Arsenic Lace

Archives for August 2017

Styling Your Home Bar | Bloomia Giveaway

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For years I’ve had a rule that once a week, I buy myself flowers. Very rarely did anyone else purchase flowers for me and it was an exercise in self-love. I realized quickly that having fresh flowers in the house added a pop of color and life to my living space and the sight of them also made me smile. This was the beginning of a plant lady in the making! I’m so happy to have teamed up with my friends over at Bloomia for this post to spread a little happiness and talk about why flowers are important to me at home and in my work.

Bloomia is a global floral company with offices and production companies is the U.S, Chile, South Africa and the Netherlands. In the U.S their flowers are grown in King George, Virginia (about 40 minutes away from D.C) and are available in main supermarkets like Wholefoods, Wegmans, and Trader Joe’s. Their mission is to spread happiness through their sustainably grown, pesticide free, thoughtfully designed and consciously delivered floral products.

I’m running a giveaway over on Instagram, so after reading this post make sure you visit my account over here this afternoon to enter. All you have to do to be qualified to win is make sure you’re following me and Bloomia and leave a comment tagging a friend to whom you’d want to send flowers. Two lucky winners will get flowers shipped directly to their door courtesy of Bloomia. The giveaway will run until Sunday, so you have all week to enter.

I’m going to go over styling your home bar but first wanted to share some tips about styling your own floral arrangement. I thought my vintage Lilly Pulitzer dress with cocktails and flowers on it was perfect for this occassion!

  • Cut an inch off the stems using a sharp knife, especially if the flowers will sit a while before being arranged. The fresh cut will help the stems absorb water better.
  • Remove any leaves that fall below the water line.
  • Add large, heavy flowers first, turning the arrangement as you work to ensure even placement on all sides. Fill in with smaller, airier blooms, and leave enough space between the stems so individual flowers have room to shine. Include flowers with various shapes and stem lengths.
  • Make your bouquet taller than its container by about one and a half times. Also, make the width balance the height.
  • Use different textures that are interesting to look at it. I pick a color pallette and try to stay within three colors.
  • Arranging flowers in odd numbers is a great way to have some nice variety. Sometimes I will pick a base color of five flowers and then add in different colors in three’s.
  • Change the water every day and recut stems.

Having a bar cart or a bar station in your home is fun because you get to change it up seasonally and it’s also a great landing spot when entertaining guests. I love to have fresh flowers on the bar cart because it adds a pop of color and some really nice texture.

Your booze is important! I love seeing pretty styled bar carts all over the world wide web BUT I would never trust someone who didn’t have some bottles on their home bar. It’s a bar, right? I love to keep a variety of spirits here, that way there is something for everyone. Keeping your higher end spirits here is also a great idea so you can showcase the best of your selection. Have a bottle each of Vodka, Gin, Light Rum, Dark Rum, Bourbon, Rye, Scotch, and Tequila. Having some Amaro available is great too for sipping after dinner. You can keep some bitters here as well but you should never have your vermouth on the cart unless you’re mixing with it. Vermouth should always be kept refrigerated because it is a delicate fortified wine that will go bad if left out at room temperature.

I love to keep a bowl of fresh fruit on my bar cart for the same reason I love to keep fresh flowers; it adds natural texture and a pop of color!

If you have pretty bar tools this is a great way to display them. I keep all of my gold and copper barspoons and strainers in my crystal mixing glass. I’ve also displayed my collection of colored cocktail shakers. Having a jigger is necessary for making sure your pouring is consistent when making drinks, and so I keep those available for use here.

Having a few peices of glassware available is also neccessary …and some straws too! I keep it organized by using trays to seperate certain things. I also try to style by color, just like with the flower arrangments. Picking a base color is key to having something that looks finished and cohesive. Obviously, my base color was pink. 😉

I hope you enjoyed my tips and tricks for making a flower arrangment and styling your bar cart. Check the slideshow above to see how many different arrangments I made with my Bloomia flowers.

What’s your favorite thing on your home bar?

Do you love keeping flowers in your home as much as I do?

What’s your favorite flower?

I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. I hope this post brought a pop of color to your Monday. Good luck to everyone who enters the Bloomia giveaway, and I can’t wait to see what you do with your flowers!

Sunday Kind of Love

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I hope everyone had a good week. I can’t believe we’re approaching the last week of August. I really don’t know where the time is going. Someone stop the clock please! Not a whole lot happened this week except the usual tons of work thing that I always seem to be struggling with. There is light at the end of the tunnel though.

  • I'm going to Paris and Cognac in September with Pierre Ferrand to tour the distillery and spend some time in France. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to travel with them. France and especially Paris has always been on the top of my list of places to go to but somehow I've made it 30 years without getting the chance to travel there. I'm staying behind for a few days after the trip so I booked my hotel this week. After searching for a few hours I found this really awesome hotel, The Henriette, that was very afforable and just look how adorable it is. I know what you're thinking…how did you find a Palm Springs looking hotel in the Paris? Let's just say the universe found it for me. This trip has seemed so far for months and now it's just around the corner. What am I going to pack? Did I just find the hotel that every blogger is going to stay at now when they go to Paris? Can you spot a photo of my favorite hotel in Palm Springs framed above one of those beds? Click the photos to see the slideshow.

  • Meet the Finalists went up on SAVEUR this week. Check it out here and read about their favorite drink blogs of 2017 and learn more about each blog/blogger that has been nominated in the SAVEUR Blog Awards. You have until 9/6 to vote for Arsenic Lace for Best Drinks Blog, so keep voting! EVERY DAY!

  • Did you see my Chamomile Elderflower Tom Collins on A Beautiful Mess? It’s a delicious and refreshing variation on the classic Tom Collins with elderflower liqueur and chamomile flower infused honey syrup. This drink was so good and I had a blast making it and shooting it. I’m really happy with how the photos turned out.

  • I have a fun post and giveaway that goes live tomorrow on the blog. Keep your eyes peeled for that email in your inbox in the morning. You have to be following me on Instagram to enter, so if you’re not already, what are you waiting for? 😉

  • I need a new camera bag because I want to travel with my camera, especially for this France trip. A Beautiful Mess did a collaboration with Kelly Moore and ever since they launched them I’ve been dying to buy one. It seems like there’s enough space for my camera body, a few lenses, but most importantly my laptop. I want to be able to blog while I’m on that trip so having a bag that can accomodate all of my needs is really important. I like this one because it can be a shoulder bag or backpack which is super useful. My current camera bag is a little small and when I put all of my stuff in it, it’s very heavy and hurts my shoulders. This bag is obviously ridiculously good looking as well. My biggest problem? Should I get pink or gold? Obviously my mind goes directly to pink but keep in mind everything I own is pink, including jackets and my hair. What do you guys think?

If you have ever been to Paris and have any recommendations on places I should go and see, please tell me in the comments section below. Museums? Favorite restaurants? Cocktail bars? Colorful walls? I want to know about it. Enjoy your Sunday. I’m hoping to get a little time to relax myself. Cheers. xo

Frozen Cantaloupe Daiquiri

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With the end of Summer just a month away I had an itch to make a frozen drink. What’s more fun than a frozen drink? Drinking one out of fruit, right? I have drunk many piña coladas out of a pineapple and was trying to brainstorm what other fruits I could possibly turn into a serving vessel. Watermelon has had its fair share of the spotlight this summer with being the perfect addition and vessel for frosé. While I was perusing the produce at my local market last week I spotted a cantaloupe and I knew this fruit was THE ONE. When perfectly ripe it is juicy, sweet and has a floral aroma which sounds perfect to pair with rum. My mind went directly to the daiquiri which is a classic and simple drink but can be completely transformed with the addition of some fresh fruit. So I present to you a Frozen Cantaloupe Daiquiri!


Frozen Cantaloupe Daiquiri, serves 1

1 1/2 oz. rum (I used Plantation Dark)

3/4 oz. rich simple syrup (cane or demerara sugar)

1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

1 cup of fresh cantaloupe

Cut your cantaloupe evenly into two and scoop out the seeds in center. Carefully scoop out the insides of the fruit and reserve the shells as your serving vessels. You can freeze the shells and the fruit beforehand. Using frozen fruit in drinks or smoothie bowls yields a better and more slushy consistency.

Add all your ingredients to your blender pitcher and blend with a cup of ice. Pour into a cantaloupe shell and garnish with a mint spring and a slice of lime.

This Frozen Cantaloupe Daiquiri is super fruity, refreshing, and so simple to make. I used dark rum in this cocktail because I thought the flavors would mesh well with the richness of the demerara simple syrup and floral aromas of the cantaloupe. Frozen recipes sometimes need to be reworked because of how much water content they have. I like to cut the citrus in half and up the sugar to compensate for all the dilution. Using a richer sugar for your simple syrup, like demerara or cane, instead of plain white sugar also helps to combat an over diluted and tasteless frozen drink. I hope these tips help you next time you’re making frozen daiquiris at home. I’m super excited about how this frozen drink in a fruit cup turned out. I hope you try this recipe at home and if you do don’t forget to chime in on the comments below. Cheers everyone! xo

Sunday Kind of Love

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I can’t believe how fast the summer has flown by. The end of Summer blues have officially set it. We’re approaching the last two weeks of August and I haven’t been to the beach once. I dread the winter so my anxiety about it starts pretty early. On the other hand, for the first time in my adult life I have the space to get a Christmas tree and I’m really excited to decorate the mantels. Besides looking forward to that, the cold and darkness really gets me down. Am I being over dramatic? I better start planning my next trip to Palm Springs.

There seems to be no slowing down in my schedule. I have a pretty busy September ahead (I’m going to France – YAY!) and October is jam packed with two weddings and I’m possibly going to Charleston for the SAVEUR Awards. Speaking of that, don’t forget to keep voting for me! You can do that here as many times as you want until 9/6.

  • Supercall named me one of the best boozy Instagrams to follow if you need a vacation. Check it out here! I REALLY need a vacation. Have you gone anywhere fun this summer?

  • Joanna Hawley of Jojotastic mentioned my Hibiscus Gin-Gin Mule in her Friday edit column. I’m such a huge fan of her blog so I was really excited that she even reads mine! Fan girl moment. Go check out her blog if you don’t read it already. I’ve been completely drooling over her bedroom reveal.

  • What do you think of this floral table by Liberty for Anthropologie? I thought I had decided on the West Elm table because it was more practicle. If you didn’t read my kitchen table dilema post, I haven’t pulled the trigger yet. I’ve been lurking Craigslist for something vintage too. I really want to get something before the holidays.

  • My biggest news of the week is that my living room was featured on Apartment Therapy. I went to school for interior design (not sure if a lot of you know that) so one of my dreams has always been to see my home featured in my favorite design publications. This year my dream came true with a feature on Domino and now Apartment Therapy. I’m trying to finish up the rest of my rooms for fall so hopefully I can do some home tour features. DREAMS!

Making this one short and sweet. I have a lot of fun recipes coming your way this week, both here and on A Beautiful Mess. I’m also making some delicious boozy popsicles for Palm Springs Style which I’m very excited about! I shot two projects this week for posts that will have giveaways attached to them as well, so stay tuned! Hope you all had a great weekend. Cheers. xo

8 Cocktails for National Rum Day

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Rum is delicious and by far my favorite spirit. Not just because I have a sweet tooth, but because it is such a versatile category. It is made in so many different countries, which means depending on where it’s from will dictate what it tastes like. For National Rum Day I wanted to go over a brief history of the spirit, characteristics, and of course how it can be used in cocktails.


Brief History

Rum is a spirit distilled from the fermented juice of sugarcane, sugarcane syrup, sugarcane molasses, or other sugarcane by-products. Sugarcane was introduced to the New World by European explorers starting with Christopher Columbus, and the invention of rum — or at least the fermented “wash” it’s distilled from — is thought to have occurred by accident. Basically, the molasses, which had been considered a useless waste product of the sugar refining process, was observed expelling bubbles when left to mingle with the warm, humid tropical air. Sugar manufacturers rightly identified this phenomenon as fermentation: wild, airborne yeasts were getting at the sugar content left in the molasses and releasing carbon dioxide. They knew that with those bubbles came alcohol, too, and it wasn’t long before fermented molasses became the basis for a distilled spirit, which we now know as rum.

Rum is distilled at less than 95% alcohol by volume (190 proof) and bottled at no less than 40% alcohol by volume (80 proof), maybe except for some flavored ones which are less. The legal definition of rum tends to vary from country to country, so establishing a strict definition that applies to all rum from everywhere is impossible. What’s consistent, though, is that rum is always made from molasses, sugarcane juice, or other cane by-products. Factors that influence rum style is source of sugar, yeast type, length of fermantation, type of still, type of barrel, time in barrel, and strength of rum at distillation or bottling.


Rum Styles

  • White/Light/Silver: Light bodied, crisp, and subtle in flavor, these rums are highly mixable. They marry very well with fruit flavors, so they’re excellent for daiquiris and piña coladas. A common misconception about white rum is that it’s unaged. White rum is aged in oak barrels for a short period of time to smooth out the flavors; it’s then charcoal filtered to remove color.
  • Gold: Medium bodied and a little stronger in flavor than light rums, gold rums are aged in oak barrels. Like light rums, they mix well into fruity cocktails.
  • Dark/Black: Full-bodied, with rich caramel flavors, these rums are usually pot-stilled and aged for long periods. Used in tiki preparations such as the Mai Tai, the best of these rums are also sippable on their own, neat or on ice.
  • Rhum agricole: Full-bodied rums, made from sugarcane juice instead of molasses. As with molasses-based rum, agricoles range the color spectrum, from white to gold to dark. Agricoles are often funky and have floral and vegetal aromas and flavors.
  • Cachaça: This is called the rum of Brazil. The major difference between cachaça and common rum is in the juice. Most rum is distilled from sugarcane juice that has been processed into molasses, which has a higher sugar content. This makes cachaça have a more grassy, herbaceous flavor than its relative.

Other types are Navy Rum which is the kind formerly given to members of the British Navy. It’s usually proofed at 50% ABV or higher. Overproof rums refer to those with an ABV over standard value, usually 60% ABV (120 proof) or higher.

I’ve rounded up some of my favorite cocktails that I have created to get you inspired to drink rum on this most special holiday! 😉

Pineapple Old Fashioned– Plantation pineapple rum, campari, allspice, and macadamia nut orgeat.

Frozen Passionfruit Daiquiri– White rum, Jamaican rum, lime juice, honey, passionfruit syrup, and tiki bitters.

Frozen Caribbean Coffee– Jamaican Rum, coffee liqueur, coconut, cold brew, and coffee gelato.

Pi̱a Colada PopsiclesРCoconut milk, coconut cream, dark rum, pineapple juice, and lime zest.

Coconut Guava Daiquiri– Dark rum, lime juice, coconut milk, simple syrup, and fresh guava.

Boozy Matcha Latte– White Rum, almond milk, matcha, orgeat, and coconut whipped cream.

Dark ‘N Stormy Popsicles– Gosling’s rum, ginger beer, fresh ginger syrup, lime juice, and lime wheels.

Mango Mai TaiРJamaican Rum, cura̤ao, orgeat, lime juice, and fresh mango.

I hope you all get to enjoy your National Rum Day. What will you be doing today to celebrate? Is there a rum cocktail that’s your favorite? Let me know in the comments below. Happy sipping! xo

Hibiscus Gin-Gin Mule

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With all the recipe developing for menus and blog posts, my refrigerator becomes a graveyard for fruit, herbs and miscellaneous syrups. I try my best to eat and repurpose most of it for cooking, smoothie bowls, or other recipes throughout the week but sometimes there’s a little waste. I’m implementing a new rule that if I make it, I have to use it! I made syrups for posts on A Beautiful Mess and Palm Springs Style last week and was wondering what my next cocktail would be on my own blog. Fresh ginger and hibiscus, does that work? You bet it does!

One of the first cocktails that came to mind was one that I learned when I worked behind the bar at Flatiron Lounge, the Gin-Gin Mule. It was created by Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club in 2000 and was a milestone drink of the 21st-century cocktail renaissance. It has inspired countless spin-offs and heavily influenced the use of fresh ginger and homemade ingredients in cocktails. It’s a drink that I still find myself making for people at Dutch Kills when they request a bartenders choice, “I’ll have something with gin that’s refreshing”, I pretty much immediately make a Gin-Gin Mule.

This cocktail is essentially a fusion of two classics, the Mojito (rum, lime, sugar, mint) and a Gin Buck (gin, lime, fresh ginger, soda). I’ve replaced the call for simple syrup in this recipe with hibiscus syrup. You can find out how to make ginger syrup here and my hibiscus syrup here.


Hibiscus Gin-Gin Mule, serves 1

2 oz. Gin

1 oz. Lime Juice

1/2 oz. Hibiscus Syrup

1/2 oz. Ginger Syrup

Mint

Club Soda

Add lime juice, hibiscus syrup, ginger syrup, and mint to your shaker and muddle. Lightly tapping the mint is sufficient. When muddling a good rule to follow in the words of Sasha Petraske is “bruise don’t abuse”. Add gin, ice, and then shake. Strain into a highball glass over ice and top with club soda. Garnish with a mint sprig and ginger candy.

I’ve always loved this cocktail but the hibiscus syrup adds a tart, fruity, and floral element that makes this drink even more perfect for summer (if that’s even possible). The sweet floral element of the hibiscus blends perfectly with the spiciness of the ginger and freshness of the mint. More than 10 years later and this cocktail is so good it still influences how I develop cocktails. Some of the most delicious drinks are so perfect just because they’re simple. Less IS more. What’s your favorite modern classic? Do you ever put your own spin on it? Tell me about it in the comments below.

Sunday Kind of Love

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Happy Sunday! I hope these blooms brighten up your day. I did some flower arranging yesterday for a collaboration I’m doing with Bloomia, so stay tuned. Making bouquets is much harder than you think. Florists have earned so much more of my respect!

What a crazy week it has been and today I am most definitely giving myself a much deserved day off. I’ve been working a lot lately and honestly, I’ve been pretty stressed and spread a little thin. Between regular bar work, a consulting project, keeping up with the blog and social clients, my plate is very full at the moment. There is never a dull moment and who wants to be bored anyways? How do you guys unwind/relax? Do you have good tips on combating burn out? Send them my way! One day I will have this whole life/work balance thing figured out.

  • I’m sure you’ve seen by now that Arsenic Lace has been nominated for Best Drinks Blog by SAVEUR Magazine for their Blog Awards. You have until September 6th to vote as many times as you want so I’m going to be reminding you A LOT to place your votes. I’m up against a lot of really great talent, some I’m happy to call friends, so no matter what happens I’m honored to be a finalist. Head here to place your vote.

  • Wide Open Eats featured me and 15 of my drinks on their lifestyle section and said my Instagram is the happiest thing they’ve seen! “The Florida-meets-Palm-Springs flair of Arsenic Lace’s cocktails will inspire you to imbibe beachside or build a backyard tiki bar yourself.” I stumbled upon this while searching for another article I was featured in and it was quite a happy find! It feels nice to know that others find joy in the content I’m putting out there. This is exactly why I started doing this in the first place. Check it out here.

  • Did you see my delicious Mango Mai Tai go up on A Beautiful Mess this week? There’s an orgeat how-to as well which is a crucial syrup for making tiki drinks at home. Go read fun facts about the history of the Mai Tai and maybe try to make my summertime version for yourself! Recipe here.

  • Yesterday my Hibiscus Frosé was on Palm Springs Style. I’m so happy with the way this recipe turned out. I’ve been trying to figure out an easy way to make frosé at home that didn’t require freezing it in a sheet pan or adding ice to blend and I finally figured it out. The hibiscus syrup really took this drink to the next level by adding floral, tart, fruity notes that complimented the wine – plus the color is stunning!

That’s all for this Sunday. Hope you’re all relaxing with something frosty and boozy in hand. Did you make anything tasty this weekend? Let me know in the comments below. Cheers everyone. xo

Arsenic Lace | SAVEUR Blog Awards Finalist

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I’m beyond excited to announce to you all that I am a finalist in the 8th Annual SAVEUR Blog Awards! From a pool of 30,000 submissions, my blog was selected as a top six contender in the Best Drinks Coverage category. I’ve known for about a week now and had to keep it a secret which was really hard! Obviously, I wanted to tell everyone! A BIG thank you to everyone that took the time to nominate me, I can’t tell you how much it means.

When I started on this journey about 14 months ago I wasn’t really sure where I was going. I knew that I had a wealth of knowledge learned over many years of being a professional bartender, and I wanted to use that to help educate others in a fun and inspiring way. I needed to start somewhere, so I just did and I haven’t stopped since. I have been recipe developing and consulting on menus for years but bringing those skills to an online platform has helped me expand in many ways I hadn’t ever imagined. Although the hustle is real sometimes, I get to do many things that I truly love on an everyday basis and I am very thankful for that. I also get to connect with others that share the same passions and interests as myself and that keeps me very inspired and motivated. The love and support from the blogging/Instagram community is unlike anything I have ever experienced. What would I do without all of you?

For those of you that have taken the time to support me, I hope that I can one day raise a glass with you or return the favor. There are so many things I want to accomplish from here, like writing a book, launching a line of bar tools, and opening my own bar someday. I know that every day I’m working towards those dreams.

Today voting goes live and I still need your help to win. From 8/9-9/6 you can vote for me as often as you’d like. Each category will have two winners. The finalist with the most votes will be named Readers’ Choice winner and a team of SAVEUR editors will also select an equally weighted Editors’ Choice winner. Winners will be announced on 10/2 in Charleston, South Carolina and online. Being in the top six next to so many other talented bloggers is truly an honor, especially because I’ve been doing it for such a short period of time. Thank you for this chance and I promise to keep creating the content and cocktails that you love here on Arsenic-Lace.

You can vote for me here! I apologize in advance for posting about voting for me every day for the next month. 😉

Cheers everyone! It’s hump day so don’t forget to make yourself a cocktail! xo

Sunday Kind of Love

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Happy Sunday everyone! What a crazy week it’s been and I’m so glad for my favorite day to finally be here. I do have a little work to do today, even though I said Sunday was off limits. The best thing about work? I get to drink froÅ›e afterwards, so I guess it could be worse!

  • I hit 10K on Instagram this week!!! I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate everyones support. It’s been a wild ride building my blog over the last 14 months and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here. The community over on Instagram and the whole blog world overall is just so supportive, and I’m so thankful for everyone I’ve met and gotten to work with. Thanks to all my readers that take the time to like, comment, read one of my posts, or send an encouraging word my way. You all make this possible and I promise to keep building this and creating content and cocktails that you love. I’m relaunching the website soon, I have a lot of fun things in the works, PLUS I have a very big announcement to make this week, so stay tuned!

  • My Hamilton Park Swizzle was on Imbibe this week. This was a cocktail I developed for the menu when I worked at Lani Kai back in 2010. It has mango tea infused applejack, palo cortada sherry, pineapple syrup, lime juice, and falernum in it. It was one of my first cocktails that got published and the first that got press. It was the centerfold in Imbibe Magazine for the Summer of Tiki issue in July/August 2011. It’s named after a park where I’m from in Jersey City and my first variation on a Queens Park Swizzle. Since then I’ve done a Van Vorst Park Swizzle, a Lincoln Park Swizzle and an Arlington Park Swizzle. I’m trying to cover all the parks here because if you haven’t noticed I’m very Jersey City, NJ PROUD!

  • I got some floating shelves installed in the bathroom this week and I’m in love! The bathroom is so small, and the sad part is it’s larger than my last one, lol. The upsides are the skylight, which means I never have to turn on a light (unless it’s night) and it’s perfect for putting on makeup, and the clawfoot tub. Theres a pedestal sink, which is pretty, but theres absolutely no storage and no medicine cabinet. I have some baskets under the tub, a little shelving unit under the sink and these shelves will act as my open medicine cabinet. It’s fun to display all my pretty skincare. AND since there’s light, I can have a plant. 😉

  • CB2 came out with this table and I’m dying. I don’t have a coffee table in the livingroom because it’s a little narrow. I keep bargaining with myself, asking if I move the couch a few inches backwards can there be enough room for this table? I kind of can’t live without it. How can a Palm Springs inspired livingroom exist without a gold pineapple table? Maybe I should buy it to just “see how it feels” in the room. What do you think? Please say YES!

  • Amara Living named my first Sunday Kind of Love post one of the top 25 interior design posts of July because of my bedroom progress (and the wallpaper isn’t even up). I know I’m a drinks focused blog sharing the occassional home photo, but can I expand into lifestyle and interior? I would love to! I did go to school for interior and exhibition design afterall. We shall see. Maybe just more photos of me drinking in my home.

  • Did you see my Dark ‘n Stormy popsicles go up on A Beautiful Mess? They are my favorite poptails I have EVER made. Super citrusy, bright, spicy, boozy and refreshing. Perfect for the summer. I think I like them even better than the original drink. I’m not sorry.

Hope you’re all enjoying your weekend. What have you been up to? Let me know in the comments below. I love hearing from you. Thanks again for all your support. Love you! xo

Boozy Matcha Latte

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I love matcha A LOT! Last year I made a matcha piña colada and that kind of sparked my obsession with this green powdered goodness. Matcha smoothie bowls, matcha lattes, matcha soft serve, matcha ice cream, matcha brownies…okay you get it! After indulging in an iced latte last week I had an epiphany – this would be really good with rum in it. I often think that though. We can agree that basically everything would taste better with a little rum in it. Period. Okay, I also have a large obsession with rum as you might have noticed. Moral of the story: Do what you love.

I’ve been trying to eat cleaner but I guess drinking cleaner might be counter productive. You can still of course indulge and make smarter choices that are less impactful on your body, mind, and your whole next day. I struggle with really bad hangovers so I try not to push my limits anymore. You’d expect because of my blog and my profession that I’m a BIG drinker. In fact, I pride myself on moderation, and above all things, drinking and serving responsibly. I love to incorporate healthy elements into cocktails by always using the freshest ingredients and using things like teas, ginger, turmeric, etc. All of these things are good for you and of course make you feel a bit less guilty about having another. Check out this article about healthy(ish) cocktails on Supercall where my Yellow Line cocktail is mentioned.


Boozy Matcha Latte, serves 1

2 oz. white rum (I used Plantation)

1 cup milk of your choice ( I used Almond)

2 Tsp. matcha

1 Tbsp. orgeat

ice

float of coconut cream

Add the rum, milk, orgeat, and matcha to your cocktail shaker, add ice and shake. Strain into a highball glass over ice and top with whipped coconut cream.

To make the coconut cream: refrigerate your can of coconut cream for a few hours or over night. When you open the can, drain the liquid and then scoop out the solid cream. You can add sugar if you’d like to sweeten it but I left it as is. I actually over whipped mine by accident, so don’t “whip it good”. 😉

Matcha is high in antioxidants, calming, boosts memory and concentration, increases energy levels, burns calories, detoxifies the body and strengthens your immune system. As if you needed more reasons, the other great thing about this matcha latte recipe is you can, by all means, leave the booze out. If you decide to use a plant based milk this recipe is 100% Vegan. I loved the addition of orgeat as a sweetener to enhance the almond flavor of this drink. If you’re not familiar with orgeat, it is an almond syrup made from almond milk. I enjoyed how this boozy interpretation of a latte came out and it would be great as a brunch cocktail, dessert cocktail or if you’re just in the mood for something sweet. The coconut whipped cream is easy and I actually prefer to use it over real heavy whipped cream because the flavor is amazing! I hope you get to try this at home and if you do, chime in on the comments below. I love you a matcha for reading this post. Until next time. xo