Sylvia's Scenario

This Mother's Day my sister, Barbara, made a special treat for us.  It was an espresso martini that she had first made with my cousin during her visit to New York City recently.  My cousin had been tweeking this recipe for awhile and when my sister visited her in April, she was eager for Barbara to try her perfected version.  This is the same cousin who I wrote about here who does the waffle parties in her New York apartment.  My sister hosted a barbecue at her house on Mother's Day with Bruce and I, her son and his wife and their kids. Here are the three moms together with our special espresso martinis.   The men fired up the barbecue and cooked some bratwurst for dinner and we all contributed some salads to accompany them.  It made for another wonderful family feast, something my family is very good at pulling together.  And a lovely coconut cake for dessert to top it off.  Now, back to his espresso martini.  I could tell when I tasted it ...

The holidays are in full swing now and we had our first little holiday gathering tonight with two of  Bruce's golf buddies and their wives.  We invited them over for dinner and I served this new drink called Holiday Limoncello Spritz.  I prepared it ahead of time so it was ready to serve when people arrived.  It's nice to offer such a festive beverage to your guests at a holiday party to set the tone.  With a drink as beautiful as this, your guests will be in the party spirit in no time.                                         I got this recipe from   Drinks with Danica  who has the most beautiful drink recipes. I love the garnish of rosemary, cranberries (or you can use pomegranate seeds) and lemon which are perfect because it is made with limoncello which acts as an alcoholic simple syrup, of sorts. But it also has pomegranate juice and Prosecco ...

                                                              Happy 2024! I can't believe a whole year has gone by already.  I think the older you get, the faster each year goes by.  But we are still in Spain and enjoying being with family so I'm not really thinking that much about time.  I'm just enjoying the moment.     We've discovered a couple of favorite drinks during this trip to Spain.  One would have been perfect for New Year's Eve...if we could have stayed up that late.  (We're grandparents, remember?)   When people think of Spain, they most likely think of the popular drink of sangria or the wine punch made with wine, fruit juice, sweeteners, and fresh-cut fruits with brandy or flavored liqueurs occasionally added to the recipe. They will even sell sangria in bottles ready to drink her...

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas yesterday. It's amazing how hard we work for this one day of the year and suddenly it's over. Now, here we are, the day after Christmas and I'm still absorbing it all. There were so many things I loved about Christmas this year including my new Christmas cocktail I wanted share. This drink was a very festive addition to a wonderful Christmas evening. My family came over to our house including Lauren; my sister and her husband; my niece and nephew and their families and we had a holly, jolly time. Put it this way, nobody left hungry. But we did more than just eat, of course. We played games  and we opened presents - starting in the morning when Lauren came over and we also had breakfast together before getting ready for the evening.  When everyone was here, we opened more presents. When my extended family gets together for Christmas, we do a white elephant gift exchange. A white elephant gift exchange is when yo...

Before summer comes to a close, I wanted to be sure to post one of my favorite summer drinks - the Aperol Spritz.  I was introduced to this drink during our trip to Italy in 2016 and drank them throughout Italy.  (It was one of the few drinks you could order and get ice in it!)  This drink is so refreshing during hot weather and really hits the spot.  It originated in Italy and is one of their most popular aperitifs there.  Aperol is a citrusy, slightly bitter liquor that is apparently getting more popular here, too.  This summer I noticed that they were offered on a lot of local restaurant menus and I was delighted to be able order this colorful, summer drink once again.  I ordered one on my  birthday  at Il Terrazzo Carmine  and then again for   our anniversary  at Salty's.   It's the perfect summertime drink.  They are usually mixed in a large wine glass with an orange wedge but for my phot...