Aren’t we all glad to see the end of 2020? We didn’t have any New Years Eve plans so decided to just listen to music and explore a few cocktail variations using whatever we had on hand. What shocked me was was that Karen suggested we try some gin drinks! Some of you know I get a stuffy nose when I drink most gins. The primary ingredients in gin are juniper and coriander. I have a mild allergy to coriander (and cilantro which is the leaf and stems of a coriander plant) so many gins and most Mexican food make me stuff up soon after I have them. But I really like both, so I often put up with this “minor inconvenience”. I was immediately on board since she isn’t much of a cocktail person. This was a treat for me to practice my mixing skills with one of my favorite spirits!
She had found some Keto friendly recipes on Pinterest using celery or cucumbers, lemons, limes… all of which we had on hand, so we started to put our spin on the variations we found. There were three main themes we found: A jalapeño cucumber martini, a cucumber collins, and a celery juice “gin & greens”. The jalapeño cucumber martini was a good start. It was basically gin, small slice of jalapeño, small chunks of cucumber, half of a squeezed lime, shake over ice and add a splash of sparkling water. It was ok, but not quite what we were looking for. We tried adding agave, Sprite, even brown sugar, still ok, but not on the mark. Next up was the cucumber collins (of sorts). We didn’t have any Cucumber Infused Gin so instead I muddled cucumber then added gin and squeezed half of a lemon, half of a lime, a touch of simple syrup, shook over ice and added a splash of sparking water. I garnished with a cucumber slice for the photo op and tasted what became my favorite drink for the night. Now before any of the pro bartender’s out there point out that its not technically a collins or a martini, I’ll just say I respect and appreciate your knowledge but I’m just mixing to our taste. As you will see in our pictures all were served in the same martini glass as the first drink, not trying to make these text book perfect (nor do I have all the required glassware), just mixing ingredients while enjoying a wonderful evening relaxing with my wife.
The third idea involved celery juice. Fortunately for us I’m a juicing fan so I set up the juicer and ran about 3 celery stalks through it which ended up making more than enough juice. For our celery juice drink I used gin, celery juice, squeezed half of a lemon and shook over ice. I added a splash of Sprite and garnished with a small celery stalk. This drink was Karen’s favorite of the night.
In between mixing we fired up the grill (in the rain) to smoke some margarita marinated chicken wings. Karen talked me through the marinade. 1/2 cup pre mixed margarita (my favorite is 1800), 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, chili powder, garlic, and red pepper flakes. It was probably one of the most relaxing and quietist new years eves we have ever had since we have been together.
