Bimini Cocktail

A few warm days reminds me why I love summer so much. So I had to celebrate with a summery drink! The Bimini Cocktail from Here's How! by Stouffer's is a 1950 Tiki-style drink celebration.

This one promises to be 'invigorating'...

 I love simple cocktails. One of the best things about these older cocktail recipes is the simple ingredients and methods. Most of the time.

 It looks so pretty! Bright pink and fruity!

I love this drink! It tastes like the beach. I bet it would taste even better with fresh lime juice. Usually I am forced to try the drinks out alone (work frowns upon drinking during work hours) but I had my sweetheart over. He actually asked for a second. It looks like we will be sipping on these this summer on the back porch!

My Rating: So Delicious! I am ready for another!

Pecan Rolls

What does it say about me when I can choose almost any recipe and have all the ingredients already in my cupboards? Do I have too many baking ingredients? My boyfriends says no. hahaha These pecan rolls turned out a little funky looking but were delicious.

 So...were brides judged by their biscuit making abilities? I would fail! I don't like biscuits. But I will make them for others because I am nice like that. And I am not above using food as a bribe.

I had to try the pecan rolls after seeing the picture. As I said before, I had all the ingredients.

Strangely enough, milk is usually what I am missing since I don't drink it. I have no idea why I had a whole carton of it. I didn't have pecan halves but I figured pecan pieces would work just as well.

The start of a beautiful roll...You know it's going to be nice and sweet when you use this much brown sugar!

Check out that beautiful marble board! My amazing boyfriend got that for no for the Holidays and it is fantastic! The biscuit roll dough came together really nicely and, thanks to the marble, I was able to use less flour when kneading and rolling out.

 I have issues with rectangles.

These look like they are going to be similar to sticky buns. Yum...

 Looking back, I probably should have put more brown sugar in the rolls. A quarter of a cup doesn't look like enough.

They look so pretty! Sometimes I am a little unsure when I put things in the oven but I am feeling great about these!!

My place is encased in a bubble of pecans and brown sugar. Who needs scented candles?!

Well, good news and bad news. Good news: They taste great! Bad news: They stuck to the pan. Since the bottoms were so gooey I thought it would be a good idea to let them cool in the pan a bit. Then they hardened in the pan. I put them back in the oven to soften them and then had to pull out the knife. Eventually, I won the battle!

They ended up looking really battered and in pieces! It's make your own! Just pick up a couple of pecan pieces and a chunk of sugar and put them on top of your roll. Ta Da! Pecan Roll!

These little rolls were easy and delicious! The bottom/tops ended up caramelizing instead of staying soft and gooey. I would make these all together in a round pan next time to make them easier to flip over.

My Rating: Yum! Would make again with a few changes.

Friends and Family Rating: "Did they explode?" Several days later..."Do you have any more?"

Hurricane Cocktail

Rainy and overcast days are for lazing about around the house, coffee (or cocktail) in hand, real clothes are optional. I may have gone to the store in pj's. Nice pj's of course! Between actually cleaning my apartment and deep cleaning my office I did not feel like doing anything extra. No cooking. No baking. But I ran out of ciders and really really wanted a drink. And not just I could have an excuse to dance around the house in my pj's, blasting 80's music, pretending to clean...

Since I was not heading out in the rain again, I had to make do with what I had on hand and I had everything for this, The Hurricane Cocktail from the 1934, Savoy Cocktail Book.

I used Sunset Hills Virginia Gin, Jameson Irish Whiskey, and good old Dekyuper creme de menthe. The lemon was for picture purposes only. I used bottled lemon juice. Gotta use what you have.

Holy Crap! Is this thing green! Bright and minty! I probably should have made this drink over the holidays. I'm not certain what it has to do with a hurricane.

This has me feeling all fancy...Not put-on-real-clothes fancy but I couldn't clean my bathtub holding this thing!

I am not certain how I feel about this drink...It's not bad but kinda weird. The mint hits you full in the face first with the whiskey and gin slowly slipping in behind. The lemon juice helps cut down the mint some but, oh the mint.

The first sip is terrible minty but the aftertaste is nice and smooth. I tried to describe it to my wonderful boyfriend, apparently I had a strange look on my face, but couldn't. I then drank the rest of the glass without sharing.

My Rating: I don't know!

Friends and Family: Will update this later. I am definitely going to make them try this!