Friday Night Lights

Good evening lushes and bon vivants. Welcome to the latest Red Shaker night. Tonight we usher in another fun-filled fabulous weekend and say goodbye to a work week filled with PC drama, accounting headaches and general client stupidity. Needless to say, we both really, really need some fortified adult beverages. (Did I say really? Cause, really).

This evening we present to you an Herb-stravaganza! We feature fresh herbs from Sheridan's Patio Bar and Stacia's Balcony bar. Take a ride with us, break in your weekend, get a little drunk. You've earned it, we're sure.

We begin with:

Thyme and Garlic Cheese Dip and the #10 Lenin-ade Martini
(yes, Lenin.....as in Vladimir, not John).




We give this martini
(Sheridan says 4 1/2 over ice in summer and you can't argue with genius). This was quite nice....light, subtle mint flavor, a summer 'tini for sure.

Moving right along, our second course is

Carrot Ginger Soup Shooters with #11 Ginger Lime Martinis.

Oh my, this is a genius pairing. I probably love the 'tini more than Sheridan. I am a ginger superfreak. The kind you don't bring home to mother. Sheridan says the dollop of sour cream was the perfect accompaniment to the soup...the ginger and the carrot were perfectly balanced. (she still liked my vichyssoise better, I can tell). As we pat ourselves on the back , we move on to our next course:

Caramelized Onion and Sage Tart with #12 Blueberry 'tinis


Sheridan's onion tart review: "I just want to grab a pillow and sleep in it"
Stacia: My tart says thank you. :) And you can send it flowers tomorrow. No Daisies. ;)

And the 'tini? Mmmmblueberriesandboozemmmmmm.......
This was not a bad start at all, the blueberry flavor was a little too subtle and would definitely upgrade the rating if it were enhanced more. Next time we'll infuse a simple syrup with the muddled berries.
Could go higher with more "blueberry smooshiness". Heh.

And then we rolled ourselves into the kitchen for :

Mini Chicken Pot Pies!

Wait, WTF!?! Where is our next drink? And Why, in the name of all that is holy, am I still sober? Something is wrong here. Deeply wrong. I'll just let Sheridan review my pot pies whilst I correct my alcohol imbalance.

Take it away, Sher:

buzzin like a happy little bee here... can I just say I want to move in with Stacia and would happily pay for all groceries and specialty items for her cooking alone. (Stacia: the hell- she proposed earlier- where's my damn ring??? I prefer platinum).

The chicken pot pie. I have not had any in years, since most of my experience has been frozen dinners - those are okay.. but not great, especially after having some at some rather gourmet restaurants. Stacia's is close to the restaurant variety without being "uppity". The pastry was nice, light and not overpowering to the mixture of vegetables, chicken breast and "sauce." Fresh thyme compliments the blend and, as a whole, it is a fabulous rendition of a comfort food staple. I would totally bribe her to make this when I need a culinary hug. (Stacia: anytime my friend)

OOH! Next round is DONE! I'm off to drink. BRB.

Ok, so we decided to wing it here, no net, no recipe......


Drunken Berry tini

Gorgeous color, amazing aroma. Ruby red, vanilla scented end of evening libation.

We could definitely improve this. But not a bad start. (Stacia: Miss Sheridan's still flying higher than I am. WTF people.)

And we finish up this round to move on to our last course:

Raspberry Sorbet with Limoncello, Fresh Berries and Mint......

and here we stray from the 'tini path. Apologies to 'tini purists here. Avert your eyes. We're breaking out of the vodka box.

A little happy juice ends the evening well. Ahhhh, nothing says welcome to the weekend like a little glass of bubbly. Champagne makes everything better.

The addition of limoncello was inspired. Fresh berries garnished the concoction and the flavors complimented each other. Sheridan kind of mixed the sorbet and limoncello together making a bit of a smoothy consistency, giving rather devious thoughts to raspberry/limoncello shakes....

Thank you for coming along with us on another drunken journey.
We are plotting some 4th of July weekend fun, so stay tuned.

Happy weekend and happy drinking~!

Lushes out.

The Stripe Report

You know, I don't read a lot of papers....being a cat and all. But I think I'd have heard if they reinstated prohibition.

So, what's a cat got to do to get a drink around these parts? I see plenty of bottles but not nearly enough booze on glass action. Chop chop ladies! Let's get some shakers working. Soon.

Stripe out.

When I grow up.......

I want to be a Lemon Drop Martini!

Lakers and Shakers

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Tonight we have a lovely beverage and snackie menu.

To begin with:

Chilled vichyssoise shooters with #5 Citrus martinis.

Nice clean, not too sweet. Would probably only have one.

Course two: arugula salad with warm bacon dressing and #6 The Lava Lamp Martini.

Wellll....we dearly wish we could love the lava lamp. It was pretty. However, it tasted like cough syrup. Nasty, nasty cough syrup. Unless you have a prescription or chronic bronchitis, take a pass.

Hating to waste the vodka. we invented the #7 Salvage-tini:

Basically the Lava Lamp, shaken up with lemon juice, fresh lime,etc.....the best we can say is that we rendered it drinkable. Take a pass on this. The residents of Pompeii had more warning. 1 olive.

And on to to the third course, Caramelized onion and Parmesan puffs with the
#8 Razzmary Tini

. Both delicious, but could add a bit more rose/razz to the next round.


And for dessert: Frozen chocolate souffles and the #9 Wedding Cake Tini!

OMG- we're drinking cupcakes! Surprisingly, the combination of pineapple, cranberry and vanilla vodka rendered a concoction that tasted like a cupcake with butter cream frosting. The flavors were subtle and delightful. Delicious! Cupcakey! Mmmm!

Overall, an enjoyable evening with restraint. I could have had one more tini. Just a small one.......

Thank you for joining us and stop by again soon for another Red Shaker evening. And congratulations to the Lakers on their championship~ Next time I'll make a Kobin-tini....and hog it all for myself!~ hee hee.......

Birthday Wishes!

Happy Birthday to my co-lush and partner in crime Miss Sheridan!~

from Sheridan... I did not even see this yesterday as I was playing at The Happiest Place on Earth (aka Disneyland) which, I  have to say, is severely lacking in martini (or alcohol) options... but still a blast. 

thanks, Stacia! :D

The Stripe Report

For two drunk chicks, you'd think they would be more generous with the treats.......
Did I put enough Frangelico in this?

Special Correspondant Emong Here!

Emong here. My Human brought me up to partake in the inaugural night of The Red Shaker sessions. She and Stacia were quite funny to watch as they poured, mixed, gabbed, acked (My Human found out she is not fond of Campari. At All.) and explored the collection of recipes they have discovered. Here they are letting me taste the Chuckleberrytini.

I was trying to keep as professional as possible. I made notes and logged the reactions. My writing got worse as the night wore on - both from the martini consumption and the fact that writing without hands and arms is a bitch. This is the bar selection for the evening. The Lushes have a fondness for Gray Goose, so I am sure you will be seeing that particular bottle a lot.

Round One- 'tinis one through three...and counting

#1 Chuckleberrytini

Though we failed to note the "garnish with skittles" note in the recipe, this was not a bad way to begin our tini quest. Made a very pretty tini, could have used a bit more raspberry flavor and perhaps even a splash of lemon. Nice finish. Overall a decent tini.

Consensus Rating:
(Sheridan gives the name 5 olives!)


Moving along folks, onto the....

#2 The Continental Martini

Surprisingly less sweet than expected. Nice finish. Pretty color. Not bad.

Consensus Rating:

And that brought us to Sheridan's favorite:

#3 The Pink Panther

Oh lord, how I wish I had a camera when Sheridan took a sip of this one. Note to self: No Campari for Miss Sheridan. Wow, picture a combo spit-take/sourpuss/omg what foul hell just arrived in my mouth face. It was awesome. I poured her a fresh glass of champagne to wash the taste out of her mouth. Heh.

The drink? Ok, you really need to enjoy Campari. It's a very, very acquired taste. That said, for me it was interesting. No replacement for the Negroni or the Americano in the Campari world, but worth a taste. I can think of many better uses for champagne.

Sheridan Rating: negative 50000 olives
Stacia Rating:

(Sheridan is eyeballing me to finish the hell-tini so we can move on to dessert....drink up Stacia!)

And for dessert?

#4 The Chocolate Hazelnut Martini

Mmmmmmchocolateyboozemmmmm..........
I take back everything disparaging I ever said about chocolate/dessert martinis. consensus? Yum. Though Miss Sheridan was hoping for more of a nutella flavor. Rich, very desserty. You really only want one. A very tasty finish to the evening.

Rating:
(however, as a milkshake? Diabolically delicious-the nesquick bunny would would sell his mother for this)



{Snackie Menu: Roasted Asparagus, Olives, Mushroom Pockets (thanks Trader Joe!), Mini Baked Potato Bites, and Pizzatizer}

Let the games begin

As a homage to our favorite beverage, we have decided to embark upon a quest... a mission to sample as many of these succulent concoctions as we are able to - and still remember what we thought about them.

Over (of course) an icy cold martini, we have come up with our preliminary rating system. On a scale of one to five olives, we will critique a plethora of recipes harvested, created, found and given. The criteria is rather simple:

hate it - one olive or less

not bad, but would not order one (and shell out $14 for in a bar) - two olives

I'd order it, but not my favorite - three olives

Oh yeah.. bring me (at least) another round - four olives

Oh sweet mother put that in my mouth as fast as possible...bring more - 5 olives

Hope you enjoy the journey with us, the Luscious Lushes, as we avoid sobriety one martini at a time.