingredients, close and shake away!

With this recipe, measurements are for 1 nalgene of pomtinis, usually serves about 3.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups Pom-Mango juice
1.5 cups Titos Handmade Vodka
1/2 lime, squeezed
1 grapefruit, cut into wedges
1 can sprite

Fill nalgene about 1/3 the way with ice. Add Pom juice, vodka and lime juice (add more vodka and pom juice if there is still a lot of room in the nalgene, equal parts). Shake until frothy. Evenly distribute into martini glasses, only filling the glasses 2/3 of the way. Squeeze one wedge of grape fruit into each glass, leaving the wedge in the glass. Add a splash of sprite to each glass to top it off. Then... Enjoy!

*Note- try variations with different flavors of pom juice. Obviously any vodka will work, Titos is just my all time favorite.