A Whole New Shaker!!!!

After much hair pulling, frustration and a really steep learning curve, the Shakers are proud to announce our new blog!!!

We have grown up and migrated to our own site and added oodles of new things to make your Red Shaker experience more complete. If you were following us on our old blog, please re-follow us as this new site will be where the party's at. Here are some of the fabulous new features:

• Shop in our new store! We have partnered with Amazon.com to form our own collection of gifts, guides and goodies.
• Check out our custom logo gear in our Zazzle store
  
• Subscribe via email to get word on our latest posts
• Follow us on Twitter and submit content you like on Digg
  
• Add us as a friend on Facebook
  

We proudly welcome you to the NEW Red Shaker and hope you come with us on our martini adventures. Same Shaker style, all new bells and whistles.

Shaker One here~I'd like to give a special shout out to Shaker 2 for her magical tech skills.....without which we'd still be a blog with training wheels. Thanks you luscious lush!

Shake-a-tini!~

Hello and Happy Easter to all our Shaker pals. For all of you in Southern California- how did you enjoy your Easter Roll? Yes, a healthy earthquake made me feel like I'd already enjoyed a couple of our 'tinis. Spring is here and some ingredients on hand inspired me to create a new 'tini:

The Nasturtium Flip:

Vodka, fresh squeezed orange and key lime juice, a little sweetener, and egg white for foam and finished with a few dashes of Fee Bros Lemon Bitters. And yes, that's a nasturtium from my balcony garden!

Shaker 2 popped up to weigh in on this: 4 1/2 olives! Delicious. Summery, fresh, with possibilities for other pairings........

We shall play with this 'tini again.

For all of you who were looking for the easter 'tini.....check back tomorrow. There will be something tasting coming in to your e basket.

Happy Easter, Happy Spring, hope your day was lovely.
Shakers out.

Limey Bast@#d

The weather has warmed up here in Southern California and it seems though spring has arrived. Plants are bloomin', the bees are buzzing and the key limes have hit the stores!

In honor of this fabulous bit of tart produce, we bring you Key Lime Shaker Night!

The first concoction is a Key Lime Martini (v.1)

Oh, yes, this one was a beautiful start to the evening. Tart, sweet with a graham cracker rimmed glass - talk about tripping a light fandango on the tongue! It was creamy, tangy, limey and not too sweet. I can see this bad boy being a definite summer drink staple.

Both Shaker's concur: 4 olives

Now Key Lime Pie Martini (v.2)
This is the recipe 3rd down in the article

Ok , this one reads more "pina colada" than key lime pie. To quote shaker 2 "mrepfifownof" which translated to "I like your key lime mousse better". You can't argue with logic like that. And yes, I made key lime mousse for us tonight. May I say yum? Recipe at www.epicurious.com. Juicing key limes is a bit of a chore, but well worth the effort.

Shaker 2 and I agree that we would not try this one again. It's not terrible, but not worth it compared to the first. We'd give this one 2 1/4-2 1/2 olives. Meh.

So we moved on to our own Key Lime Martini-Shaker Style!

Instead of Rose's lime juice, we used fresh squeezed key limes juice and simple syrup. Nice true key lime flavor, fluffier body, but we still both like the first one the best. 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 olives.


Well, its a workday tomorrow, we will wrap this up for now. If you want to try a key lime martini, try our first recipe.

Starry Night........

Last week while I was away from LA I looked up at night and I could actually see stars. And while I'm a city girl at heart (....the lights of the city are the stars on the ground-name that tune!), there's something about looking up at an indigo velvet canopy studded with sparkling lights that makes you stop and just be in the moment..........marveling at the immenseness and beauty. What else does it make you do? Well, if you're a shaker it makes you mix up a martini inspired by the night sky.

And so we have:

The Starry Night


regular vodka, creme de violette, vanilla vodka, pineapple juice, a splash of lemon.......still working on the proportions but this has possibilities. The violette and vanilla play nicely together while the pineapple juice foams up a lovely solar system across the top of the drink. Hmmmm, maybe some champagne next time to add "sparkle" to the sky???


I need to work more with the creme de violette. It is a lovely liquor.....subtle taste and a mesmerizing color that goes from inky indigo to pale lavender depending on the mixers. I wonder how this would play with a tea infusion?

So like the night sky, a good ingredient should make you wonder where else the night will take you...........

(as is, 3 1/2 olives-but I think this could be worked up to a 4)

Shaker One bids you a good night.

Éirinn go brách

Shaker Two here. Shaker One is out of town at the moment, so I am posting a little something in her absence.

Sadly, I don't have a new martini to share, schedules have been a wee bit crazy and though we have tried for a few Shaker Nights, it has not worked out - hopefully that will remedy itself soon.

One of our readers asked if we were coming up with a Shamtini in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Due to circumstances above, we had not - but this also got me thinking (dangerous, I know.) Would I take the route of creme de menthe as my base or be more calorically diabolical with a green milkshake, a la the golden arches, and go from there?

We might have to come up with a few ideas and do a belated nod to St. Pat.

Thanks to SuzyQ for the suggestion and we'll see if we can do some justice to her idea.

Love Potion #9

The Shakers have come up with a new signature martini:

The Love Potion #9 (working title)

Inspired by the Velvet Kiss and couple of our favorite ingredients (Lillet Blanc, St. Germain) we've created a tasty tini to melt your heart......literally.

3 oz Vodka
2 oz Lillet Blanc
1/2 oz St. Germain elderflower liquor
1 oz lemon juice
splash of simple syrup (optional)

Shake above over ice, strain into a martini glass and gently drop in a frozen heart. Yes, that's a frozen heart of berry puree you see floating in the glass.

This martini is meant to be sipped slowly. The flavor changes over time. You start out with a nice citrus-y top note, but as the drink matures you start to get a more pronounced Lillet flavor and near the end, the berry puree heart melts to color and flavor the last half of your drink. This is a martini to savor, enjoying the layers as they develop.

Shaker 1 gives this a 4 1/2 olives...Shaker 2?

Let there be cake! and martinis!! and candles!!!

That's right, kids... I'd like to wish a fabulous and happy birthday to Shaker One!!!!