So much to catch up on.......

Spring has finally hit & I think I had me a case of spring fever. I have barely read any of the blogs I follow, most unusual and haven't posted here for over a week - also unusual. But now that I have raked my garden in the 75 degree spring weather and am totally spent - I'll sit down here and catch you all up on my past week with the cocktail of the week as a bonus. Plus this will prevent me from starting to drink beer too early in the day since the third game of Red Sox - Yankees series is not on until 8 tonight - I want to try and stay awake. It has been an awesome series to be sure...

Ok - last weeks cocktail the French 75, should have come with a warning because really, it is that strong but also that damn good. I think I am going to have to apply a label to those kind of cocktails - I came up with this DTOH - Drink This Only at Home. These cocktails can get you into some serious trouble although you should NEVER drink and drive anyway. Before we finished the bottle of champagne with the French 75's, I managed to take the sunset shot above off our back patio. It's not too bad considering we had drank several of those French 75 things.

In other exciting news that you are breathlessly waiting for - I finished Training Buddy's quilt! Hubby & I met up with her, Training Buddy Husband & Princess yesterday at a local picnic spot for a picnic and Christmas gift giving. It was so timely, too. Yesterday was the hottest day since October so I am sure the quilt came in handy last night. Here's a couple pics, one with feet and the other an attempt at an artistic shot with a camera that isn't set to take artistic shots.

It took me a lot longer to quilt than I thought it would - it is all hand quilted - yikes!

Now - the cocktail of the week. I should start out saying I probably made it wrong so it might taste better if you follow the recipe. I got it from Ina Garten - The Barefoot Cantessa's new cookbook Back to Basics. I like Ina even thought she comes across a little snobby sometimes in her show from East Hampton and drives Hubby nuts. But for the most part I find her recipes easy to follow & they usually turn out good. I was intrigued to try this recipe because it was a famous cocktail that Gerald Murphy used to make. Now , who is Gerald Murphy you may be asking yourself. Well he and his wife Sara were well known in society in the 1920's & 30's for being the "it" couple in high society. I read what I thought was a great book about their life "Everybody Was So Young" and would highly recommend it. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a great friend and was said to have modeled characters in his book Tender is the Night from Sara & Gerald. Ernest Hemingway was another great friend and of course their grand daughter is a great friend of Ina's - but of course she is. So I like to have fun and drink glamorous drinks , even thought I am in Moodus and not the Hamptons, so thought I'd give this one, Juice of a Few Flowers a try. We didn't like it but I didn't follow the recipe exactly - it might have been better if I did that. But give it a try - don't use gin like we did at first ( because Ina said that's how Gerald used to make it) it is better with vodka.

1/2 c fresh squeezed oranges (2 oranges)

1/2c fresh squeezed pink grapefruit juice (1 grapefruit)

1/4 c fresh squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)

1/4 c fresh squeezed lime juice(2 limes)

1 c good vodka

Fill some martini glasses with ice water to chill the glasses. Or if you have a restaurant sized freezer in your cooking bar like Ina does - put your martini glasses in there to chill. Mix all of above ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake a good thirty seconds to get nice and cold. You can rim the glasses in extra fine sugar if you want (we didn't). Pour into the chilled martini glasses and hopefully enjoy more than we did. I think I used too much grapefruit juice which was a little sour, not enough OJ and too much gin (vodka for the second batch) in proportion to the juice. I think it is supposed to be more like a screwdriver than a martini. The theory of this drink is good and I mean the Murphy's were the shakers of their day so if they liked it I should probably give it another shot & just follow the recipe. All the reviews at foodnetwork.com are good so I think it was me.

So that's about it - I hear a glass of prosecco calling my name - just prosecco because opening the bottle, pouring the drink - how easy is that?