senior moment

Senior moment: every morning I have iced coffee and tomato juice. 

Recently I put dill weed, lemon pepper, and celery salt in a glass
then poured in coffee instead of the tomato juice. 

I don't recommend it!

buffalo classic caesar

During our recent trip to British Columbia 

we discovered one of Canada’s favorite cocktails

 A Classic Caesar

Ingredients

Mott’s Clamato Rimmer

1 oz. vodka

4 dashes worcestershire sauce

2 dashes hot sauce

4 oz. Mott’s Clamato cocktail

3 dashes freshly ground salt and pepper

Rim a glass with lime and Mott’s Clamato Rimmer

Fill the glass with ice, add all ingredients and mix thoroughly. 

Garnish with fresh celery and lime.

Photo credit: Appetite by Random House The Classic Caesar

Upon returning home we didn’t have all the ingredients

so we invented a new version

Buffalo Classic Caesar

Fill a glass with ice

Add a dash of Buffalo Wing Sauce

Add five dashes of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

A shot of vodka is next

Pour in ¾ cup Clamato Juice

Garnish with a lime wedge

Add a dash of celery salt

Our family loves all things Buffalo Wing flavored

so this is a perfect fit

rich full-flavored indulgence

At my son's house they drink Chock full o' Nuts coffee,

It is the least expensive coffee at their local Price Chopper.

While at the store I thought I would splurge 

and buy Eight O'Clock coffee for them.

With these two kinds of coffee to compare

I knew which one I would like better.

I was wrong . . . 

The clear winner was Chock full o' Nuts.

"Rich full-flavored indulgence" indeed.

bloody mary punch

Bloody Mary Punch

photo credit: serious eats

46 oz V-8 Juice

3 Tbls fresh lemon juice

2 Tbls dill pickle juice

1 Tbls Worcestershire

1 tsp hot sauce

1 tsp ground pepper

1 tsp old bay

1  cup vodka *

celery stalks

garlic scapes

lemon slices

Preparation

Combine vegetable juice and next 7 ingredients in a punch bowl or a pitcher. Pour over ice in glasses. Serve with celery sticks, garlic scapes and lemon slices.

{*Instead of adding vodka, serve optional shots on the side, and let guests add it or not}

christmas martini

Christmas Martini

{4  servings}

Ingredients

8 ounces good quality vodka

4 full size quality candy canes *

8 ounces cranberry juice

Directions

Break candy canes into small pieces. Put candy cane pieces into a 12 ounce jar and add 1 cup vodka. Screw on lid and shake to mix. Let vodka sit in refrigerator, shaking occasionally, until candy dissolves and vodka turns red, about 30 minutes.

Serve over ice in martini glass:

2 ounces candy cane infused vodka

4 ounces cranberry juice

I bet it would be good in sprite or tonic as well if you like a "taller beverage".

*I used candy canes from the Dollar Tree in one batch and the vodka 

turned out pink and cloudy. It tasted the same but wasn't as pretty.

I packaged some of the vodka in 8 ounce water bottles to give as gifts.

Original Rachel Ray Recipe

Candy Cane Vodka

Ingredients

12 full-sized candy canes

1  750 ml bottle vodka

Directions

Break candy canes into small pieces. Put candy cane pieces into bottle of vodka. Screw on lid and shake to mix. Let vodka sit, shaking occasionally, until candy dissolves and vodka turns red, about 30 minutes. Serve over ice, or use to spike eggnog or hot chocolate.