Champagne Celebration
Posted by Isabel Sharpe in Isabel Sharpe, tags: Blaze, celebration, champagne, Harlequin, recipe
Good morning, Isabel Sharpe here, from Wi(ll-it-ever-be-spring?)sconsin. On the 15th of each month I’ll be providing a Blaze-appropriate recipe for your enjoyment, everything from mood-brightening cocktails to tantalizing appetizers to hot main dishes and happy-after sweet endings, because as a devoted foodie, I believe when it comes to pleasures of the body, eating and drinking are right up there with . . . you know.
Today’s recipe is about celebration: of our Blaze blog’s first month, of Harlequin’s 60th anniversary, and of course, of love and everything wonderful about it, especially the naughty bits. What better way to celebrate than with champagne, my very favorite indulgence? I’m one of those people who sees athletes spraying the stuff around the locker room and thinks, “God, I hope that’s cheap Asti.”
On my refrigerator I have a comic strip: Man comes up to the bar and says, “A bottle of your very best champagne!” The bartender asks, “What’s the occasion?” and the man says, “Thirst.” That’s my kind of thinking. When I grow up I want to be able to have a bottle of the “good stuff” in my refrigerator at all times for when the mood strikes. Until then I have to be content with a bottle of the “okay stuff” in my basement.
In this recipe, the champagne is mixed with pomegranate juice flavored with orange and ginger. Don’t bother buying expensive champagne when you’re mixing, but don’t buy garbage either. Domaine Ste. Michelle, made in Washington State, is my current favorite lower-priced sparkling wine (if it doesn’t come from the Champagne region in France, it can’t be called champagne.).
Epicurious.com will allow me to post the link, but not reproduce the recipe
Isabel’s tips: Mix the non-champagne ingredients together rather than measuring them individually in each glass, and try using only a tablespoon of the mixture first, unless you like your drinks sweet (I don’t) in which case use a couple.
Enjoy!
Isabel
P.S. I’m sending this for posting early because I’ll be on a road trip with my kids on the 15th. I will do everything possible to find wireless Internet so I can check in during the day, but can’t promise. So apologies ahead of time if I don’t respond to comments right away!
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Sorry, I don’t know what happened to the comments, sheesh. I’m in Memphis now, on my way to Huntsville, AL to take my kids to the Space Museum and have grits and fried catfish for dinner. Way exotic to us!
Cheers,
Isabel
Isabel asked me to assure everyone that she will do her very best to check in later today. She’s currently on the road enjoying a little vacation, but will be stopping for the evening later and hopes for internet access.
Ah, there you are Isabel! We must have been posting at the same time, LOL.
Oh, and as if I haven’t posted enough already, you’ve not got me totally jonesing for some good champagne. I’ve heard the better the champagne, the less likely it is to cause headaches. Anyone know if this is true?
I don’t know about headaches…never had a champagne induced one…but I love the result. It’s the only alcohol that really “goes to my head”. I feel light, bubbly and enthusiastic whenever I drink it.
That may speak to the events surrounding consumption though. I usually only drink it when I’m celebrating.
However, I’ve always got a bottle chilling, because in this business there’s always something to celebrate. A new sale, a release, a great review! Typing The End! finishing your revisions!
You get the idea!
Oh YUM!! I’m a huge fan of anything pomegranate! My latest find was a fab pom margarita at the little cantina downtown, but this sounds lovely. I echo Jamie’s question, since champagne does tend to give me a headache (and yet, tequila shots, not so much
)
Heh. I think the same is true of tequila for me Tawny–the better the tequila, the less likely it is to make me feel bad. And if it’s not mixed with anything (shots, for instance), then there’s less sugar in your system and you’re less likely to get a hangover.
Champagne headaches hit me almost as soon as I start drinking it and generally ruin the rest of my day. Which is a real shame because I love the stuff. I just did a bit of reading and it sounds like it’s the sugar and impurity content of cheaper champagnes that are the culprit with headaches.
This sounds to me like an important research project if ever there was one–or at the very least an excuse to buy some expensive bubbly and note its effects.
RESEARCH!!!! I’m in
Well, sadly, ladies, I have a serious addiction to the French stuff – Moet Chandon, Bollinger, Louis Roederer – but I still get hangovers if I drink too much of it. Boy, do I get hangovers. My new grown up goal this year is to drink till I feel good and then STOP!!! It’s having that extra couple when you feel great that always gets me into trouble… But don’t let any of the above stop you from very important research. I highly recommend the Roederer – it’s my fave! And I also love a Kir Royal, which is champagne with a shot of creme de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur). Yum. And I’ve also had champagne with a shot of butterscotch schnnaps in it. Also delicious. Mmmm. Is it wrong to want a champagne cocktail for breakfast?
Okay, I’m taking notes on what to try next! Due to budget constraints I went to the store today and bought Isabel’s recommended Domaine Ste Michelle–can’t wait to try it. I fondled the more expensive stuff but in the end had to buy pesky food and other necessities, so an $8 bottle of bubbly felt plenty extravagent.
Hope you’re having fun on your road trip Isabel!
I love new recipes! I’m a southern girl and although I do occasionally sit on the porch and have a frosty drink, it’s usually a beer instead of a mint julep.
But the champagne cocktail does sound interesting!
I hope your family enjoys the Space Museum. We’ve lived in north Alabama for 13 years and I have never been to the museum! My kids have been on school field trips but I have not. And while you’re in the area and if you have time the Huntsville Botanical Gardens is having a “Big Bugs” exhibit. No, not the creepy crawly kind…the 18 – 25 ft metal sculpture kind. They have pictures posted on their website.
Ok, I’m finished with the “See Alabama” tour guide. LOL Hope you have a great vacation!
That champagne cocktail sounds great on a nice warm day in the summer! I wonder if the champagne question is a marketing strategy?
Isabel, I am going to try this recipe first chance I get. Yum! And what a great idea to post a recipe once a month. I love cooking – and eating!!!
Hi all! We’ve had a great day. Visiting Mississippi and Alabama today means I’ve been in every one of the 48 contiguous states in the USA, which is a pretty cool thing to brag about.
The space museum was amazing, Sherry! The kids loved it and so did I. Not only the sheer excitement of seeing an entire Saturn rocket, but also stuff like the quarantine chamber they used to make the moon astronauts spend time in to make sure they weren’t introducing weird new germs to us earthlings. I remember those first moon landing guys having to go in there, and there it was!
And we have had such good food! Fried chicken to die for in Memphis, plus awesome BBQ, fried catfish in a fabulous hole-in-the-wall today outside Huntsville. for anyone who is traveling, http://www.chowhound.com is the best reference for great local food. They haven’t steered us wrong once. Tomorrow we start home via a Plantation tour outside Nashville, then the night in Louisville, KY. Then a long drive back to Milwaukee on Friday.
No champagne on this trip I’m sad to say! I’m a very careful drinker, until it comes to the bubbly. I can’t stop drinking the stuff and like you, Sarah, I like the real thing. Champagnaholic, that’s me.
Well thank you to Tawny and Jamie for stopping in today while I was on the road. I’ll check in again in the morning, and next month I’ll be back home in Wisconsin (boy is it nice to see trees already leafing here!) and online all day as usual.
Cheers, ladies!
Isabel
Oh, wow, what a great recipe.
Yum, that sounds good.
Thanks for the affordable tip, Isabel! My wine guy rolls his eyes when I walk in as he knows I’m perpetually armed with columns like “Top 5 affordable wines.” But I consider it a personal mission to live well on a budget. Well, that and my husband would keel over if he knew the cost of my rare vino indulgences.
It’s his 40th birthday today, BTW. Seems like a good time to test out the recipe!!
You’re welcome for the recipe and champagne tip! Here’s to the day we can all buy Veuve Clicquot without blinking.
Happy birthday to your dh, Joanne!
Isabel