Cocktail Hour

Would you believe if i said I couldn't find martini/ cocktail glasses anywhere in London? I have been in and out of stores, even the high end ones, on the look out for cocktail glasses. I finally found them online at Debenhams only to realize they were out of stock. They directed me to John Lewis and I had to pick up a case of six and pay an exorbitant amount for the same. Not that desperate for a martini glass, you'd think! I harassed Ro for so long and was almost about to pick them up on Amazon when a friend of ours was heading out to Ikea (ya Ikea is pretty far away and not easily accessible) and as luck would have it, found a cocktail glass for a mere 1.38. I would have preferred a wide-mouth martini glass, but beggars cant be choosers innit?

Freaked out on cocktails and I had to post the recipes before the excitement died. Ro was absolutely masculine about it and refused to even taste some ...his loss I'd say :P

Cosmopolitan is an all time fav of mine

Vodka- 35ml

Cranberry juice- 25ml

Orange liqueur- 20ml (I used orange juice, or you can skip this if you don't have either)

Lime juice- 2 tsp

Ice cubes- a lot

It just cant get easier than this...mix all of it into a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake till all the ice has melted. Pour into a cocktail glass and garnish with orange zest.

Monterrey Martini ( a new discovery)

TasteSpotted & Foodgawked

This recipe was found at the back of a hot sauce bottle I'd picked up from Waitrose. It was an altogether different flavour for a martini.

Vodka- 1.5oz

Hot sauce- 1/2 tsp

Ice cubes- a few

In a cocktail shaker, mix the vodka and hot sauce and add the ice cubes one by one shaking gently after each addition. Garnish with olives or jalapeños.

Anjou Gem

Vodka- 35ml

Grapefruit juice- 50ml

Lemon juice- 15ml

Sugar syrup- 15ml

Ice cubes- a few

Add all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker, fill with ice and shake vigorously till the ice has melted and is cold. Pour into chilled martini glass and garnish with a grapefruit slice (if you have any).

Sugar syrup recipe: Bring 1 part water to a boil and dissolve 2 parts sugar into it stirring continuously. Keep aside to cool and thicken a bit. Use for cocktails and mocktails. An easier way would be to just shake in a bottle equal parts of water and sugar till the sugar has melted :)

Notes: All of the above makes one medium size cocktail glass.