Blackthorn Cocktail

As you know Monday was Robert Burns Day and of course we had an evening tipple to toast the late Scottish poet. The Blackthorn Cocktail is a lovely sipping cocktail and may be enjoyed before or after dinner. Usually I am not one for whisky however the combination of flavours do work well here and produce an impressively smooth cocktail. 

Blackthorn Cocktail

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ICE CUBES

2 ounces Scotch Whisky 

1 ounce Sweet Vermouth

1/4 ounce Absinthe

3 dashes Angostura Bitters

lemon twist, for garnish

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway full with ice cubes. Add the whisky, sweet vermouth, absinthe, and bitters. Shake well.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass. Twist the lemon twist over the glass and let it drop in. 

It is as simple as that! 

An Irish Whiskey would probably be fine too. 

Hope everyone had a good weekend. We did! The past couple of days I have been battling this cold/flu virus that is going around. Feeling a bit better today which is a bonus although not 100 percent. - JD   

Our Vegan / Vegetarian Dinner Party

The other night we had a dinner party with friends and the dinner menu was mostly vegan and or vegetarian. We started off the night with homemade hummus and crackers. The herbed sesame crackers were made by my daughter and myself.   

My son was in charge of drinks. He decided to create a lovely summery fruit punch which consisted of raspberry juice and tonic water with slices of oranges. It was a delicate flavour with a bit of zing.   

The main was marinated tofu burgers with vegan buns. Flavourful and very, very tasty. I will post the recipe tomorrow. They were dressed with red onion, tomatoes, pickles, and...

pineapple relish. Last week I posted about the cookbook, Haute Dog and shared a recipe from the book which was the pineapple relish. I decided that the relish would be perfect with the tofu burgers. It complimented everything nicely and was a big hit. 

The side was a salad. It is hard to believe that underneath all those veggies there were tender greens and spinach. A homemade mustard vinaigrette was the accompanying   salad dressing.   

Dessert was a light fruit salad. Fresh juicy berries and tart plums lightly tossed in coconut sugar. Something  to refresh the palate.

Hope everyone had a good long weekend. It is Wednesday, the middle of the week, and the to do list keeps growing. - JD