This Week in Drinks

I've gone over our budget recently.

I mean that in two ways, unfortunately.

Somehow, we've been spending like sailors on shore leave with shiny, shiny doubloons literally falling out of their trousers only to find that our doubloons have been replaced by their aluminum doppelgangers and we're holding the latest booty going, "wha..?" because all of a sudden the credit card statements have come and, oh, my lands, I spent so fantastically much more money on things that seemed really, really important at the time [hello, cheese counter at Whole Foods, placed achingly near to the wine and exotic salts (yes, I've shot my wad on exotic salts, you read that correctly)] than I thought I had...was doing...had done....

But hey! Our liquor cabinet is well stocked and I'm pretty sure they're not going to repo my Kelt Tour du Monde.

So! I have re-jiggered our budgets and allowed for one bottle of wine a week (dude, I totally wrote that as "a night."), which we should be enjoying tonight if everything works out well, and it also leaves the rest of the week wide open to cocktail experimentation. Because, as I said: no repo o' the booze. It's not going to happen. They've all been opened. Even the green chartreuse and benedictine. HANDS OFF.

All this to say that on fridays, or at least this friday because you never know what will happen in the future (I don't think they can repo the computer. Husband uses it for work. Makes it Important. Like the booze.) I will recap what we've had to drink over the course of the week.

Yes, you do care. Now shut up and start taking notes:

• Monday night. Or perhaps it was Sunday. I really don't remember. We had a stressful weekend:

A Bastardized Betsy Ross. Kelsey bought some port last weekend and tried some different combinations but finally came to this conclusion:

1 1/2 oz port (We have Pedroncelli on hand)
1 oz brandy (Kelt Tour du Monde)
1 oz triple sec (will use cointreau next time)
Some quantity of lemon juice, he said he didn't remember.
Some number of dashes of angostura bitters

Shaken with ice and strained it was lovely. I was a little taken aback by the whole chilled-port scene--I enjoy drinking port on these chilly nights because it's cozy and warming. Having it with citrus, chilled...well, it took me a couple tries before I embraced it wholeheartedly. It's pretty damn delicious.

• Tuesday night. Or maybe it was Wednesday. I'm pretty sure it was Tuesday:

We had a delicious Hoop-la! in bed shortly before passing out. Our kids have nasty coughs that keep us up at night, and when I say "us" what I mean is "me" and it was all I could do to power through this delicious drink before my head hit the pillow. I was not involved in the mixing of this drink, but I'm pretty sure Kelsey uses Jay's recipe with few to no deviations with the exception of a shot of bitters. I have a man who loves his bitters.

• Probably Wednesday night. Maybe Thursday. Who cares:

Pisco Sours!

Kelsey uses Gary Regan's recipe from The Joy of Mixology which was my favourite book while the big kids were out of town.

2 oz Pisco
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz simple syrup
1 raw egg white
Angostura bitters--just a dash on the finished drink

Shake all but the bitters--and really, really shake. Getting those egg whites to do their thing takes some commitment. Kelsey serves it in champagne flutes and liberally dashes bitters on top. It's divine.

And so we conclude our first Week in Drinks. Please join us next week when we'll teach you how to make hooch on a shoestring.