I’m sure that many of you are aware that for over a year and a half I worked at Chrysalis Vineyards in Middleburg, Virginia. I am very sorry to say that my time there will be coming to an end. I will be taking several weeks off then at the beginning of November I will begin my new position at Fabbioli Cellars in Leesburg, Virginia.

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No Cinco de Mayo celebration would be complete without a beverage appropriate for celebrating with. This is a very contemporary twist on the classic margarita. Agave nectar is used to balance the tartness of the pomegranate juice.

At some point I am going to have to undertake a discussion of tequilas.  This particular drink was made with the classic Cuervo Gold tequila but that is only because I haven’t laid waste to my current stock yet. There are tequilas that are better suited for this type of drink.

Why don’t you tell me what your favorite tequilas are and which one you used to make this drink yourself?

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To anyone that has ever been to New Orleans, the city is about much more than just Mardi Gras. The architecture,  music, culture and cuisine make it a special city in so many subtle and different ways. However, there is a certain sense of unbridled passion that appears there during Mardi Gras. Friendly faces are everywhere, there crowds of people aren’t nasty, but looking to extend a helping hand as everyone let’s go of their inhibitions for just a little while.

For those of you that have been following me here and on Facebook, you’ll know that I threw a dinner party last Saturday and that it was a Mardi Gras themed meal. I know, it was just a little late seeing that the previous Tuesday was Fat Tuesday, but seeing as the previous weekend was Valentine’s Day, well, we just didn’t want to stack our celebrations.

Those same people will also note that I’ve been talking about dialing in the recipe for Hurricanes. Having been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, I’ve also had the pleasant experience of having a Hurricane at Pat O’Brien’s in the heart of the French Quarter. It is after all, the quintessential New Orleans drink. So I dutifully set out to duplicate that drink for this dinner. In those regards, I failed. However, I did come up with something almost completely, but not totally unlike a Hurricane that was extremely delicious in it’s own right. So I trotted it out as a pre-dinner drink and it was very well received (BTW, I served several items that I’ve previously blogged about, but the Cajun Grilled Seafood Stuffed Mushrooms were the food star of the evening). However, since it wasn’t a Hurricane, I asked our guests to come up with a name for this concoction. It was our friend Kim that came up with the name of Who Dat Daiquiri and it is this name that the drink shall be known as going forward.

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I love Cosmopolitan martinis. There, I said it. Does it make me a bad person for liking them? No, not in the least. However, there is a problem with them and that problem is number three. Anytime I have a third one it is a disaster. By the time the third one hits, I've long since lost what little inhibitions I normally have, I make innapropriate remarks at a rapid fire pace and at some point, I'm losing my clothes. Then the next day I feel every cell in my body saturated with sugar and alcohol, my brain takes several seconds to catch up to my body movements and nothing I do can take that nasty, gummy, blech taste out of my mouth. So I decided to try and find an alternative that left me with a touch of mental faculties and at least a hope of functioning the next day.

I set out on this experiment knowing only two things 1) that it needed to contain vodka and 2) that the resulting drink needed to be pink. It should be noted that I HATE the color pink but since I am trying to mimic a Cosmopolitan I had no choice. Since Ms Cocktail is rather fond of Cape Cods (a Cape Cod is a Cranberry and Vodka for those not from the Northeast) and they tend to be very pink the way she makes them, I thought it would be a good place to start. The next thing needed was the element of citrus brought in by the Cointreau in a Cosmo. Since I was trying to detoxify this drink, I opted for fresh squeezed orange juice rather than more alcohol although a little flavor in the vodka couldn't hurt. Finally, there's no better way to take the edge off a drink than to serve it over ice and water it down a touch.

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For those of you that don't know, I am not the best cook in the family. That title easily goes to Ms Cocktail. So when she sets out to make something, I still sit back and take notice, especially when it is something that isn't part of my strengths like dessert. So, the other day, Ms Cocktail was in the kitchen making a dessert to share with her co-workers. I happen to notice that she was melting down some vanilla ice cream as part of her dessert and that observation caused a lightbulb to go off in my head.

Every once in a while, I enjoy a white russian. If you remember the movie The Big Lebowski, The character played by Jeff Bridges is named The Dude and he drinks them throughout the movie except that he calls them Caucasians. He makes them with heavy cream as opposed to milk. Well, I happened to be in my white russian mode and there was this melted vanilla ice cream left over from Ms Cocktail's dessert and I thought that hey, it doesn't need to be made with milk and wham-o! I put the two together. What you end up with is a richness that balances nicely with the bite of alcohol. Truth be told, I don't think I'll ever want to drink one any other way.

White Russian

2 oz Kahlua
2 oz vodka
2 oz melted vanilla ice cream

Fill a brandy snifter with ice. Add Kahlua, float the vodka on top of the Kahlua, the float the ice cream on top of the vodka.