How you doin’? Yes, it’s Saint Paddy’s Day! What are you drinking tonight? Here’s one for our Irish friends who may live in Mexico. It’s The Irish Cactus cocktail bringing together an unlikely duo creating a simple, creamy cocktail.
 
It’s a surprising cocktail owing to the hints of the tequila that come through the creamy liqueur when you least expect it. It’s a little on the sweet side, but with a little tequila kick.
 
Not only is this a great St. Patrick’s Day drink, it’s perfect for any Happy Hour, and for a dessert drink, too. And it's so simple to make that it will become one of your at home happy hour favorites, too.
 
Prep time:  3 minutes
Yield:  1 cocktail
 
Ingredients
1 ounce white tequila
2 ounces Irish cream liqueur
A few drops of green food coloring (don’t go overboard, just enough to let people know it’s for the holiday)
 
Directions

1. In an old-fashioned glass filled with ice, pour the tequila and Irish cream.
2. Stir well and serve.

​ChefSecret:  You don’t need to use an expensive aged tequila, white tequila is a great choice for this cocktail. For the Irish cream I used Baileys which is the best-known Irish cream, but there are other brands available as well. I used one of those large ice cubes to reduce dilution—nobody wants to drink a watered-down creamy drink.

St. Paddy’s Quip of the Day:  May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of St. Patrick behold you.
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross.
 
#Cocktail #HappyHour #IrishCactus #IrishCream #Baileys #Tequila #StPatricksDay #Cheers #2023 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 

                                                                          ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023

How you doin’? St. Patrick’s Day is next week (yes, already!) and we wanted to give you a jump on this one so you had time to gather the special ingredients.
 
This New Age Old Fashioned is perfectly bright green for St. Patrick’s Day. A classic Old Fashioned is great with a grilled filet steak, but my delicious St. Patrick’s Day New Age Old Fashioned is made to accompany lamb.
 
This whiskey cocktail is made with three flavors of mint—mint jelly, mint syrup (for color) and, of course, fresh mint in the glass—plus an extra sprig of mint to garnish the finished drink.
 
Ingredients 
1 Bordeaux maraschino cherry
1 mint sprig
1/4 ounce Monin brand mint syrup
1/4 orange wheel
1/2 teaspoon mint jelly
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash Fee Brothers mint bitters
2 ounces Dewar’s 12-year-old scotch
ice
Garnish: mint sprig
 
Directions

1. Add the cherry, mint sprig, mint syrup, orange wheel, mint jelly, Angostura bitters and mint bitters into a mixing glass with a splash of water and muddle, carefully crushing into a paste-like consistency.
2. Remove the spent fruit skins, husks and crushed leaves and stems, but keep the flavored paste in the mixing glass.
3. Add the scotch and ice and stir until well-chilled.
4. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice.
5. Garnish with a mint sprig.

​ChefSecret:  DRINK RESPONSIBILY!

Quip of the Day:  “Irish toast to love--I have known many, and liked not a few, but loved only one, and
 this toast is to you.”
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross.
 
                                                                                                              ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023

How you doin’? Joan and I were working on bringing a famous franchisee to Ireland which necessitated several trips to Emerald Isle to get the lay of the land. On one of our free weekends we had the chance to explore Jameson’s famous distillery just outside Dublin.
 
Founded by John Jameson in 1780, today the distillery stands as a monument to Irish Whiskey. This is one of the world’s leading distillery tours with cocktail-making classes, premium whiskey tasting sessions or lessons in how to blend your own whiskey. It’s all topped off with the Jameson’s centerpiece tasting bar, straight from the proverbial source—John Jameson.
 
March 3rd is Irish Whiskey Day, so what could be better than a Jameson Whiskey Sour—sweet, sour and everything delicious. The Whiskey Sour is one of the all-time best Irish classic cocktails. If you’re looking to impress your friends with a flavorful cocktail, learn how to make a Whiskey Sour, it’s a sure-fire way to keep your friends sweet (not sour!).

The Whiskey Sour is one of the most popular cocktails ever made; it combines just three main flavors—sweet, sour and Irish whiskey. I use Jameson Black Barrel, which brings the perfect level of smoothness for this creamy, frothy drink. Celebrate Irish Whiskey Day in fashion with all your friends at Perspectives.

Prep time:  5 minutes
Yield:  1 Cocktail
 
Ingredients 
2 ounces Jameson Black Barrel Irish Whiskey
3/4 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
1 egg white (See ChefSecret)
3 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 large round ice cube
1 spiral lemon
 
Directions

1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, then add the Jameson Black Barrel, freshly-squeezed lemon juice, sugar syrup, egg white and 3 dashes of Angostura bitters.
2. Shake it like you mean it.
3. Strain into a chilled rocks glass.
4. Garnish with a lemon twist.

ChefSecret:  If you don’t feel comfortable using a raw egg, you can purchase pasteurized egg whites at your local grocery store, or make your own (see Lesson #508).

Quip of the Day: “May your glass be ever full. May the roof over your head be always strong. And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.”
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross.

#Cocktail #HappyHour #WhiskeySour #JamesonBlackBarrelWhiskey #IrishWhiskey #Cheers #2023 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup  

                                                                                   ©Perspectives/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023

How you doin’? How do you feel about the Royal family? You know… Charlie III, Camilla, William, Kate and the utter crazies—Harry and Megan? They’re the two royals who tell tall tales about all the nasty doings inside “the firm?”
 
And soon we have a coronation to celebrate that will create another big opportunity for the wayward prince (Harry) and his not-so-fairy princess-wife to attempt to score more PR points on the world stage. So, to get ready for all the Royal festivities and folderol here is a Happy Hour cocktail—Royal Balmoral Punch—that may even take the scowl or smirk off of Megan’s unhappy face.
 
Balmoral Castle is a large estate house high atop a hill in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and is one of the residences of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie west of Aberdeen.
 
The estate and its original castle were purchased from the Farquharson family in 1852 by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. It was also the summer residence of Queen Elizabeth II, who died there on September 8th last year.
 
The castle is an example of Scottish baronial architecture, and is classified by Historic Environment Scotland as a category A listed building. The new castle was completed in 1856 and the old castle demolished shortly thereafter.
 
The Balmoral Estate has been expanded by successive members of the royal family, and now covers an area of approximately 50,000 acres. It is a working estate, including grouse moors, forestry and farmland, as well as managed herds of deer, Highland cattle, sheep and ponies.
 
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert first visited Scotland in 1842, five years after she acceded to the throne and two years after their marriage. In 1848 an arrangement was made that Prince Albert would acquire the remaining part of the lease on Balmoral, together with its furniture and staff, without having seen the property first—it’s good to be royalty. 
 
They felt the house was too small and, in 1848, new designs were commissioned to build out new offices, cottages, and other ancillary buildings. Improvements were also made to the woodlands, gardens and estate buildings.
 
To celebrate this beautiful area in a manner befitting a king, prince, or even a crazy, tattle tale princess, we give you… Royal Balmoral Punch.
 
This punch recipe can easily be multiplied to serve a crowd—just mix up the right portions in a large punch bowl with one large block of ice.
 
Prep time:  10 minutes
Yields:  2 servings
 
Ingredients 
3 ounces Glenfiddich 21-year-old single-malt scotch
2 ounces Granny Smith apple juice
1 ounce tea syrup (see ChefSecret below)
Sparkling lemonade, to top
Champagne, to top
Garnish: lemon wheel
Garnish: thistle (optional if you find one) By the way, in case you didn’t know, a thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterized by leaves with sharp prickle points on the margins
 
Directions

1. Add the scotch, apple juice and tea syrup to a shapely glass teacup and add a large ice cube.
2. Top with equal amounts of sparkling lemonade and Champagne and stir briefly to combine.
3. Garnish with a lemon wheel and a thistle, if desired. My picture doesn’t show a thistle… I couldn’t find one.

ChefSecret:  It’s easy to make Tea Syrup—combine 1 cup freshly hot brewed strong English Breakfast tea and 1 cup granulated sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Quip of the Day:  Meghan Markle once asked the queen, "What's the secret of a long life?" To which the queen replied, "Wear a seat belt and don't piss me off!”
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross.

#Cocktail #HappyHour #BalmoralCastle #RoyalBalmoralPunch #Coronation #KingCharles #Glenfiddich #GrannySmith  #Cheers #2023 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 
 
                                                                        ©Perspectives/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023

How you doin’? Many of our past presidents had apple trees on their properties. Some of those harvests must have gone to making apple spirits. In fact, many people consider Apple Jack to be one of America's great spirits. 
 
I don’t rightly care if you’re a democrat or republican when it comes to a good President’s Day Cocktail. I learned a long time ago how to democratize a damn good cocktail. Here’s one that goes back almost 100 years. It was most popular in the 1920's and '30s. It even made an appearance in the Hemingway classic, The Sun Also Rises. 

My Apple Jack Rose Cocktail is both sweet and tart and tastes so much better than the fake flavors of so many Appletinis. I predict that the Apple Jack Rose Cocktail is going to make a comeback after this publication.
 
The Apple Jack Rose Cocktail makes an excellent at-home signature drink to impress family and friends. Make a big batch in a pitcher and keep bringing out newly chilled glasses for refills.
 
Ingredients 
2 ounces applejack (use Calvados as good substitute if applejack is unavailable)
1 ounce fresh lemon or lime juice
1/4 ounce of grenadine
 
Directions

1. Shake all the ingredients together in a shaker.
2. Strain into a chilled martini glass (no ice) for best results.
3. Garnish with a slice of apple.

ChefSecret:  If you use Calvados, the drink will lose a little sweetness but you can correct that with a little simple syrup and retain the fresh apple flavor.

My Woke Quip of the Day:  Why did the apple pie cry? It’s peelings were hurt!
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to ed@perspectives-la.com. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
-------------------------------------------
To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross.

#Cocktail #HappyHour #AppleJackRoseCocktail #PresidentsDay #ErnestHemingway #Calvados #Cheers #2023 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 
 
                                                                     ©Perspectives/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023