Search Results for: SODA

Friday Happy Hour: St-Germain Brunch Cocktail

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that brunch is the greatest meal of all time. So how about some brunch cocktails? I’ve decided to spend the next few weeks covering some great drinks for that best meal of the day, the one that’s not quite breakfast and not quite lunch but something sublimely in between, starting with a very easy and very tasty aperitif brunch cocktail.  â€“ Andrew

St-Germain Blood Orange Brunch Cocktail Recipe via Oh So Beautiful Paper (29)

Read below for the full recipe!

St-Germain Blood Orange Brunch Cocktail

1 oz St. Germain
1oz Cocchi Americano
San Pellegrino Aranciata Rossa Sparkling Juice

In a highball glass filled with ice, combine the St. Germain, Cocchi Americano, and San Pellegrino (we used the Aranciata Rossa or Blood Orange). Give it a stir and enjoy.

St-Germain Blood Orange Brunch Cocktail Recipe via Oh So Beautiful Paper (25) St-Germain Blood Orange Brunch Cocktail Recipe via Oh So Beautiful Paper (26)

Nole is a big fan of the San Pellegrino sparkling juices, so I started playing around with recipes to find one that worked as a cocktail. I eventually struck upon a great combination of the St. Germain’s floral sweetness, the Cocchi Americano’s complex herbal bitterness, and the citrusy effervescence of the San Pellegrino. Match that with a mild alcohol content and you have something a great drink (or two or three) you can pair with brunch.

St-Germain Blood Orange Brunch Cocktail Recipe via Oh So Beautiful Paper (11) St-Germain Blood Orange Brunch Cocktail Recipe via Oh So Beautiful Paper (1)

Cocchi Americano is a really interesting ingredient. It’s an aperitif white wine made according to the original Kina Lillet recipe. Kina Lillet was first made in Italy in 1891, flavored with deeply bitter gentian and cinchona bark, along with a touch of brandy, orange peel, and herbs. (It’s the missing ingredient for such classic cocktails as the Vesper and the Corpse Reviver #2). For a long time, the only thing close to Kina Lillet available in the States was the much sweeter and milder (but still tasty!) Lillet Blanc. Fortunately, this complex and fascinating spirit is available again (thanks to the amazing Haus Alpenz), so you can enjoy it in great brunch cocktails or, as they do in Italy, over ice with a splash of soda water and an orange peel garnish.

St-Germain Blood Orange Brunch Cocktail Recipe via Oh So Beautiful Paper (20)

This is a great example of discovering a great recipe through experimentation. I started with an ingredient – the Pellegrino – and paired it with spirits until I found a combination that worked for us. Here, more than ever before, play around until you find what works for you!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

{happy weekend!}

Happy Friday!  This week was pretty awesome – on Monday I took a little field trip with the talented Michele of Meant to Be Calligraphy to visit Terrain.  Have you been?  It was my first time there and I was just floored by how beautiful everything is – I had to resist the urge to bring home a million new plants for our poor little garden (which sadly isn’t doing so well in the brutal DC summer heat).  And lunch at the cafe?  Sooooo good.  I can’t wait to go back!  But in the meantime…

Terrain via Oh So Beautiful Paper (4) Terrain via Oh So Beautiful Paper (3)

Terrain via Oh So Beautiful Paper (1) Terrain via Oh So Beautiful Paper (2)

Photos of Terrain by me via Instagram (@beautifulpaper)

A few links for your weekend!

This week on Oh So Beautiful Paper:

We have a fun cocktail coming up for you this afternoon, so check back a bit later for the recipe!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday!  xoxo

Janna + Brian’s Vintage-Inspired Wedding Stationery

For Janna and Brian’s wedding stationery, Melissa and Amy from Atheneum Creative incorporated a postcard save the date and fold-out poster wedding invitation – all with a vintage look inspired in large part by the architecture of the wedding venue.  Melissa and Amy also created some really fun day-of stationery details, from ceremony programs to menus!

Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (7)

From Melissa + Amy: When Janna and Brian told us that they were getting married at Villa Del Largo in Austin – a place full of gorgeous arches – we knew that we wanted the venue’s architectural elements to resonate in the design.  We decided to pull those arches into a wedding logo and incorporate the logo throughout the invitations and day-of materials.

Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (2)

Janna and Brian asked us to create a vintage look and feel for their wedding.  We knew that the couple wanted to send out a postcard for their save the date, so we wanted to give the typography the vintage feel in addition to the photo on the front of the postcard.

Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (9) Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (5)

Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (3)

For the invitation, Janna and Brian wanted to do something really different – and since almost all the guests are from out of town, what better way to highlight the Texas wedding venue than with a large fold-out poster invitation?  We created each panel to reveal more information, including an rsvp postcard.

Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (8)

We also created several day-of elements, including welcome baskets, place cards and escort cards, menus, ceremony programs, and signs.  The ceremony programs doubled as fans to keep guests cool during the outdoor ceremony.

Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (13) Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (12)

Janna and Brian used one very long table for their guests; two large chalkboard signs in vintage frames directed guests to their seats, while kraft paper place card tags were tied around each silverware setting.  We screen printed the menus directly onto the linen napkins.

Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (11) Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (17)

Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (14) Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (15)

Their welcome basket included an accordion fold welcome letter along with custom drink koozies featuring the wedding logo, hang tags for soda, and even a recipe of grandma’s strawberry bread.

Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (20)

Vintage-Inspired Save the Dates, Wedding Invitations, and Details by Atheneum Creative via Oh So Beautiful Paper (18)

Thanks Melissa + Amy!

Check out the Designer Rolodex for more tal­ented wed­ding invi­ta­tion design­ers and the real invi­ta­tions gallery for more wedding invitation ideas!

Photo Credits: Invitation/Save the Date photos by Chelsea Davis Photography, day-of wedding photos by J. Cogliandro Photography

Friday Happy Hour: Cherry Caipirinha

It’s starting to feel like summer here in DC, and summer means summer drinks.  Which may be why I’ve been on such a Latin American drinks kick, because so many Latin American drinks are perfect for summer: sweet, with lots of fruit and lots of ice, and a bit of kick, delicious and refreshing.  Here’s another to add to that list, a twist on Brazil’s national cocktail, the Cherry Caipirinha. – Andrew

Read below for the full recipe!

Cherry Caipirinha

2 oz Cachaça
1/4-1/2 oz Simple Syrup
1/2 Lime
3-4 Cherries
Soda Water

Quarter the lime half and pit the cherries, if needed.  Add the fruit and syrup to a rocks glass or tumbler, then muddle everything together very well.  Add the Cachaça and lots of crushed ice.  Top with soda water, give it a stir, then garnish with a bit of sugar cane (optional but pretty cool) and enjoy!

 

The Caipirinha is up there on my list of perfect summer drinks.  It’s sweet and tart, with lots of fresh flavor from the Cachaça, and enormously refreshing thanks to all that ice and soda water.  If you order a Caipirinha in the U.S., you’re most likely to get one made just with lime, which is a pretty great drink by itself.  But Brazilians use all kinds of fruit, from mango to kiwi to pineapple or passionfruit, in their Caipirinhas, so feel free to add or subtract fruit to this recipe.

The Caipirinha’s name reveals its humble origins as a rustic, easy-to-make version of drinks like the Daiquiri: it means something along the lines of “little country bumpkin” in Brazilian Portuguese.  But the Caipirinha has grown to be wildly popular all throughout Brazil and has been winding its way through the States in recent years.  Give one a try and you’ll see why.

 

The same drink might be pretty good, but a bit more ho-hum, without its key ingredient: the Brazilian spirit Cachaça (pronounced, roughly, ka-SHA-sa).  Cachaça is a close relative of rum, but Cachaça – unlike rum, which is usually distilled from fermented molasses – is distilled directly from fermented sugar cane juice.  The cane juice has to be processed soon after it is harvested, which means the Cachaça retains more flavors from the sugar cane, and much more of a sense of the place where it was made.  Cachaça is a funky spirit with lots of complex vegetal flavors, like a much earthier version of your favorite rum.  Fortunately, it’s increasingly easy to find – go pick some up!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Friday Happy Hour: Strawberry Tequila Daisy

Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo!  We’ve previously featured two drinks that would be great tomorrow, the Margarita and the Oaxacan Sunrise, but here’s a new drink to help you celebrate properly: the Strawberry Tequila Daisy.

Read below for the full recipe!

Strawberry Tequila Daisy

2 oz Tequila
1/2 oz Triple Sec
1/2 oz Lemon Juice
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
Soda Water
2-3 Strawberries

Rinse and hull the strawberries.  Add them to a highball glass and combine with the Triple Sec, both juices, and syrup.  Muddle well.  Add the Tequila (make sure you use 100% agave!) and add a few ice cubes.  Top with soda water and enjoy.

This is a wonderfully light, fruity drink in which the Tequila is balanced really well.  The soda water gives it a nice zing that a regular Sour or Margarita can lack.  You can leave the pulp in and get more strawberry flavor, or you can filter before adding the Tequila and get a much cleaner drink (and no pulp when you sip – but don’t forget to garnish with a strawberry).

 

Americans have been using soda water to charge up their drinks since the 1850s, but the Daisy and its close relative the Fizz became really popular after the Civil War.  The original 1870s recipe involved spirits, sugar, lemon juice, orange liqueur, and some fizz.  Forty years later, a new-fangled recipe came along with lemon and lime juice, and grenadine in place of triple sec.  As I’ve noted before, the word for “daisy” in Spanish is, conveniently enough, margarita.  This, plus the taste of today’s drink, strongly suggest the origins of the Margarita lay with the Daisy.

Last – but definitely not least – Cinco de Mayo!  150 years ago tomorrow, a French army was marching on the Mexican town of Pueblo.  Why?  Because France’s ruler at the time was Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, nephew of the Napoleon and better known to history as Napoleon III.  Napoleon III, who was not a very good emperor, had grandiose plans to build a new French Empire to rival his uncle’s and invaded Mexico in 1861.  On May 5th, 1862, Mexican soldiers defending Pueblo defeated a much larger force of crack French troops, giving a much-needed boost of morale to Mexico’s armies.  The French went on to take over the country, but, after years of struggle, Mexico won its freedom again and drove the French out in 1866.  So, tomorrow, while you’re enjoying your Tequila Daisy, raise a glass to the brave Mexicans who fought for their country’s independence that Cinco de Mayo.

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper