Rosé Gold

I had a helluva time getting the shots for this. Beyond struggling with the dress in which sideboob is inevitable.

Beyond my lack of gold (jewelry or clothing) to bring in that element to the shoot.

Beyond the fact that dammit I couldn’t get my hair to behave–I was struggling to catch a vibe.

Then it occurred to me maybe I should be focusing on the pretty wine, not my pretty-adjacent self.

But nah fuck it. This wine is named with a color that defined millenials, a generation that made the selfies A Thing. Self indulgent selfies it was!

And how. I made eyes with this wine all night long and feel like we really were connecting before it occurred to me I should try it.

The wine I was courting was Rose Gold Côtes du Provence Rosé. I feel like this wine gives a party-forward attitude, but I also feel like it borders on being a Serious Rosé. As in it has body. It has complexity.

It is quite the blend: 42.5 % Grenache, 11.7% Syrah, 27.2% Cinsault, .8% Tibouren, 6.7% Mourvèdre, 6.8% Carignan, 1.6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Rolle, .4% Ugni Blanc, and .3% Clairette. I hope all that adds up to 100%, I haven’t done the math.

It’s so super fresh! But also plush! There’s an element of lees aging that really boosts the body. And when I drink it and close my eyes I see ultramarine blue-green. I adore.

Coral in color. Sniffing it-wise on top of red and yellow AND white stone fruit (i.e. so much fun florals) I also got blood orange and SCADS of minerals. Yes to yellow and white peach and raspberry sea-salt nose. Dry but unctuous (as unctuous as rosés go) body.

Palate echoes nose with a…so some wines feel concise. Cutting. They make their impression. Not this one. This one invites expansion. You may not make new discoveries or you will, pending your attention span.

All over, would I hand this wine a rose (um The Bachelor (which I’ve never watched) reference) yeah I WOULD. Is it a rose-worthy rose?

YES!

So gold. so Rosé. So Super. And selfie worthy which for some wine writers may be the most important thing but for me it’s the icing on the cake. Or should I say the filter on the selfie. Which is which.

One for you, one because yum, sip, gulp

Okay this one is simple. 

Maybe I am over-simplifying because this wine is more complex than some of the other pinkies that arrived at my step this season. 

Yet the simplicity is quite elegant for a wine you can grab from the grocery store. 

2016 Dark Horse Rosé

This is simpler than some of the even cheaper rosés I’ve sampled this  season but better too. It is simple but pretty and balanced and I appreciate the name and label. 

So if you only ever buy grocery stores for wine do me a favor and grab this.

It is a good pink delight. Grab it. Drink it. Wooooohoo! 

That’s all for tonight, lovers.

The Pink-ies Up, or, When I Went to Teavana

Well crap. I found another food rabbit hole I could see myself going down. Or maybe I should say another sensory rabbit hole–I did a perfume smelling recently that was so similar to wine tasting that I would have left intoxicated even if my friends had not poured a round of port to keep our mouths occupied whilst our noses did the heavy lifting.

But perfume is a rabbit hole for another blog. I wanted to learn of tea. Actually that’s not true. I hadn’t thought much about tea then Teavana was all “come play with teas with us” and I all like “totes!” Except you know that is sort of a lie because I would never say totes in a non-ironic sense of the word. I just said “yes”.

And then I said “extra yes please” (to myself anyway) as I contemplated the tea cocktail possibilities. Fast forward to about 6 minutes 45 seconds to see the cocktail. Or watch it all because we’re funny and stuff:

Let’s start with the Teavana wrongs: so corporate.

Okay I am done.

What Teavana gets right: The passion of the people making tea there. The pure rock sugar crystals they gave me to add to my ever-growing sugar collection (I’ve got nine types of sugar now). The really uber-cool tea brewer thingamajig where you load sweetener and tea in and let er’ rip then set the sucker down on top of your cup and like magic it drains out the bottom into the vessel you will bear to your thirsty lips.

Oh and feast your eyeballs on these big ol’ containers of rock. Sugar:

And then the tea blends. They are pure products. I was tempted to actually snack on some such as the citrus lavender sage blend. Hunks of dried fruit in an herbal and mildly herbal blend? Yes please. Another snack tea was the (unfortunately) excellent peppermint white chocolate blend. Unfortunate because I would sooooo turn up my nose at it if it didn’t smell like heaven and make as good an ice cream topping dry as it does steeped in to tea submission.

They have a good thing going there. A whole wall full of flavors that can be mixed and matched and sniffed and swirled. It was like wine tasting but I didn’t need a designated driver.

Enough of the praise. Let’s booze this shiz-nit up! Because I hate driving enough to create a situation requiring a driver. I made a cocktail with gin and the grapefruit strawberry green tea blend I brought home. I added homemade limoncello and fresh grapefruit juice. Lastly came a dose of bitters, and eventually (as you will see in the video) an extra garnish. So WATCH if you haven’t yet. Ooh, and making a pink cocktail gave reason to make a punny name for me tea-based drink: The Pink-ies Up

Funtimes! Happy! Come fetch my tipsy arse and take me home dear driver!

The Pink-ies Up an original Ellen Clifford tasty delight
For infused gin:
1/2 cup gin (I like Hendrick’s)
1 1/2 tsp. strawberry grapefruit green tea mix
Steep for about 45 minutes then strain. You’ll know the time is right when the gin is pink.

For the drink:
1 1/2 oz. infused gin
1/2 oz. freshly squeezed pink or red grapefruit juice
1 oz. limoncello
4 dashes Angostura bitters
extra dry tea mix to garnish
Shake all but the extra tea with ice. Strain into chilled glasses. Sprinkle on some dry tea.

Pink-ies Up!

Great expectations: martinify

It’s all about what you expect. If you anticipate one thing, and you get something different, that new thing might transcend what was expected. Or, no matter how wonderful it is, it is rejected as not good. An unwelcome surprise.

Life can bring unexpected good. In the last week I nabbed a small part in a short film, got to do improv at Second City Hollywood, and got the job of writing a wee little column for the popular Hello Giggles. I’ll be yakking about books and food over there. These unexpected, un-planned for happenings are the type of thing that renew my faith in life. You never know what may come. Box of chocolates. Etc.

HOWEVER! How about a harrowing tale of roughing it in LA?

Sometimes a girl just wants a nice pink cosmo.
I was in that sort of mood and ordered one at the Standard. The bartender handed me a clear drink. He informed me, with a twinkle in his eye, that somehow managed to be both twinkly and condescending, that they make their cosmos with white cranberry juice.

I guess the twinkle was for their oh-so-clever twist and the condescension was for…the fact that I wanted a Cosmo.

Half the joy in a Cosmo is the color. I swear they taste different when they look different.

If I expected and wanted a clear drink maybe I’d have loved their cheeky originality.

But no. The horror. The horror!

If you have the guts to order an old chestnut like a Cosmo you should be rewarded with a proper Cosmo.

I was also once given a clear chocolate martini and felt terribly disappointed. HOWEVER! At home, I once decided to make clear chocolate martini. It was A Choice. My nerves were steeled for what would follow. I wasn’t sure. Would I love it, would I hate it?

Would it make my eyes twinkle?

Well, I was prepared for a clear drink, and I liked it. Not sure about the twinkle factor.

Clear Chocolate Martini (from The Bar Book by Mittie Hellmich)

1 1/2 oz. vanilla vodka
1/2 oz. clear creme de cacao
Shake with ice. Strain into glass. Contemplate the chocolate factor. Decide to eat some dark chocolate, just in case.

Cosmania Day Four

First my plug, with a hot picture:

Tickets for A Midsummer Night’s Dream here:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/243225or call 323-601-5310

And now an apology:
Dear Hello Giggles,
I know I professed a distinct dislike, bordering on hatred towards the word giggle. I am sorry if I offended you and your site’s name. You do in fact make me laugh. We can agree to disagree on the worthiness of the word “giggle”.
Plus you could have named your blog titter(yes I mean titter not twitter).
That would be worse.
Love,
Ellen
P.S. This drink is on me
cosmopolitan #2 from the Drinks Free App
1 1/4 oz. citron vodka
1/4 oz. lime juice
1/4 oz. Cointreau
1/4 c.(2 oz.) cranberry juice cocktail(cocktail being sweeter than regular old juice)
Shake it with ice, strain, garnish with lime twist.
ANALYSIS
Color: the prettiest yet, neon pink and the line garnish serves as a nice contrast
Refreshing factor: medium-low, the low amount of lime shows
Sweetness: high, probably the cranberry cocktail
Cranfactor: high
Rating: B+

In keeping with the girliness of Hello Giggles, this drink excels in that category. It is sweet and superbly pink.

Cosmania Day Two

This is my(and the Kids in the Hall’s) disclaimer to my advice to drink pink:
Don’t be a Girl Drink Drunk.

As long as you steer clear of coconuts you should be ok.
Let’s talk about this Cosmo.

This recipe required an extra purchase: citron vodka.
Hot diggity-dog that was worth it.

If I were truly a hip, bespoke, dare-I-say mixologist (just did), I’d make my own flavored vodkas. But I am not that cool. I say hot diggity-dog, not even ironically, and thus I buy my flavored vodka.

And I say thus. Crap. But I do make my own vanilla extract: look here for that!

And getting Martha makes me at least a little bit of a bad-ass. There I feel better, I’ll drink to that!

Original Cosmopolitan from The Bar Book by Mittie Hellmich
1 1/2 oz. citron vodka
1 1/2 oz. Cointreau
1 oz. fresh lime juice
a couple of dashes of cranberry juice cocktail(not just juice-being a cocktail makes it sweeter)
lemon twist
Shake all but lemon twist with ice. Strain and garnish with twist.
ANALYSIS
Color-like new-fallen cotton candy
Refreshing factor-very
Sweetness-hardly, a touch at the end
Balance-somewhat strong alcohol
Cranberry factor-minimal
Rating A

What a difference a high proportion of fresh lime juice and the citron vodka make.

Cosmania Day One

Before the drinks, a shameless plug for my play:

Now onto business.
If you have something against pink drinks I apologize. If you are a man who will not drink a delicious beverage because it is a “girl drink” then you are a pussy.
Real men wear purple.
Real men drink pink.
Real people drink whatever the hell they feel like.
And sometimes, you just need a pink drink.
I do SO love a Cosmo. I’ve been trying and analyzing different recipes for them. So the Cosmo-off: every day this week I’ll be posting a different Cosmo recipe with an analysis. The last day I will give you my own concoction based on the data.
Incidentally, no I did not do this all in one week. And since I’m not too keen on drinking alone I did not finish them all. And I can’t drink that much.

Please note I used cranberry juice cocktail which is notably sweeter than straight-up juice.

Cosmopolitan from the Joy of Cooking 75th Anniversary edition
1/4 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. Cointreau(in Joy it is Triple Sec, but I upgraded)
1 oz. cranberry juice cocktail
1 oz. vodka
Shake over ice and strain into a glass.
ANALYSIS:
Color-bubble gum pink
Refreshing factor-moderate
Sweetness-minimal
Balance-way alcohol-y
Cranberrousity-next to non-existent
Rating-B-
Added some more cranberry and lime and it was highly improved.

Not to divulge too much but this was my least favorite of all the recipes which is a shame as Joy rarely fails me. Not that it was a failure, it just did not dominate.