Liquid Refreshments

How do you commemorate a special lady’s 90th birthday? If your her niece, Linda, you throw a fabulous ’40s-themed surprise birthday party chock full of friends and relatives. If you are me (read: the caterer), you create a special cocktail in Hazel’s honor. Since I am a huge fan of Bellini’s, and recently fell in love with rosemary simple syrup, I decided on a modified Bellini, using a crisp vihno verde in lieu of prosecco, and adding a touch of sophistication with the addition of rosemary simple syrup. Now, after we finished our Zumba lesson (no joke!), 90-year-old Hazel told me she loved her cocktail so much that she wants to whip up a pitcher for her girlfriends when she makes it back to Florida. I’ll drink to that, Hazel. I’ll drink to that. The Hazel Ingredients for Rosemary Simple Syrup: 1 cup sugar 1 cup water 4 fresh rosemary sprigs Directions for Rosemary Simple Syrup: 1. Stir together first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and boil 1 minute or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, and let stand 30 minutes. 2. Pour liquid through a wire-mesh strainer into…

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I recently wrote about purchasing the Experimental Texturas Kit from For the Gourmet (via Amazon.com). I decided to break it out this afternoon for an experiment. My brother and I are catering a 90th birthday party next weekend, and I want to come up with a special drink for the guest of honor, so I thought I’d use that as a starting point. The kit came with a few recipes, including one for White Sangria in Suspension. Instead of white sangria I decided to concoct a modified bellini with peach puree, white wine, and rosemary simple syrup (which I fell in love with last weekend). Before I even got started I noticed a flaw in the recipe (and by flaw I mean the lack of professional kitchen equipment available to me in my home kitchen). The recipe recommends vacuum packing the beverage, once it’s blended with Xatnana (which I am assuming is the Adria‘s brand name for xanthan gum) in order to eliminate bubbles from the cocktail. Well, I don’t have enough in my piggy bank yet for a professional vacuum packer, so I channelled my inner Sarah Palin and went  rogue. This was the result: The texture was both frothy and…

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