California Strawberry Mint Sangria

Had the pleasure of eating some California Strawberries and some fun recipes prepared by Top Chef contestant CJ (the really tall one). I didn’t try this yet, but doesn’t this sangria recipe sound so yummy and refreshing??

Ingredients

• 1 pint Strawberries
• 1 cup Mint Leaves
• 1 bottle Chardonnay
• 3 tbsp. Sugar
• 1 cup Water
• Squeeze of Lime Juice
• Mint Sprigs and Sliced Strawberries for garnish

To read how to prepare,

Sangria Gets a Makeover

I love sangria as it is (my favorite is at Tapeo 29!), and I don’t particularly think it needs a makeover. But it’s interesting to see a bunch of NYC drink-spots putting a spin on the classic drink. From the dry-sherry sangria at Suba to the deep-red-beet version at Tailor to the green mango and apricot at Rayuela, mixologists (did I really just use that word?) all over town are going sangria-wild.

Check out the entire, BEAUTIFUL slideshow here.

Sweet, Sweet Sangria

Monday night meant a roof-top Cinco de Mayo party at the apartment which featured Erica’s signature and delicious Strawberry-Grapefruit White Sangria. Here’s how you make it:

Ingredients:

4 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc
1 cup White Rum (although I did it with raspberry vodka once and it was delish)
2 Pink Grapefruit Juiced (about 1 cup)
1 Pink Grapefruit
1 Pint of Strawberries
1/2 cup sugar

Instructions:
- thinly slice strawberries, mix with sugar and let sit covered at least 15 minutes or refrigerate overnight (it will turn into a kinda strawberry simple syrup)
- juice two grapefruits, mix with rum and let sit covered at least 15 minutes or refrigerate overnight
- cut the other grapefruit in circles (optional)
- mix wine, strawberry and sugar mixture, and rum and grapefruit mixture together, float grapefruit circles on the top)
- enjoy

I don’t have a photo of the actual finished product, so use your imagination with the one above.

Vodka That’s Good for the Earth

I read a post on YumSugar today about 360 Vodka, and I remembered that I tried some a few weeks back. Now, I’m not a vodka drinker—I try to stay far, far away from the stuff. And they had it mixed with some sort of neon green midori concoction that looked less-than-appetizing. But I sipped, and… it tasted like vodka. No better, no worse than Stoli. But here’s the green twist: the company uses an energy-efficient process to distill the vodka, the labels are 100% recycled and processed in a chlorine-free manner, the bottle is 85% recycled, and the facility that filters it has gone through measures to reduce its eco footprint. They also gave me a coaster that I could plant and grow flowers with when I tried the drink. I don’t know—I guess I support it because it’s better for the earth, but I’m still not down for drinking it.