Say goodbye to Fall with a Hot Caramel Apple Cider

Adam hates when people start to celebrate Christmas too early.

And too early means before December 1st.

So every year since we've been married the few days between Thanksgiving and December 1st cause a little tension between us and the level of merriment that is "tolerated" around our house.

So today, in honor of my husband, and any of you who carry that same holiday celebrating philosophy, I thought we should do one final fall drink before we embrace the season in full force.

So here's one last cheers to fall with a Caramel Apple Cider.

Savor each sip.

It's been a great few months.

I found this recipe here.

Here's what you need:

1 1/2 c apple cider

1 1/2 T caramel sauce

1/2 t vanilla

Here's how to do it:

Combine ingredients into a saucepan over medium-high heat

Stir constantly until the caramel is melted and cider is warm.

Serve.

(you can probably do it quickly in the microwave as well)

Enjoy a few minutes for mini fall farewell today.

And think of a couple things you have been thankful for.
Maybe even tell someone about it.

The "Recommended by YOU" Bar at our Sips Launch Party

Saturday was our Sips Etc Launch Party!

To say it was fun would be quite the understatement.

Kirstin and I had such a good time planning and decorating and creating, and TheAdams would probably admit they had fun coming up with their contributions too.

You can see more details about it here, but I can tell you that it included lots of fun Sips- a Latte Bar, a Pumpkin Chai Martini (with a twist), an H2O Bar, and homemade cider.

And of course we had some great Bites- delicious dips, and fried pickles, and all kinds of red and white sweet treats like red velvet whoopie pies, red velvet cupcakes, Red Vines, and an assortment of other red and white candy.

Lots of these things will show up as tutorials in the coming weeks, but today we wanted to highlight one of our favorite features: the "Recommended by YOU" bar.

The invites requested that each guest (or couple) bring their favorite drink to share. It could vary anywhere between your favorite beer or wine (Moscato was Kirstin's recommendation), to your favorite flavor of Izzes (Grapefruit? Pomegranate? That's a tough one), or even Diet Coke (my recommendation). Katie even brought hot apple cider. In a percolator. That's dedication!

To prep for the bar, Kirstin made a "Recommended by YOU" sign so guests knew exactly where to put their drinks.

She also made little tags that said "Recommended by" with a space for the guest to write their name so everyone knew who brought what.

 

Guests tied their label to their drink with a color coordinated ribbon so that everyone's recommendations were clear. And of course, we had several Sharpies on hand for proper labeling!

Not only did it look great (if we can say so ourselves), but it was fun to try people's favorite drinks, and made for a great conversation piece.

Throwing parties this holiday season? 

Might we suggest that you add a "Recommended by YOU" bar to your party plan?

happy birthday tricia (and a birthday cake martini recipe!)

The start of this little blog just so happens to coincide with the birthday of one of my favorite people in the whole world. You guessed it- Tricia Joy is celebrating her birthday this very weekend.

Since you don't know all of the things to celebrate about my lovely sister-in-law, I thought I'd share a few of them with you!

1. She has great taste in clothes (and shoes and accessories). Side note- I directly benefit from the fabulousness of her closet!

2. She is great with kids- like ohmygoodness great. She can get my three-year-old picky eater to chow down his entire lunch, and my baby girl cries whenever Tricia holds someone else. They adore her. But all kids adore her so that's no surprise.

3. Tricia has a great eye for decorating. Even though her degree is in marketing, she once did an internship at Crate and Barrel, and I would not be surprised if she ends up in the interior design field at some point.

4. She's funny. Really funny.

5. Tricia loves their puppy, Stetson, so much. She's hilarious about it- she worries that Stetson will be scared of thunderstorms, gives him special food, checks in on him about twenty times a day- Stetson is one spoiled dog!

Now a birthday just wouldn't be a birthday without a fabulous drink recipe. So, in addition to getting to know Miss Tricia better, today I'm also going to share a Birthday Cake Martini recipe!

Here's what you'll need:
Pineapple juice
Cranberry juice
Vanilla rum
Ice
Vanilla frosting
Sprinkles

Here's what to do:
In a shaker, mix one part vanilla rum, two parts pineapple juice, two parts cranberry juice, and ice. Shake vigorously. My sister, Jordan, swears that if you skip this part of wimp out on your shaking duties, that it won't turn out right. Heed her advice and shake well.

Strain into a glass rimmed with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. In case you're thinking about skipping the frosting-sprinkle-rimming, I would strongly urge you not to. The sprinkle-adorned rim makes this drink twice as festive. Maybe three times as festive.

And that's it! ENJOY!

Happy birthday Tricia!

If you're visiting us from TasteSpotting.com, Welcome! You can learn a bit about us here, and be sure to check our monthly Barista Banter column, and our weekly Beer column with TheAdams. 

We're so glad to have you!