Silk Panties AKA Woo Woo Cocktail

Day 21

Silk Panties AKA Woo Woo

2 out of 5

Here we are at the end of week 3.  I've learned a few things in these last 3 weeks.

1. Gin isn't as bad as I thought
2. The color of sweet vermouth scared me more then the taste of it
3. Grapefruit juice in cocktails is pretty darn good....especially in a Sea Breeze
4. I am no longer a vodka cran or rum & coke girl
5. blue caraçuo doesn't make "every" cocktail taste good, such as the Into The Blue
6. cream of coconut IS quite tasty
7. I enjoy blended cocktails A LOT
8. I am enjoying this blog more then I thought I would!

That being said, lets get onto tonight's cocktail.  I gave tonight's cocktail 2 shots out of 5 because although it's a sweet drink......it's a bit much.  I mixed this cocktail up, strained it into it's glass and smelled it before I tasted it.  The smell was great!!  I couldn't wait to try it.......then I did......not a whole lot of flavor.  All I'm left with is thick saliva.  Thrillsville.

The more sips I take, the less I like tonight's cocktail.  I think I would have put less peach schnapps in and more cranberry juice.  That would have at least made it less sweet.  OK, this last sip is now making my mouth feel/taste like I just took a dose of cough medicine.  OK, yuck!!

Here is the recipe for Silk Panties AKA Woo Woo:

• 3/4 shot vodka
• 3/4 shot peach schnapps
• 1 shot cranberry juice

Put ice into your shaker.  Add the vodka, peach schnapps and cranberry juice.  Stir your mixture up really well.  Strain your cocktail into a chilled cocktail glass.

Here is a photo of the end result:

(My cocktail looked a little lighter then its coming out in my photo, but maybe it has something to do with the glass being frosted in the photo and not now?)

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Well peach schnapps, next time we meet.......I hope it's under better circumstances!!

The Cocktail Lady

Xango Cocktail

Day 20

Xango

2.5 shots out of 5

Holy Day 20 Batman!  I can't believe we're here so soon!  You know my husband told me at about day 5 that this is the perfect blog for me because it combines 2 things that I really like to do: cocktails and photography!  Boy was he right!!  I am absolutely enjoying myself with this blog and I sure hope that you are enjoying reading it and hopefully trying some of these cocktails along with me.

Xango!  What a name!  I pulled out my Bartenders Black Book and turned to the X's.  I mean, who's ever heard of a cocktail that started with the letter X?  Well apparently in this book there's 8 of them!  Who knew!

I gave tonight's cocktail 2.5 shots out of 5.  I honestly think I gave it 2.5 and not 3 because of the triple sec.  Not that I don't like triple sec, it's just that it reminds me of a BAD experience I had with tequila one night....whoever said "Too much of a good thing" was right!  Yikes!  I had too much tequila one night and now the smell of it makes me gag and unfortunately by default the smell of triple sec makes my nose squinch up because it makes me think of margaritas (not flavored margaritas, I can handle those) which automatically makes me think of tequila.  It's like a chain reaction thing that went through my head all in a matter of a second.

Tonight's cocktail, Xango, was a little hard to swallow for the first few sips (due to the triple sec), but then it actually got a bit better.  I finished the entire thing and by the end of the cocktail I enjoyed it.  I wouldn't run to the kitchen to make another one, but it was enjoyable (except for these triple sec burps that keep surfacing).

Here is the recipe for the Xango:

• 1 1/2 shots of rum
• 1/2 shot triple sec
• 1/2 shot grapefruit juice

Put ice into a shaker and add your rum, triple sec and grapefruit juice.  Shake your mixture up really well.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  That's it, easy smeasy!

Here is a photo of the end result:

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Cheers to me enjoying an entire drink while smelling triple sec!!

The Cocktail Lady

Purple Rain Cocktail

Day 19

Purple Rain

3 shots out of 5

Purple Rain.......no not the song by Prince, the cocktail Purple Rain.  I had seen a couple yummy looking purple cocktails on pinterest and thought, I love purple.....lets do it!  Purple Rain is a cocktail that came up on my search of cocktails, so I investigated its ingredients.  Not so easy, every listing of Purple Rain I found had yet another set of ingredients then the one before it.  I chose one, gave it a shot and COULD NOT for the life of my make it turn purple!  Frustrated with my shades of blue, I sat down at my computer and did......yet another.......search for Purple Rain.  I found one that had simple enough instructions as to where at the end you add a tiny bit more Blue Curaçao until you get a deep purple color.  That sounded more controllable then the other one I tried.

Needless to say, it worked!!  Yeay!!  Only thing was........I had to revisit my new friend.....gin.  OK, we were pretty friendly last time, so this time should be fine.  It was!  I must say, I enjoyed tonight's cocktail.  Therefore gin moved up a couple notches on my belt.

I gave Purple Rain 3 shots out of 5.  Reason being, this cocktail isn't extremely flavorful where the strongest flavor I could taste was the gin.  That being said, the gin taste was not enough to make me not enjoy it.  All in all, I have enjoyed my second cocktail with gin.  My husband who if you remember likes gin said that it tastes good and reminds him of a gin tonic.

Side note, be careful out there when searching for cocktails!  I did an "Images" search for Purple Rain as well as purple cocktails and when I clicked on a few of the purple cocktails I got virus alerts!  Just wanted to pass that on to you all.  When I've done a regular google "Everything" search for these cocktails (purple and not) I've run into no viruses at all.  Not to say that each and every search you do will turn up with no viruses if you use the "Everything" search, but that's just what I've found recently.

Here's the recipe for Purple Rain:

• 1 1/2 shots of gin
• cranberry juice
• splash of blue curaçao
• splash of sweet & sour mix
• splash of club soda

Fill your tall glass with ice.  Pour in the gin, then fill the rest of the glass "almost" to the top with cranberry juice.  Add your blue curaçao, sweet & sour mix and club soda.  Gently stir all of your ingredients together and examine.  If your cocktail is not deep purple, add a tiny bit more blue curaçao to it and stir.  Keep doing that until your cocktail becomes a deep purple color.  I only had to add one small amount of blue curaçao to my cocktail at the end, so just judge the color yourself to find the right purple color.

Here is a photo of the end result:

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Did you notice that I changed the order of my pictures inside tonight's post?  Why did I do that you ask?  Simple, when I link this page to my facebook page the "ingredients" photo is always the picture that represents my post, and I'd rather have the "end result" show up, therefore I switched the photos and will do so from now on.

Hope you enjoy tonight's cocktail!

The Cocktail Lady

Fuzzy Navel Cocktail

Day 18

Fuzzy Navel
4 shots out of 5

Tonight's cocktail is the Fuzzy Navel.  Let me tell you, when I was looking through my cocktail books and online for the recipe for the Fuzzy Navel......boy did I find some other "interesting" names for similar cocktails!  I went with the original name: Fuzzy Navel.

I either haven't ever had a Fuzzy Navel, or it's been sooo long since I've had one that I honestly didn't remember what was in it.  WOW if this isn't yet another easy cocktail to make, and a yummy one at that!!  I really enjoyed this cocktail, as did the group of friends we had over.  One of our friends liked the Fuzzy Navel so much that he wanted to learn how to make it himself.  My husband also enjoyed it and made himself 2 of them as well, so needless to say tonight's drink was a hit!

On a side note, ever since I had made the Sea Breeze one of my good friends had been dying to try it, so I made a couple of them for the ladies and they enjoyed them so much that one of them asked for another!  My good friend who had requested the Sea Breeze had told me that I have shown her the light and that she will no longer be just a vodka cran girl either (like me)!  I was happy to hear that because through this challenge I have made and enjoyed so many yummy cocktails that I would hate to have any of you (especially one of my friends) still settle for just a vodka cran.  All in all it was a great cocktail night with some great friends.

Here is the recipe for a Fuzzy Navel:

• 1 shot vodka
• 1 shot peach schnapps
• orange juice

This is an easy cocktail to make.  Fill your glass (I used the Bud Vase I had purchased a couple weeks ago) almost to the top with ice.  Pour in your vodka and peach schnapps.  Fill the rest of the glass with orange juice and stir it all together.  Enjoy this refreshingly yummy cocktail!

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Here is a photo of the end result:

This is definitely a cocktail to make at your next party!

The Cocktail Lady

Mudslide

Day 17

Mudslide

4 shots out of 5

Now I haven't had one of these in quite a few years.  I had actually forgotten about them until tonight!  The cocktail of the day for day 17 is the Mudslide.  I used to buy the Mudslide mix and add vodka and be done with it.  Now that I know the actual recipe, it's too easy to make.  No need for the Mudslide mix anymore.

I gave tonight's cocktail 4 shots out of 5.  It's totally a thick and creamy cocktail.  A lot different then the ones I've been making which have been fruitier or not that creamy tasting at all.  If you're in the mood for a creamier cocktail, this is the one!  It's definitely not a drink that I would want to have a few of, but for a one cocktail evening, or to end the evening on a creamy note, I could definitely see myself doing so.  

Here is the recipe for the Mudslide:

• 1 shot Smirnoff vodka
• 1 shot Kahlua
• 1 shot Bailey's
• 1 shot cream

Put ice, vodka, kahlua, bailey's and cream into a shaker.  Shake it up real good to get everything mixed up.  Into a short glass that is almost filled with ice, strain your mudslide from the shaker.  That's it, enjoy!

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Here is a photo of the end result:

Enjoy your cocktails!!

The Cocktail Lady

The Dirty Grinch

Day 16

The Dirty Grinch

4 shots out of 5

Happiest of Birthday's Dr. Seuss!!  Tonight's drink is dedicated to you!  

I took a drink you may know

And I gave it quite a show,

I poured in all of it's things,

But to it I added Grenadine,

I like it, I like it, I like it,

I really really do, 

I like it, I like it, I like it,

and I hope that you do too!

I gave tonight's cocktail 1 shot, 2 shot, 3 shot 4 out of 5 shots.  I took the Grinch cocktail, which should have had a cherry at the bottom, but since I didn't have one, I "attempted" to float my shaken Grinch over a bit of grenadine I had poured in the bottom of my chilled glass.  I totally failed at it.....and so the result kinda reminds me of a dirty martini, therefore I created The Dirty Grinch!  The Dirty Grinch is a very sweet drink, so little sips spaced out a bit work well with it.

I am having an absolute blast with this blog.  I hope you're enjoying reading it as well.  I would never have known of half of these drinks I've made so far, as well as the ones I have on my list to still make.  I really hope you try the cocktails that sound good to you, who knows, your new favorite drink could be one of them.  As always, if you have any drink ideas that come along with a recipe, please email them to me at cocktailady@gmail.com  I'd love to hear from you!

Here is the recipe for The Dirty Grinch:

• 2 shots Midori
• 1/2 shot lemon juice
• 1/4 shot of simple syrup
• grenadine

In a shaker with ice, add your midori, lemon juice and simple syrup.  Shake it up real good to get all of the ingredients mixed up well.  Take your chilled cocktail glass and pour in enough grenadine so that the bottom  triangular divit is filled with it.  On the back of a bar spoon, give your best attempt of floating your strained grinch mix from the shaker on top of the grenadine.  If it doesn't work, it'll still taste good!  Enjoy!!  (If you were to make the Grinch itself, you would skip the grenadine and add a cherry.  Your cocktail would be green...grinch green that is.)

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Here is a photo of the end result:

Cheers to you Dr. Seuss!!

The Cocktail Lady

Afterburner

Day 15

Afterburner

2.5 shots out of 5

Tonight's cocktail is called Afterburner.  Once again I gave the grapefruit juice another shot (pun intended).  After tonight I think I will give the grapefruit juice a rest for a while.  I'm absolutely not giving up on it, but I need to take a break from it until I find something that is comparable to the Sea Breeze.  

I gave the Afterburner 2.5 shots out of 5.  I didn't think it only deserved 2 shots, but 3 shots was a bit too high for it.  Reason being, it was too vodka-ey for me.  I think someone who really enjoys a vodka martini will enjoy this cocktail more.  The taste of it reminds me of martinis that my dad used to drink when I was a kid.  NO, he didn't let me drink them too, but he did let me eat the green olives (if you know me you know that I order green olives in ALL of my drinks) out of his martini.  

I think I would have enjoyed tonight's cocktail more if there was a bit more juice in it.  I think the vodka ratio was a bit too much for me, but that's me.  So you make the call, what do you think?  Too much vodka?  Just right?  Not enough vodka?

Here is the recipe for the Afterburner:

• 2 shots of vodka
• 1 shot of triple sec
• 1/2 shot of grapefruit juice

Put ice and all of the ingredients into your shaker.  Shake it up really good to get everything mixed and real cold.  Strain into a martini glass.

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Here is a photo of the end result:

Cheers to eating green olives out of martinis!!

The Cocktail Lady