Category — Entertaining

I have a thing for cucumber in cocktails, it’s so bright and refreshing. My all-time favorite is the Cucumber Martini.

What makes this drink different is the addition of mint simple syrup and the infusion of cucumber into the gin instead of muddling.

This is the second of two signature cocktails we served at the Harmony Boards launch party.

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I created a couple of signature cocktails and a mocktail for the Harmony Boards Launch Party last week.

photo credit: Robert Westerman

This first recipe was the big hit of the night. You’ll know why when you see the ingredient list:

• Fresh lemon juice – check.
• Sugared rims – check.
• Fresh ginger – check.
• Everyone’s favorite alcohol, Vodka – check!

Of course, not everything can go off without a hitch. I’d made the Ginger-Lemonade and other components for the cocktails at home earlier in the week. Then Kim and I transported and prepped everything at the venue on Tuesday, the day before the party.

(I should stop here to say that the venue is one of the charming Airbnb that Kim’s son and daughter-in-law, Cody and Chanté, operate. Cody and his Chisel Built company do the remodel and Chanté does the interior design. You can visit this home, known as the Zona Rosa, and their other vacation rentals at Chisel Built Stays.)

Late Tuesday night, around midnight, I woke up from deep sleep to remember that the lemonade had to be poured onto sheet pans and frozen. Oops!

photo credit: Robert Westerman

I was so concerned that I’d forget in the morning, that I got up and put the sheet pans in my car. It wasn’t until I arrived at the house, pans in hand, that I realized they would not fit in the freezer. Now what?

I poured the lemonade into a couple of dozen small plastic cocktail cups and put them in the freezer. I knew I wasn’t going to get the same easy effect as I’d get by spreading it on sheet pans, where the frozen slushy-like mixture could be simply scraped off into a pitcher. I was going to get frozen lemon cubes. But, in a pinch, a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do!

photo credit: Robert Westerman

When it came time to mix up the cocktails, a few of the cups were still slushy in texture, which is what we needed. But most were rock hard. Poor Kim took on the task of breaking and mashing those lemon ice cups down. It all worked out in the end – everyone raved.  Thanks, Kim!

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Is it okay if I’m feeling a bit reminiscent and sad when I say that this is the last post, the last recipe, from Chanté and Cody’s wedding?

After the months of planning and anticipation leading up to it, all the work and joy surrounding the wedding weekend, and the fun of posting and reliving it, I’m sad it’s really over. But then again, if anyone knows how to drag out a happy event, it’s me!

Here is a list of the recipes that made up the taco bar with links to each recipe. This same list is posted Menu and Party Ideas over there on the left side of the page, so you can easily find it when you’re in need of taco bar recipes.

Wedding Taco Bar Recipes

Fillings:

• Grilled Chicken
• Instant-Pot Ground Beef
• Spicy Shrimp
• Roasted Vegetables

Toppings:

• Barrio Café Guacamole
• Creamy Cilantro-Jalapeño Sauce
• Pickled Red Onions
• Cilantro Chimichurri Sauce
• Peggy’s Blender Salsa

Sides:

• Roasted Tomatillo Rice
• Refried Black Beans
• Mexican Street Corn

Signature Cocktails:

• The Fox Cocktail
• The Chisel Cocktail

Roasted Tomatillo Rice

• 20 tomatillos, peeled, rinsed and dried
• 3 poblano peppers
• 2 jalapeño peppers
• 2 shallots, peeled
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• Olive oil
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 2 cups rice
• Fresh cilantro, for garnish

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Mexican Street Corn was another of the side dishes for Chanté and Cody’s wedding in the woods over Mother’s Day weekend.

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Before we get to another recipe from Chanté and Cody’s wedding…

…I want to remind you that there are more than 2 dozen 4th of July recipes in the Complete Recipe Index under the Holidays – 4th of July tab.

So if you’re waiting until the 4th or the upcoming weekend to celebrate, get on over there and find something festive to make.

Several of them are in the shape or colors of the flag. FUN!

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Easy Cheesy Refried Black Beans

• 2 cups refried black beans
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• 1/3 cup prepared salsa
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup grated Monterey Jack
• 1/4 cup diced red onion, garnish
• 1/4 cup diced tomato, garnish
• 1 minced jalapeño, garnish
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro, garnish

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Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

      Wedding Taco Bar

Fillings:

• CHICKEN
• GROUND BEEF
• SHRIMP
• VEGGIES

Toppings:

• Barrio Café Guacamole
• Creamy Cilantro sauce
• Pickled Red Onions
• Cilantro Chimichurri
• Peggy’s Blender Salsa
• diced tomatoes
• black beans
• sliced radishes
• sliced jalapeño
• sweet pickled jalapeño
• sliced black olives
• salsa roja
• salsa verde
• diced avocado
• sour cream
• queso fresco
• Mexican cheese blend
• Mexican crema
• cotija cheese
• chopped cilantro
• diced white onion
• green onion
• lettuce
• cabbage

Sides:

• Tomatillo Rice
• Refried Black Beans
• Mexican Street Corn
• Corn Tortillas
• Flour Tortillas
• White & Blue Chips

That is the list of 34 items that made up the Wedding Taco Bar.

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

There are very few recipes left to share with you from the wedding, since all the fillings have been posted and several of the sides and topping recipes are here in previous  posts. Click on these links to find them:

Barrio Café Guacamole

Pickled Red Onions

Peggy’s Blender Salsa

Mexican Street Corn

So that only leaves the Creamy Cilantro Sauce, Refried Black Beans, Tomatillo Rice and Cilantro Chimichurri. Since the chimichurri is an easy “dump in the blender and turn on” recipe, we’ll start with it.

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Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

The newlyweds!

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

It’s the day many of you have waited for. Today I post several photos of the newlyweds. I also share Chanté’s Signature Cocktail. It is called “The Fox” because Fox is Chanté’s maiden name.

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

Cody knew he wanted a skinny margarita for his signature cocktail from the beginning. Chanté knew she wanted a vodka-based drink but it wasn’t until about 2 weeks before the wedding that she, Kim, and I visited Culinary Dropout and Doughbird to figure out exactly what that drink would consist of.

After trying the “Between You & Me” at Culinary Dropout and “The Local” at Doughbird, we came to the unanimous decision on “The Local.”

I had gone up to the bar at each restaurant and taken a video of the bartenders making the specific cocktails. This made it much easier to recreate for the wedding.

Of course, they were making a single drink. You might think that basic multiplication would get you the exact drink when making 100 servings, but it’s not quite that simple.

There is more than math and science involved, you have to taste and adjust as you multiply. So I took it from one drink to 100 and now back down to 10 servings here for you.

I used Absolut Grapefruit Vodka for the wedding cocktails because the drink is the perfect light pink shade. When I made the cocktail at home for this post, I only had Deep Eddy Grapefruit Vodka. It is already a darker color than the finished wedding cocktail was, so the end drink color is not as pretty. Tastes great, just not that subtle and inviting pretty pink.

Enjoy.

P.S. I saved my favorite photos of the gorgeous couple for the end of this post, so keep scrolling!

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

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As mentioned in This Post, much of my patio furniture was hauled up for the wedding. The photos of my stuff on my patio, such as the photo above, were taken by me with my iPhone.

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

The photos of my stuff at the wedding site were taken by the very talented photographer, Jen Griffith, with a camera that I’m guessing wasn’t anything remotely close to an iPhone!

I thought you might enjoy a little side-by-side of the furniture to see what it looks like on a patio and what it looks like in a beautiful bohemian wedding in the forest.

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

For this one, I only wish Jen would have gotten the other side of this Mexican table, the side that still has some of the original paint on it.

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

My stuff never looked so good!

This is Chanté’s vision come to life.

Photo courtesy of griffithimaging.com

For today’s recipe, I’m posting Cody’s Signature Cocktail which we named The Chisel in honor of his company, Chisel Built.

If you haven’t already visited his Instagram page (from back when I posted about the fireplace remodel and barn door he did for me) then you really must go check it out NOW! Cody’s work is incomparable!

Tomorrow I’ll post Chanté’s Signature Cocktail along with photos of the newly married couple!

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