Sharon, Bourbon Drinker

Sharon has recently shown an interest in trying cocktails other than her old standbys of Cosmopolitans and Margaritas. Recently at a friends house we had a cocktail found in Death & Company Modern Classic Cocktails. Sharon ordered a copy for us and we have tried a few cocktails as well as enjoying reading the book - which is a good read. Last night I suggested that Sharon find a recipe which included grapefruit juice. She came up with several and we made "The Big Texan". Sharon said after tasting "I could become a bourbon drinker."

The Big Texan

1 oz. grapefruit juice

1 1/2 oz. bourbon

1/4 oz. simple syrup

2 basil leaves

 

Shake with ice and pour over 5 ice cubes and serve.

 

After a few sips Sharon suggested we modify it to make it "ours." I added five drops of Cocktail Punk Colorado Cocktail Bitters. Wow, another layer of flavor that worked well.

 

 

Friends And Independence Day

Larry and Dave visited us for Independence Day holiday weekend. We had a very nice visit focused on shopping, eating, and drinking. We've been out to breakfast at Jucy-O and Butterfield's. We had a fabulous breakfast at home. We've had dinner at home and Bien Trucha. We've had coffee at Starbucks. We had cocktails in the back yard. Sharon and the boys had cocktails at Weber Grill. We've been to Steinmart and to Von Maur. I scored a seersucker sport coat and two shirts at Steinmart. Sharon and Larry both got great deals at Von Maur. Larry bought a wallet at Louis Vitton and he is VERY proud of it. They went to the iStore and Larry got a new iPhone cover and Sharon took over his old one. Today Larry and Sharon are cooking gravy. One of Larry's talents is making really good Italian gravy. It will be great.
We managed to not go to the Glen Ellyn parade or fireworks (though we could not avoid the noise from the fireworks and the cats did not like the noise at all.)
Last night we had a very tasty early dinner at Bien Trucha. Sharon and the boys had sangria and I had a Tomatesta made with tomatillo, lime, mint and smoky vida mezcal. Yum. I also had a Michelada. Wow, never had one of those. Kind of a Mexican version of a bloody mary - but better. We sampled a number of Bien Trucha's small plates and all were delicious. Bien Trucha is an extension of A Toda Madre - which will open its second restaurant in Glen Ellyn sometime this summer. I am excited for their appearance here. We finished our evening with a trip to Von Maur, ice cream at Oberweis, and then trash TV at home.

A Spring Cocktail

Sharon asked me to make her a cocktail so I came up with a new one inspired by the Negroni.

I might call it "Colby Dreams of Italy"

• 1/2 Lime
• 1/2 ounce Campari
• 1 ounce gin (I used one with a citrus infusion)
• 3/4 ounce Jordan Cranberry Liquor (our home made concoction)
• A squeeze of Orange juice
• Served over ice in a highball glass and garnished with a slice of orange

 

Wireless Home

We've pulled the plug on our land line phone and ported the number to a cell phone. Recently we decided to leave AT&T after many years for both land line and cellular use. Our service with AT&T has been very good since we switched to iPhones almost three years ago. But T-mobile promised to reduce our monthly cost for cell service and provide unlimited data service and much better voice and messaging pricing in Europe. Even though we may only be in Europe a few weeks to a month a year, this is a nice bonus with T-Mobile. We are using one of our old iPhones for our home service and this is costing us only $10 a month versus the $45 a month the land line cost. Sweet. And, I purchased a device from Cobra, a PhoneLynx BT215 that allows us to use our old home phones via cellular. This is a neat device, I connected it to the cell phone via Bluetooth. Now we can call out and receive on the old handsets. A year of so ago I cut the cable and put an antenna on th house for TV. We still are wired for Internet access, I don't yet have an option to replace that.

Sharon and I now each have an iPhone 5S. A little longer and a little lighter than the iPhone 4 with some nice touches - like Siri and the touch ID. The camera is said to be better but I have yet to use it. The screen quality is better - more pixels? Sharon and I both think the sound quality during calls is better.

Enough with phones - on to SNOW! Yes, it is snowing again. Right now we have big, fat snow flakes coming down in Glen Ellyn. It is March 5th darn it! Enough with the snow and the cold. I don't want to go outside and shovel it or drive in it. I just want it to go away!

Did I mention Brady's third birthday in a previous post? No? Shame on me. We went to Davenport to join in celebration of Brady's third birthday. Everyone had a great time, especially Brady. Kathy put together a very nice little party and made all of us feel welcome and comfortable. I made margartias with my 1,2,3 recipe (1 part fresh lime juice, 2 parts orange liquor, and three parts tequila, add a little agave nectar to taste, throw in some ice cubes, pour and serve.) Kathy brought in Chik-fil-A to eat and bought an awesome cake!