Our great friends and neighbors hosted an inspired sort of pot luck, where each family was asked to bring the mixings for a round of vodka martinis. We also brought toppings for both pizzas and cupcakes. There were five families.
I sought the wise council of my facebook posse for ideas about what my martini would be.
SO looking forward to celebrating the end of 2010. What's your favorite martini recipe?
I don't have a recipe but I LOVE basil martinis.
I think they are called cakebread martinis... vodka, amaretto, pineapple juice and something else.... but my all time favorite is a good dirty one :) . Have fun! Happy new year to u and ur family. 
Dirty, dirty, dirty!
Happy Anniversary Jacquie and Bill..... here's to many more.... (Aw, thanks, Mom!)
2 1/2 oz gin, a WHISPER of vermouth-shake over ice (do your abc song for the shake time)- pour into a pre-chilled martini glass with 2 olives in it.......HEAVEN!
Chopin vodka, shaken not stirred,, strained into a pre-chilled glass with 3 olives in it.
Espresso Martini........ ooooooh yaaaaaa, baby!!!
Dirty dirty dirty dirty dirty!
Despite this helpful advice from my adorable peeps, I remained indecisive about what I would bring. I narrowed it down to two top choices, and prepared copious amounts of the ingredients necessary to create both. The result?
everyone brought a variation of the martini to the party, and the clear favorite was my cilantro lime, yum!
But enough about drinks, I want to tell you about the party! The party with all the drinks!
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| There's my cilantro dreamboat, front and center. |
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| Grrrrrlllllzzzzzz |
I forgot to take photos of the pizza, but it was abundant and delicious. After dinner, the kids retired to their lair to concoct cupcake masterpieces. Apparently, our host children had spent many a rainy day watching "Cupcake Wars", and it was on. A panel of judges was arranged.
Are you familiar with the expression "sober as a judge?"
Yeah, me either.
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| What we lacked in sobriety we clearly made up for in festivity. |
We required each contestant to stand and defend her entry (the girls went first). Then we sent everyone out of our chambers for a
Then we called the girls back to hear our results.
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| The details are fuzzy,all I know for sure is that the girls were neither impressed nor pleased with our ability to think of a winning category for each entry. |
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| The boys weren't big fans of our "Everyone's a Winner!"concept, either. |
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| If you run out of noisemakers, raid the cupboards! Pots and pans are super noisy. |
We headed outside around 11:45 so the whole town could enjoy our enthusiasm!
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| Hoodlum hoopla |
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| Happy Anniversary, dahlink! |
Once we'd been adequately thanked and praised by the neighborhood (deep down inside, where it counted), we headed back in for the dancing!
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| party like it's 2011! |
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| Is that heavy metal horns or sign language I Love You? Note: I had a hilarious video that my husband shot while trying to snap this photo, but blogger ate it. boo! |
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| Until there was nothing left to do but sweep up the pills and wash them down with vodka. |
Happy New Year!
7 comments:
My word what a gorge-ass group of peeps. And so festive! And so noisy!
I never really thought of pairing martinis (dirty dirty dirty) with cupcakes but now I may have to change my tune . . .
Nice one, sistah.
Ellie
too funny! and too fun!
It's always odd to see you sunny weather peeps running around outside on days when the rest of us would need either 1) a lot more clothes or 2) a lot more alcohol to make you think you didn't need a lot more clothes.
I love cilantro so when you get a chance, pass on the recipe for your prize winning drink.
PS in February, a newly opened State College cupcake hang-out will compete on the Cupcake Wars!
Happy New Year and Happy Anniversary!
PPS my word verification is "unfieste" which must refer to the clean-up from the party you just told us about.
Love your Cleopatra tiara Jacquie, and obviously you do too, looking good. You guys really know how to party....
love mom
What a fun New Year's/anniversary celebration! You all look great. Miss you guys!
Oh where to start?!? Cakebread martinis? I could perhaps choke one of those down. (I realize they were not your choice, but still...) Of course, your cilantro lime concoctions don't look half bad either.
Next, I love the photo of your boy with the cocktail and pot-laden victory cheer (don't worry, I'm talking a kitchen pot).
Love, love, love the anniversary smooch. With Cleopatra tiara.
Finally, that last photo, with accompanying caption, is classic.
Looks like an awesome way to ring in the shiny new year.
xo,
Beth
I know, Beth -- I love that photo of Jacquie's boy clutching his glass at midnight, too. Must get it from his Dad's side.....
E.
for the cilantro martinii, I didn't exactly follow a recipe, but I did read a few. I was having some trouble with math, it was the last round. So I muddled a whole bunch of trimmed cilantro with a bit of sugar and a splash of triple sec. Then I mixed equal parts freshly squeezed citrus (lime and lemon) and simple syrup. Into the shaker went ice cubes, a big dump of cilantro, coupla jiggers of vodka, and the citrus/sugar mix - ratio was probably 3:1, vodka heavy (obvs). It was truly delish. I made the second round in a pitcher because I was dripping with muddle and syrup. The basil one was really good too, same basic principle but I added pineapple to the citrus mix. Yum.
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