Ginger Raspberry Bellini

We really enjoyed the cocktail at Jackie’s tea. It was fresh, and ginger-y, and bubbly and the perfect color for a plaid celebration that happened to occur on Valentine’s weekend.

We found the recipe on Driscoll’s website and god only knows how they got theirs so perfectly red…but, our pale version was delicious enough that we hardly noticed. We used a bottle of Blason de Bourgogne Crémant de Rosé ($12 at your friendly Trader Joes) and it was really delicious, but if rosé isn’t your thing, I think the ginger and raspberry are powerful enough that you’ll get the same idea with any sparkling wine.

It’s so much easier to make the liqueur mix in batches, so I’ve adjusted the original recipe to serve 4.

Ginger Raspberry Bellini

(makes 4 cocktails)

4 oz ginger liqueur

2 oz lemon juice (freshly squeezed!)

2 oz simple syrup

16 fresh raspberries

bottle of sparkling rosé or sparkling wine of your choice

4 raspberries and 4 pieces of candied ginger for garnish

Add ginger liqueur, lemon juice, simple syrup, and raspberries to a cocktail shaker. Muddle the raspberries into the liquid. Add ice and shake until fully chilled. Strain mixture into each cocktail glass, about 2 oz per glass. (It’s ok to eyeball.) Top each glass with about 3 oz of sparkling rosé and garnish with a raspberry and candied ginger on a cocktail pick. Toast your friend going on an amazing adventure.

Scottish Lighthouse Tea

My friend Jackie is off to spend a month in Shetland as the artist-in-residence at a lighthouse! She will be spending the month of March working on her art and living in the keeper’s flat. I am crazy excited for her adventure. Last weekend, Peggy, Karen, and I threw her a little going-away party, a Scottish Lighthouse Tea. We started planning the tea back in November and we went a little crazy with the plaid. Peggy has an amazing collection of plaid tablecloths, napkins, and runners that she brought over, along with loads of dishes, a Scottie dog, a lighthouse light, and many more additions to the table. We set the table with Peggy’s dishes and a collection of lighthouse statues from my mom’s house. I also made a little banner from twine and plaid triangles and strung it up with two gold garlands I’ve used for a few parties. (All three fell down during the party–womp, womp.) Karen made lighthouse place cards and we added a little Scottie dog shortbread cookie for each setting. We tried to be really careful not to make the table look too Christmasy and I think we succeeded thanks to the addition of the blue plates and glasses and the black place mats. I mixed up a cocktail that was bubbly and tasty. (I’ll share the recipe later this week!) We drank cocktails and ate a cucumber appetizer before we sat down for the tea. We enjoyed Waldorf Salad, bacon shortbread cookies, Meyer lemon & almond scones with clementine curd and Meyer lemon curd and Devonshire cream, and two types of tea sandwiches, ham with apricot cream cheese and chicken salad with grapes, thyme, and toasted almonds. (Thanks, Marissa, for the suggestion!) And of course, we drank tea! So much tea that we could have floated away. (We drank Barry’s, which has been my favorite lately.) For dessert, Karen made Scottish cream puffs, which were so delicious and really a perfect way to end our feast. It was so much fun and I love that I got to share the party with friends who appreciate all of the tiny details in the planning.

Cheers to Jackie! And if you’d like to follow along with her lighthouse adventures, she’ll be blogging about it here.

P.S. Thanks to Karen for sharing some pictures from the party!

Don’t Be Cruel Valentines

I only made a few Valentines this year. (I got behind in planning as usual.) I made a few Elvis Presley Valentines and a few MY Presley Valentines. For the Elvis ones, I started with my usual heart cards and stamped them with some hearts. Then I used my vintage DYMO label maker for the words “Don’t be cruel.” I added an Elvis sticker. (Ah, that gold lamé suit is fantastic, right?) On the back, I wrote “Be mine.” (Get it? Don’t be cruel, be mine?) Easy and kind of cheesy…perfect.
For my Presley-the-cat fan friends, I made cards using A2 cards and some pictures of Presley hanging out with Yeti holding our special Presley patch. I added “Presley loves you” with my DYMO on some and “P *heart* Y” with Thickers on others.They were fun to make and, even though some will be late, I suppose a little message of love is well received all month long, right?

 

Coffee Talk: Sawada Coffee

Naoto and I loved experiencing Japanese coffee culture during our last trip to Japan and now, we can enjoy a bit of it here in Chicago! Sawada Coffee opened in the West Loop and we went to try it out a few weekends ago.Hiroshi Sawada is an award-winning Japanese barista and latte artist who owns a shop, Steamer Coffee Co, in Tokyo. This is Sawada’s first coffee shop outside of Japan. (You can read a little bit about it here. The relationship between Sawada and the Chicago hospitality group who opened the shop in Chicago started with letter writing!) The place feels very “hipster,” but there are some very Japanese aspects, too. The coffee presentation is lovely, the service is impeccable, and the atmosphere is very industrial and modern. The coffee shop is connected to Green Street Meats, so there’s a lot of restaurant and bar action just steps below the coffee shop in this big open space. Sawada serves the typical range of coffee drinks, but also has some one-of-a-kind offerings, including alcoholic coffee and tea drinks.  Naoto ordered the Sawada Style Cold Brew, an iced coffee mixed with Japanese shochu. It came in a pot and was poured into a glass sitting in a box, similar to the way sake is sometimes served in Japan. (I was stifling a tiny laugh as our server earnestly explained the sake overflow tradition to Naoto.)I had a Benedictine Chai Steamer, a chai latte with Benedictine liqueur added. Both were amazing. We found a seat at the windows, in spite of the place being crazy busy. Naoto stood and texted while I wrote out a few Sawada postcards. (I love places that have free postcards!) I couldn’t resist trying a matcha latte, too…it was the perfect mix of strong matcha with a tiny bit of sweetness. We can’t wait to go back again soon…for the coffee and the postcards.

Donut You Want To Be Mine?

I bought these donuts cards, named DoughNotes a few months ago at a local store, Pumpkin Moon. They are a Chronicle Books product, illustrated by Hannah Berman.

I was charmed by the sweet donut shapes and the waxed paper bag envelopes. They end up looking like the treats Naoto brings home from Stan’s Donuts. They are flat cards, so they are perfect for short hellos, thank you notes, thinking of you notes, orrrrrr…Valentines?

How is Letter Month going for you? So far, I’ve kept up with sending at least one letter, package, or postcard a day, although I almost missed Sunday and had to crawl out of bed to write a quick postcard–oops!

P.S. This is not a sponsored post, but Chronicle is offering 30% off and free shipping with the code SMOOCHES. (Hey, I get their emails.)  Just in case you want some DoughNotes, too.

 

 

 

Month of Letters 2016

Are your pens and piles of stationery all ready for another Month of Letters? I have my first two letters ready to go to the neighborhood blue box this morning and a pile of letters that need replies.

Last year, I had a pile of goals set along with Letter Month, but this year, I just want to keep it simple: mail something every day and try to mail it from a neighborhood blue box (instead of being a lazy hermit and mailing from my building’s box.) I’m also going to try to start my day with letter writing to see if I can start a new habit around here. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I’ll be sharing my daily outgoing mail on Instagram for now.

Are you participating? Do you have specific goals in mind?