What’s Christmas without a cocktail or two?
This week The Hungry One is out at all manner of festive functions. It’s a tough life for him, being wined and dined by men in suits, trying to talk business while wearing silly hats.
I had a twinge of jealousy, until I remembered what office Christmas parties were really like.
In my old life they were stained with awkwardness- first the female challenge of transitioning an outfit from ‘work to wow’ (a terrible phrase picked up from a terrible women’s magazine that’s stuck). The secret seems to be high heels and a big pair of earrings. Not everyone got that memo.
Then there’s the bad music, fried food and standing around for hours making mundane chit chat with the folks from level two. Actually, I lie- most years I was only present and accounted for an hour of the party – we’d arrive late after slaying reams of documents with track changes. The curse of a communications department and its pre-Christmas deadlines.
These days I’m working at home, largely on my own. There’s not much fun in a Christmas party for one.
That’s one reason I was delighted to be invited as a guest to a festive dinner with the lovely folk at Malmaison in Smithfield.
The Christmas supper the bistro is running is the sort of food you need to gild you against the cold- roast meats and mince pies included. And to start there was a very flirty cocktail.
So let me introduce you to the ‘Avant Noël’ – a combination of champagne, raspberry liqueur, raspberry vodka, caramel syrup and apple juice. It’s cerise, cheerful and goes down terrifyingly easily.
Booze at Christmas can be a sticky cocktail. Too much and the proverbial can hit the fan. Too little and it’s hard not to feel like a chump pulling on a cracker and wearing a paper hats.
This week when The Hungry One is out drinking his cups of good cheer, if I’m not in Smithfield downing another ‘Avant Noel’, I’ll be at home, making myself one of these.
Who’s in?
Christmas ‘champagne’ cocktails
If you can afford a great bottle of bubbles, grab it. And don’t do anything to it except chill it, then drink it. But if your extra dosh is going on presents, taxis home and flights to the other side of the world to celebrate with family then these are a good way to gussy up a workable bottle of sparkling into something a smudge more special.
Here’s some of what you’ll need
A nifty trick that might help
Glossing the inside of glass with a sticky fruit puree or jam is a novel way to get a touch of sweetness and fruit into a cocktail. Both marmalade and morello cherry jam work well Just put a little on the back of a teaspoon and twirl it up the sides of the glass so you get a slightly stained glass effect.
Introducing;
The Grinch
I call it this because any more than one on Christmas morning and it will steal your Christmas away. It’s slightly bittersweet and also lovely at the end of a long day with a bowl of green olives on ice.
How to:
Gloss the inside of a glass with a teaspoon of good quality marmalade. Add one tablespoon of Campari and fill with sparkling wine
Rudolph
A cosy combination of the juices from a jar of dark cherries and the orange fruitiness of Cointreau. You could substitute pomegranate juice just as easily.
How to:
Gloss the inside of the glass with one teaspoon of black cherry jam. Add one tablespoon of Cointreau or orange liqueur, one tablespoon of cherry juice and fill with sparkling wine
Tinsel
A silvery twirl on a Bellini. It’s grated pear with the edelweiss hum of Elderflower cordial. This might be one for the ladies and the menfolk in touch with their sensitive sides.
How to:
Grate one peeled pear on a box grater or microplane. Add a tablespoon of the puree, one tablespoon of Elderflower cordial to a flute and top up with sparkling wine.
The Avant Noel
18-21 Charterhouse Square,
London ECIM 6AH,
I do love a festive cocktail! My favourite is a variation on Nigella's poinsettia. I take 250ml cranberry juice and 100ml of cointreau, put it in a plastic bottle and freeze it, giving it a shake every hour or so until you have a lovely icy slush. A slurp of that into a champagne flute, topped up with bubbles – the pink slush bleeds up through the bubbles giving you a lovely rosy sunset effect.
Oh yay I am a huge fan of bubbly cockatils! That Avant Noël is a pretty little thing and quite festive. I'm supposed to go to a holiday party with a girl friend this week and I'm dreading it. Maybe a warm up cocktail will help me get through. 🙂
Lovely cocktails. I am three months from delivering baby #3 and then I will help myself to some "Après Noël" drinks.
Our parties were always a blast, usually ending in a massive hangover from too much dancing and drinking! These days there are only two of us at the office so we usually do a spa thing and go out for dinner. Much more low key but equally as fun. The cocktail recipes are perfect timing, my friend Leanne from my crazy office party days is coming over for dinner and she loves these fruity drinks!
Hmm, that third cocktail looks like one that might pique my interest 🙂
I recently taught myself to make a Cosmopolitan (possibly ten years after Sex and the City brought it to the rest of the world!) and they're verrrrry drinkable – 1 shot of each of chilled vodka, cointreau & cranberry juice; shake over ice, strain into a glass and twist half a slice of lime into it then use the lime as the garnish. Looks fancy but ain't.
I'm in!! Great tips on the drinks. I have a dinner party next week to host and I can see a few of these being introduced. Thanks also for stopping by Foodness Gracious,
Take care..
Thanks for coming to see my blog. I too miss those holiday parties. What I miss most is the free food and cocktails. Now that I work at home I have to create my own. My favorite holiday cocktail is rum and eggnog or something with cranberry like a cosmo.
Oooo these look like such fun! My mother-in-law loves her Cook's, so these would be some welcome embellishments for her cheap champagne addiction! 🙂
Cocktail is great drinks in Christmas party.
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