Happy Hour: Cinco de Mayo

Today is Cinco de Mayo! Any fun plans for happy hour tonight?

Since it is a Mexican holiday and all, I thought today would be a good day to share with you some fun recipes I received from an event last week. The event planner, Cathy Riva and Sauza Tequila invited me to a "Ladies Who Brunch" party and it was awesome. The event was held at Meet at the Apartment, a very cool meeting and event space in Soho. It has beautiful decor, the kind that makes you want to redecorate your whole apartment. And as soon as I walked in, I was greeted with delicious little colorful macaroons that had our name tags on them. Adorable! Cathy also created custom cocktails for the event and considering what today is, I might make these for myself and my lady friends tonight.

Cadillac Rio Margarita

Ingredients:

2 parts Sauza® Blue Silver Tequila

1 part JDK & Sons™ O3 Premium Orange Liqueur

1 part lime juice

½ part agave nectar

Directions:

Shake all the ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled margarita glass. Garnish with an orange on the rim.

The Mama Rita (Totally making these on Sunday for Mother's Day brunch!)

Ingredients:

1 ½ parts Sauza® Silver Tequila

½-part Cabernet Sauvignon

1 part DeKuyper Triple Sec

1 part Agave Nectar

1 part Fresh Lime juice

Directions:

Pour all ingredients over ice in mixing glass. Shake and strain into a martini glass and garnish with a lime slice.

Photos via Sauza Tequila.

PS: I am linking up with Jillian from Cornflake Dreams today for a Cinco de Mayo Blog Crawl. Visit her for more celebration ideas! xo.

Happy Hour: Mojitos Miami Style

Since we are in Miami today, I thought it would be fitting for this week's Happy Hour cocktail to be a little more tropical than our recent fall theme ones. I present to you, the Mojito. This is probably Claudia's favorite drink and coincidentally, the signature cocktail at her wedding, which took place almost exactly a year ago right here in this lovely and warm city.

Although mojitos are typically made with rum, this is a recipe that uses tequila! I find tequila is actually just as mixable with a lot of cocktails, not just margaritas, and lately, I've been replacing vodka or gin based drinks with it and have been consistently pleased.

I encourage you to get creative with your drink mixing as well! You never know what you may end up liking.

Hornijito
3 parts Hornitos Premium Reposado Tequila
2 tsp sugar
6-8 mint leaves
Fill glass with club soda
1 lime, halved
Mint sprig for garnish

(Image via Chick n' Pastry)

Happy Hour: Day of the Dead Cocktails

Ashes to Ashes

Fresa Catrina

Marigold Ofrenda

In spirit of the upcoming Day of the Dead holiday, which we are perhaps overly excited about, I would love to share with you these new cocktails created by Espolón Tequila. When I saw these bottles, I almost died! The look is so perfect for our upcoming fiesta. I can't wait to make these!

And now a little information on where these cocktails came from.

Inspired by 19th Century Dia de los Muertos-style imagery, the Espolón labels illustrate the fictitious journeys of characters Guadalupe and Rosarita, with their inspirational companion, Ramón the Rooster, capturing significant moments in the lives of the people of Mexico. The storied history depicted on the outside of the bottle is enhanced by the award-winning tequila within. The 100% pure Blue Agave tequila from the Los Altos (High-lands) region of Jalisco, Mexico is available in Blanco and Reposado.

Ashes to Ashes
Created by H. Joseph Ehrmann
Elixir, San Francisco
1.5 oz. Espolón Tequila Reposado
.5 oz. Pedro Ximenez Sherry
1 oz. Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Sweetened Cocoa Mix
.25 oz. Agave Nectar
1 pinch Ground Cinnamon
Directions: Place all ingredients in a mixing glass, fill with ice, cover and shake well for 10 seconds. Strain up into a cocktail glass. Garnish with cinnamon dust.

Fresa Catrina
Created by Thomas Waugh
Death & Company, New York
2 oz. Espolón Tequila Blanco
.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
.75 oz. Simple Syrup
1 small strawberry
10 whole black peppercorns
Splash of Absinthe
Directions: Muddle strawberry with black peppercorns. Rinse a cocktail glass with absinthe. Shake all ingredients with ice in a shaker and fine strain into the rinsed cocktail glass.

Marigold Ofrenda
Created by Christopher Bostick
The Varnish Bar, Los Angeles
2 oz. Espolón Tequila Reposado
1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
.75 oz. Orange Curaçao or Triple Sec
.5 oz. Light Agave Nectar
.5 cup peeled and chopped cantaloupe
1/8 teaspoon Chile de Arbol powder
1 small edible marigold for garnish
Directions: Muddle cantaloupe, Agave Nectar, and Orange Curaçao in the bottom of a mixing glass. Add remaining ingredients, excluding garnish. Add ice and shake very well for at least 10 seconds. Double strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with edible marigold.

Enjoy! ♥

Happy Hour: Warm Winter Margaritas

If you've been to our apartment in the last few weeks, you'll know that this time of year means one thing for us: prepping for our annual Dia de los Muertos party. About once or twice a week, we've had a few girls over for craft night so we can make paper mache skulls, paper flowers and papel picado. It's very labor intensive work, but really fun, especially when we drink wine or make fun cocktails. For our next craft night, I think I am going to make these Warm Winter Margaritas. They were created by Marcela Valladolid, who has the show, Mexican Made Easy on the Food Network. I think they sound like the perfect Mexican cocktail to keep us in the spirit!

Warm Winter Margaritas
Ingredients – Serves 4:
28 oz. apple juice
1 cinnamon stick
2 cups dried fruit of your choice
2 tbs granulated sugar
6 oz. Sauza® Tequila Blanco
Steps: Combine apple juice and cinnamon in a heavy pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick carefully. Add sugar, dried fruit, and tequila. Mix well. Serve warm.

For the actual party, I am thinking of making these cute little tequila shots with Pop Rocks! The colors are so perfect for Day of the Dead, I can't wait!

Pop Rocks On
Rim shot glass with Pop Rocks flavor of your choice
Fill with 1 part Hornitos® Premium Tequila
Enjoy!