I hope everyone had the merriest of Christmas holidays. Mine was quiet but nice; I did not host a big event and I was OK with that. I did enjoy the best crabcakes I've ever had though on Christmas Eve when I went to my neighbors for dinner and her mom and dad had brought some back with them from Baltimore. You know, the kind where it's all meat and no filler, just enough of something that they hold together but all you taste is crab and more crab? Yes, those. It was heavenly and a true gift.
I'll have a small event for neighbors in my home for New Year's Eve. It's becoming a tradition if you count three years in a row. Since most of my neighbors have young kids and since we're all smart enough to know that traveling on this night is more dangerous, we stick close to home and none of us are all that interested in staying up til midnight anymore. I call it a French New Year's Eve. We celebrate the New Year at 4pm which is midnight in France. The kids are welcome to come and I'll have some tidbits to eat and most definitely a cocktail to share. This year I'm offering up a choice of bubbly libations; all of them with a liqueur and champagne (or rather on my budget, more like Prosecco!).
For this year's celebration I'll have bottles of homemade Cranberry Liqueur, Limoncello and Raspberry Liqueur. I'll also have some Crème de Cassis available. Crème de Cassis is a sweet, dark red liqueur made from blackcurrants. Because currants aren't something that I've found readily available at the market I've not made my own (yet) but I love a Kir Royale so a good brand from France will be available too; it's only fitting for a French New Year's Eve right?
These cocktails are so simple, a bit of liqueur topped with some chilled bubbly. Just enough sweetness and taste to make sparkling wine a special cocktail.
By the way, aren't the photos today especially beautiful? I can say that because I did not take them! I have a dear friend, Jenn, who blogged for years at Jenn Cuisine who offered them to me since I had mentioned to her that I would be doing one cocktail every day this week (fingers crossed!) in anticipation of New Year's Eve. She offered and I jumped at that generosity. Jenn doesn't blog anymore; guess working as a full time professor at the University of Alaska and also raising a young daughter with her husband Ryan keeps her busy enough? We met through blogging and have become great friends and Skype as often as possible. Jenn is really more interested in landscape photography today and Alaska has certainly given her so much beauty as a backdrop that it's fitting. Anyway, cheers Jenn and thanks a bunch.
Cheers to all of you too...now on with the celebrating!
Serves Two Servings
5 minPrep Time
5 minTotal Time
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