What is your "Daffodil Moment?"

Although this has been a very mild winter I knew we were not going to escape winter entirely. Mother nature just delayed the inevitable and most of the snow came in March. Since we live in New England I wouldn't expect anything different. And honestly, the last snow hugged the trees and made quite the spectacular winter scene. But, I am definitely over winter and concentrating on the possibilities of Spring. Last weeks Spring ahead time change gave us that extra hour of light at night, although I will say the darkness in the morning is making it very had for me to get up. How can losing one hour seem so similar to jet lag? The calendar says that spring is just around the corner; the air feels slightly different and the birds are singing a different song. The other day after a long walk with my Golden, Nash I realized that I hadn't shoveled the front walk way yet. I had just gotten off the phone with my parents who were telling me about the Daffodils that were up in their yard and I was wishing there were Daffodils blooming here instead of snow to shovel. I grabbed the shovel expecting a heavy wet snow, but because I had waited to shovel and it had been a temperate March afternoon the shoveling was a breeze! I found myself smiling at the unexpected realization that it would only take a few minutes for this job and we are not that far away from Spring after all. That was my Daffodil moment for the day. Silly..... maybe. I often get made fun of for how excited I get about the little things, but lately I haven't been thinking that way. I've been taking life way too seriously. I think that if we would all spend more time recognizing the good in the little things in life instead of worrying about things that we cannot change or control life would feel a little bit lighter. What was your Daffodil moment today?

Don't forget to check-out my First Day of Spring cocktail for this week! And, my site is getting a little bit of an update so now my posts will go to a category and you will see more consistent updates with new cocktail recipes and wine tip!

First Day of Spring

I was challenged by a good friend of mine to come up with a St. Patrick’s Day cocktail for our get together last Friday night. It’s unlike me to not think ahead when I’m entertaining, especially since the evening called for a tasty green cocktail in honor of the day. My husband found a cocktail on-line that was certainly a pretty green color, but I could not get excited about the recipe. So, I tweaked it and came up with my own. It is a tropical twist on a Tequila Martini.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz Blanco tequila (If you like Coconut you can also use 1800 Coconut Tequila!)

1 1/2 oz Hypnotiq Liqueur

1 oz pineapple juice

1/2 oz orange juice

Juice from a 1/2 lime

Garnish with a lime wheel, a pineapple triangle or an edible flower

Add all the ingredients to a shaker filled with ice. Shake until well mixed and cold. Strain into a martini glass.

Spring Ahead

I couldn’t resist naming this cocktail after the clock change. I struggle so much with the difference in time but it really makes me smile when it is light out until 7 pm here in the North East! This cocktail makes me smile too!

Ingredients:

2 oz lemon vodka or lemon gin

1 oz raspberry liquor ( We have a local company in NH called Metcalfe’s but you can use Dekuyper Razzmatazz)

2 oz lemonade

Splash raspberry seltzer

Lemon twist

Frozen raspberries

Add the first 3 ingredients to a shaker filled with ice. Shake until well mixed and cold. Strain into a martini glass and top with raspberry seltzer water. Garnish with a lemon twist and/or frozen raspberries.

If you like your cocktails to be less sweet you can use 1/2 the amount of lemonade and the juice from 1/2 a lemon!

Enjoy!