Wasting Away Again in Cosmo Rita Ville - Week 7
Week 7 - The Cosmo Rita
For weeks people have been asking me how they can follow my blog. I have searched everywhere for a "follow" button on the blog. I absolutely could not find it. I even asked a few friends, no one could figure out how it worked. You'd think this would be a standard feature right? Who has a blog that they do not want people to follow? Recently, while I was looking through the stats section behind the scenes, I finally came across a toggle button to activate the follow section! Eureka! This should not have been this hard:) If you would now like to follow my actual blog, you can do so! Better late than never, right?
The more I get into drink making, the more I realize that it is absolutely an art. This is most notable when I follow others on Instagram and as I research drink making recipes and styles. The photos inspired me and I decided that I needed to get better at garnishing my cocktails. It's really quite impressive what a fun garnish can aesthetically do for a cocktail. It really brings the drink to the next level. I have tried simple garnishes up to this point, but it's time to try something with more flare!
I decided to go for a classy drink this week in order to try a fancy garnish. The Cosmo Rita is a cross between the traditional cosmopolitan and the margarita. The cosmopolitan has been around for a long time, but was more recently popularized by the TV show, Sex and the City. I don't think I'm nearly as fun, cool or cosmopolitan as Charlotte, Samantha, Miranda and Carrie, but I will give it my best shot to make this drink.
I must confess that I had to take to YouTube to watch a few videos on how to make fruit garnishes. They seemed easy enough, but I learned there are so many options! The next thing I knew, two hours of my life had passed. There are so many different ways to spruce up a drink. For the Cosmo Rita, I decided to start small with an orange curl. It looked simple enough from the picture. Will I never learn that the pictures are deceiving?!?
I started with the garnish. It required me to remove the skin of the orange from the inside fruit portion. Oranges are very juicy, so this was a messy process. However, I was able to follow the instructions I learned from YouTube and managed to get the skin of the fruit separated from the inside in a full piece (see photos of this process below). Once the skin was separated, I rolled the skin into a tight spiral and thinly sliced the peel. A perfect spiral emerged! It was amazing and absolutely worth the time and energy.
The drink itself was fun to make. I was dying to use my new cosmo glasses and this drink allowed me to do so. In addition, the recipe called for Orange-flavored vodka. This was a new type of alcohol for me to try and add to my home bar. It was smooth and delicious.
I found the drink to be very easy to put together. This may have been a halo effect from the garnish process, but either way, I really enjoyed making the drink. I added the ingredients together, shook over ice and poured the liquid into the beautiful glasses. I then added the spiral garnish. It was absolute perfection. I was almost afraid to take a sip because it looked too beautiful to disturb! To my surprise, the taste was just as good as the presentation. It was off the charts good! This is definitely a drink I see myself making regularly in the future.
My Father was here visiting and willing to test my drink this week, so I was able to try the recipe twice and to get an honest opinion. Richard may love his daughter unconditionally, but he does not mince words on his opinion of drinks! Fair enough Dad. I wouldn't have it any other way. He gave it a try and two full thumbs up! He said it was the best one he has tried so far. Perhaps there is a correlation between the fancy garnish and the drink taste? I better start watching more YouTube videos for more ideas!
Lesson Learned - It's definitely a lot more work to add the fancy garnish to the drinks, but it is so worth the end result. It is also a pretty good ego boost too, which will propel me to try even more fun ideas going forward.
Recipe
1 ounce tequila
1 ounce cranberry juice
3/4 ounce orange-flavored vodka
3/4 ounce Cointreau
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
Add orange peel for garnish if desired
Level of difficulty: 5
Taste: 9.5
Overall: 9.5
The more I get into drink making, the more I realize that it is absolutely an art. This is most notable when I follow others on Instagram and as I research drink making recipes and styles. The photos inspired me and I decided that I needed to get better at garnishing my cocktails. It's really quite impressive what a fun garnish can aesthetically do for a cocktail. It really brings the drink to the next level. I have tried simple garnishes up to this point, but it's time to try something with more flare!
I decided to go for a classy drink this week in order to try a fancy garnish. The Cosmo Rita is a cross between the traditional cosmopolitan and the margarita. The cosmopolitan has been around for a long time, but was more recently popularized by the TV show, Sex and the City. I don't think I'm nearly as fun, cool or cosmopolitan as Charlotte, Samantha, Miranda and Carrie, but I will give it my best shot to make this drink.
I must confess that I had to take to YouTube to watch a few videos on how to make fruit garnishes. They seemed easy enough, but I learned there are so many options! The next thing I knew, two hours of my life had passed. There are so many different ways to spruce up a drink. For the Cosmo Rita, I decided to start small with an orange curl. It looked simple enough from the picture. Will I never learn that the pictures are deceiving?!?
I started with the garnish. It required me to remove the skin of the orange from the inside fruit portion. Oranges are very juicy, so this was a messy process. However, I was able to follow the instructions I learned from YouTube and managed to get the skin of the fruit separated from the inside in a full piece (see photos of this process below). Once the skin was separated, I rolled the skin into a tight spiral and thinly sliced the peel. A perfect spiral emerged! It was amazing and absolutely worth the time and energy.
I found the drink to be very easy to put together. This may have been a halo effect from the garnish process, but either way, I really enjoyed making the drink. I added the ingredients together, shook over ice and poured the liquid into the beautiful glasses. I then added the spiral garnish. It was absolute perfection. I was almost afraid to take a sip because it looked too beautiful to disturb! To my surprise, the taste was just as good as the presentation. It was off the charts good! This is definitely a drink I see myself making regularly in the future.
My Father was here visiting and willing to test my drink this week, so I was able to try the recipe twice and to get an honest opinion. Richard may love his daughter unconditionally, but he does not mince words on his opinion of drinks! Fair enough Dad. I wouldn't have it any other way. He gave it a try and two full thumbs up! He said it was the best one he has tried so far. Perhaps there is a correlation between the fancy garnish and the drink taste? I better start watching more YouTube videos for more ideas!
Lesson Learned - It's definitely a lot more work to add the fancy garnish to the drinks, but it is so worth the end result. It is also a pretty good ego boost too, which will propel me to try even more fun ideas going forward.
Recipe
1 ounce tequila
1 ounce cranberry juice
3/4 ounce orange-flavored vodka
3/4 ounce Cointreau
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
Add orange peel for garnish if desired
Level of difficulty: 5
Taste: 9.5
Overall: 9.5
Comments
Post a Comment