So, you have some home grown celery that is loaded with beautiful, crisp, healthy leaves. You don’t want to send them straight to the compost bin do you? No, of course not. I grabbed a small handful and gently tearing added them to my trusty shaker. To this I added one small Cornichon, you know, one of those adorable, fancy baby pickles. I muddled these together, then added ice and 2 generous shots of my homemade bacon infused vodka. You could use any plain fine [...]

Turned some of my fresh basil into this Basil Cherry Bomb Martini. POW! Fragrant, slightly sweet & smooth. Muddle some fresh basil and a few very ripe cherries, add your desired amount of fine vodka and ice. Shake until well chilled. Strain through fine sieve, and garnish with a cherry.

Enjoyed my 1st cucumber from the garden in a fancy martini! Added a little extra flavor to this one. Muddled cucumber & basil shaken with homemade crabapple blossom infused vodka (Kettle One) Nope, that’s not a pickle, it’s a fresh cucumber slice.

After a frustrating evening of Twitter Fail Whale and Twitpic non-response, I finally turned to my trusted blog! This is where I should be sharing all these goodies anyway right? Tonight, for a #GardenChat Monday, it’s my Cactus Fruit Basil Martini! Shaken, not stirred of course. It is a very magenta cocktail, so pretty, so sweet, so fragrant. This is only my second cactus pear in my life, and I’m so glad I turned it into such a wonderful cocktail. Peeled & tossed into my [...]

Serves 2 (maybe) 6-10 Fresh Basil Leaves 1 tsp Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key Lime Juice or 1/2 a small key lime 4 Shots of OYO Vodka from Middle West Spirits 6 Small Ice Cubes 1 Small Mango Peel and cube mango. Put 3/4 of the cubes into immersion blender container or standard blender. Set aside the rest to garnish the glasses. Muddle basil and lime juice in cocktail shaker. Add vodka and ice and shake for 30-60 seconds. Strain through fine wire mesh over [...]

I bought a bucket of strawberries at our Farmer’s Market at work yesterday. In addition to a snack and freezing some for later, I made this strawberry mint martini! Muddle berries with fresh mint, shake with ice, garnish with a sprig of mint & a strawberry – YUM!

Muddle half a mini cucumber and shake with ice and 2 shots of your finest chilled vodka. Strain into cocktail glass. The new taste of summer!

This is what sunset looks like streaming thru a pomegranate gin sling. Mixology in the Keys, day 1

Bacon infused vodka, cucumber simple syrup, muddled with grape tomatoes. Shaken with ice, strain, and garnish with grape tomato & pea sprouts

Why am I making bacon at 8:30pm on Christmas Eve? Why, to make bacon infused vodka of course! And, why would I want to make bacon infused vodka? To make BLT Martini’s of course!