Easy Vietnamese Iced Coffee Recipe with Espresso

Chances are if you walk into our house or work with us in our studio, you’ll end up sipping on some of our favorite coffee drinks. For the morning, a manual pressed espresso or cappuccino will start the day. In the afternoon when we start feeling sluggish, a Vietnamese iced coffee is the perfect “pick-me-up”. If you’ve never had a Vietnamese Iced Coffee, it’s a combination of strong coffee and a hit of sweetened condensed milk, add iced and a super refreshing “ahh”.

It’s been a super busy summer and when the two o’clock hour rolls along, we’re reaching for the iced coffee like it’s going out of style.

Speaking of Summer, we still can’t believe August is already here and we’re heading towards the holidays. Isn’t that terrible to already be thinking of the holidays?! We’re in no rush in any way to be pushing Summer away, but when we were shopping for some Summer props the other day, the stores were already stocking their shelves with faux pumpkins, autumn leaves and some Halloween items. We’re not ready to be giving up sweet corn, stone fruit and watermelon just yet, so why drop all this bounty and hang faux pumpkins? It just doesn’t feel right.

So in continuous celebration of this glorious warm weather and longer days on the beach, we’re sharing with you our easy method of making Vietnamese Iced Coffee.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoon Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 2 oz. Espresso
• Ice

Directions:

1. Pour the sweetened condensed milk in a glass. Add the hot espresso and stir to combine.
2. Taste and adjust to preference. Add ice and serve.

Margarita Recipe and The Magic Formula – Bitters

Call me suckered, hoodwinked, or duped. I believe in magic potions. A man hawking small bottles of potion, proclaiming outlandish results. Out of curiosity, I skeptically try the potion.

A few shakes in a cocktail drink. A cocktail I am very familiar with, but with a mere few dashes of this elixir it became something new. Better. Incredibly delicious.

Cocktail Bitters have been known to many much more savvy than I, but for me it is an exciting new world. A mystical potion which marries the ingredients of a cocktail together. Just about anytime I find a bar making exceptional cocktails drinks, it is almost a guarantee that they have a beautiful stock of bitters frequently reached for behind the bar. Often times, there are bitters they are making themselves amongst the bottles.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz Resposada or Anejo Tequila
• 1 1/2 oz fresh Lime Juice
• 1 oz Simple Syrup
• 3 dashes Orange Bitters
• kosher salt or sea salt for the rim

Directions:

1. Rub the rim of an old fashioned glass (or whatever glass you prefer) with an edge of a lime slice. Swirl the rim through a small pile of kosher or sea salt to salt the rim. Add one or two large cubes into the glass.
2. Combine tequila, lime juice, simple syrup, and bitters in an ice filled shaker.
3. Shake vigorously for 15 seconds, then strain into the salted glass. Serve or drink immediately and with leisure.
*a basic simple syrup is simply a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water. One cup sugar dissolved in one cup of water. This can always be modified for preferred taste and experimentation, but this is a good starting point.

Calcutta’s Taxi

I just read in the India Times that the color of the iconic taxis in Kolkata is to be shortly changed from yellow to blue and white.

Imagine! Although there are new models in the taxi business, most of Kolkata's taxis are antiquated yellow painted Hindustan Ambassadors and I wager their owners and drivers are raising hue and cry at the government's decision. To add further insult to injury, the West Bengal government is reported to be planning to introduce a new fleet of 2,000 cabs in the city which could never refuse passengers, citing late hours, inclement weather or whatever pretext.

So perhaps as a swan's song to these venerable workhorses and for the 'fiddled-with' meters,I often used these yellow taxis to travel from one end of Kolkata to the other during my Durga Puja Photo Expedition-Workshop in October 2011, and I recall an occasion when seated in the front seat alongside the driver, I almost passed out from the heat spewed out by the motor's heat of the old and ill-maintained Ambassador. Obviously there was no air conditioning, nor were the open windows any help whatsoever in Kolkata's heat and humidity.

Drink Up! Spring Cocktail Recipes

Peeling off my coat and feeling the sun on my skin for the first time in months are just two of my favorite things about spring. My all-time favorite springtime happenings are the first gatherings with friends, where we relax al fresco, catch up on conversation and breathe in the fresh air. What is the perfect cocktail for an outdoor spring fete? Funny you should ask! Party Bluprints Moscow Mule Sit outside on the new green grass and sip! The twist is substituting fresh squeezed juice from an orange instead of the traditional lime. The combination of the orange, ginger and fizz makes for a fun, light and springy cocktail that is sure to tickle your guests’ taste buds and appetite.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. fresh squeezed orange juice
• 2 oz. vodka
• 4 oz. ginger beer
• 1 orange slice (garnish)

Preparation

Juice oranges and set juice aside. Fill a Collins glass with ice. Add fresh juice, followed by the vodka. Top with ginger beer and garnish with an orange slice.

The Original Margarita – Party Bluprints Blog

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz. 100% blue agave plata tequila
• 3/4 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1-1/4 oz. Cointreau

Preparation

Shake together all ingredients with fresh ice cubes in a cocktail shaker until well chilled, about a count of 10. Take one of the lime rinds and run it around the outside edge of a cocktail glass (Be careful to avoid the inside of the glass, or you’ll have salt in your drink.) Dip the edge of the glass into Kosher salt (iodized table salt just won’t work) so that half of the outside edge of the glass is coated. Strain the drink into the glass. You can also mix up a pitcher and serve in a rock glass with ice.

Tropical Sangria Recipe

Yield: 1 cocktail

Cook Time: 2 min.

This recipe is based off of what we had at the workshop (apples, mango, and mint) and came together in a delicious sangria. To compliment the mango and mint, we used a touch of white rum and lime to fortify the sangria. This gets even better if made in large batches and allowed to combined flavors over a couple hours before serving.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. White Wine (Sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, or other crisp white)
• 1 oz. White Rum
• 1/2 oz. fresh Lime Juice
• 1/2 teaspoon Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon diced Apples
• 1 Tablespoon diced Mango
• 2 lrg Mint leaves, chopped
• 2 oz. Club Soda

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients except club soda and mix until sugar is completely dissolved.
2. When ready to serve, pour over ice and finish with club soda.

5 Fresh Summer Cocktail Recipes-Part 2

French Hawaiian

You need:
1 ½ Parts GREY GOOSE® L’Orange
½ Part Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice
½ Part Blood Orange Syrup
1/3 Part Orgeat Syrup
3 Dashes Aromatic Bitters
To make:
1. Build and serve over crushed ice.
2. Garnish with pineapple leaves and a couple of drops of bitters

Mango Collins
You need:
1 ½ Parts GREY GOOSE® Original
½ Parts Mandarine Napoleon® Liqueur
3 Parts Mango Nectar
1 Part Fresh Lemon Juice

Club Soda

1 Slice Mango
To make:
1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add all ingredients except club soda.
2. Shake well until the outside of the shaker is frosty and beaded with sweat.
3. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice.
4. Top off with club soda and garnish with mango.

5 Fresh Summer Cocktail Recipes-Part 1

Summertime is the season for hosting events, attending them or both! That means less clothing, more outdoor lounging and lots of refreshing beverages to keep you cool. [Insert my ecstatic excitement here!] Summer party perks that I take complete and full advantage of during these blistering temperatures are my blender and new summer cocktail recipes.

In fact, all of my favorite liquor companies are coming out with their hottest (or coldest) cocktail recipes just for this season and I am stocking up for all the summer entertaining I will be doing. Yes, I lead an interesting life, or maybe I just need an excuse to sip a few cocktails. Whatever my reasoning may be, with this great list of summer cocktails, you will be planning your fair share of summer shin-digs just the same.

If you’re planning on hosting a swanky summer event be sure to skim through our recent cooking and entertaining guides for more inspiration. And for the parties you’ll be attending…see all of our favorite host and hostess gift ideas.

Basil Watermelon Cooler
You need:
GREY GOOSE® Original

2 Parts
4 Basil Leaves
1 Slice Peeled Ginger
2 Chunks Watermelon
Fresh Lime Juice
½ Parts Simple Syrup

Ginger Ale

To make:
1. In a cocktail shaker, muddle 3 basil leaves with ginger slice, 1 watermelon chunk and simple syrup.
2. Add ice, GREY GOOSE® Vodka and lime juice.
3. Shake well and strain into a rocks glass filled with ice.
4. Top with ginger ale.
5. Garnish with remaining watermelon chunk and basil leaves.

Berry Lemonade Pitcher

You need:
16 Parts GREY GOOSE® Le Citron
32 Parts Fresh Squeezed Lemonade
12 Raspberries
8 Parts Sugar

To make:
1. In a large pitcher, muddle the raspberries and sugar.
2. Add the GREY GOOSE® Le Citron Flavored Vodka and fresh lemonade.
3. Stir well.
4. Pour into highball glasses filled with ice and garnish with lemon and raspberries.
5. Serves 8.

Beach Bum

You need:
2 Parts GREY GOOSE® La Poire
Crushed Ice
½ Parts Cointreau®
½ Parts Maraschino Liqueur
1 Dash Grenadine
Fresh Mint
1 Part Fresh Lime Juice
To make:
1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add all ingredients.
2. Shake well and strain into rocks glass filled with crushed ice.
3. Top with grenadine and garnish with fresh mint.

Meyer Lemon Margarita Recipe

Yield: 1 cocktail
Total Time: 5 Minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz. fresh Meyer Lemon Juice
• 1 1/2 oz. Tequila
• 1 oz. Triple Sec (or Cointreau if you want to go "top-shelf")
• sea salt for rimming glass

Directions:

1. Rub the rim of an old fashioned glass (or whatever similar vessel you prefer) with a meyer lemon slice. Swirl the rim through a small pile of kosher or sea salt to salt the rim.
2. Put the meyer lemon juice, tequila, and triple sec in a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake for 15 seconds.
3. Put a few cubes of ice in your glass. Strain the cocktail into the glass and enjoy.

Sriracha Bloody Mary & having fun with garnishes

So it appears we’re on a culinary journey to create a small, but sinfully spicy collection of sriracha infused recipes. And loving every minute of it! Playing with a bottle of hot sauce has never been so hot and gratifying. Previously, we’ve shared our homemade sriracha-style chili hot sauce recipe, an addicting creamy spicy hot sauce mayo that you can lather on just about anything, and a party pleasing recipe for hot sriracha chicken wings!

With many other hot sauce recipes in queue, we’ve been experimenting with so much sriracha hot sauce, everyone thinks we’re drinking the bottle of red gold!

Oh, wait! Drink it? What a great idea!

A Sriracha Bloody Mary recipe is now born and ready to blow the socks off anyone who is a self-proclaimed sriracha and Bloody Mary addict.

Using your favorite hot sauce to replace the conventional Tabasco hot sauce used in most Bloody Mary recipes, this sriracha addition will leave you with an equally quenching, but slightly brighter spicy flavors from your traditional Bloody Mary. There are many recipes for Boody Marys out there, so you can stick to your tried-and-true favorite Bloody Mary recipe and all you need to do is squirt in the sriracha instead of the Tabasco.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. Vodka
• 4 oz. Tomato Juice
• 1/2 oz. fresh Lemon Juice
• 1/4 t freshly grated Horseradish or Creamy prepared Horseradish *see note above
• 2 pinches Celery Salt
• 3 dashes Sriracha Chili (or more to taste)
• 2 dashes Worcestershire Sauce

Directions:

garnish - There are a ton of variations. Go with what you prefer... Celery Stalk, Lemon Wedge, Lime Wedge, Pickled Green Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Olives (add a little olive juice for a dirty Bloody Mary), Baby Carrots, Cocktail Onions...

1. Combine all the ingredients into a mixing glass. Add ice and roll the mixing glass to combine ingredients. This is not a shaken cocktail.
2. Strain into an ice filled glass and garnish.

Chocolate Martini Recipe: Indulge in this exotic Martini.

CHOCOLATE MARTINI RECIPE ONE:

Ingredients

• 1 ½ shots of Godiva chocolate liqueur
• 1 ½ shots crème de cacao
• 1 shot of Grey goose or Stolichnaya vodka
• 2 shots of half & half or milk
Mix all the ingredients in a chilled shaker with ice then pour into a chilled martini glass. Rim the glass with cocoa powder.

CHOCOLATE MARTINI RECIPE TWO
Ingredients

• 2 shots Vodka
• 2 shots Creme De Cacao

Mix ingredients in a cocktail shaker and pour.
Line rim with chocolate power.