It’s been a while between drinks [well, since my last published Cocktail Hour post], so I thought I’d share a recipe from my latest cocktail book.  It’s a special cocktail book that my husband purchased for me at Christmas - The Cocktails of the Ritz Paris, by Colin Peter Field.   Colin Peter Field was head [...]

Cocktails are a lot of fun to make, but there a some times when we just want a drink that is quick to make, but still tantatalising on the taste buds.  Well, have I got a drink for you  I call it a Pina Colada Twist – why? Well because it has absolutely no cream [...]

Christmas is less than six weeks away! Yay!  My Pinterest board is full to overflowing with fabulous ideas for decorating and entertaining this holiday season You’ll find pins on table styling, DIY decorations, cocktail recipes, gift wrapping, sweet treats and much more. Here are a few of my favourites pins so far.  Beautiful holiday centrepiece [...]

We recently celebrated my mother’s 60th birthday in beautiful Port Douglas. The weather was perfect – glorious warm sunshine and clear blue skies. All of our guests travelled to Port Douglas for the celebration. Guests received little welcome bags on arrival, which included, a hotel door sign, crisps, a chocolate bar, a map of Port [...]

I love to garnish to my cocktails and drinks. So this weekend, I decided to create a variety of stylish drink stirrers to keep by the bar.  They add a bit of fun and frivolity to your glass, don’t you think? I love them and in fact I have been known to carry around a [...]

Last weekend I had a decadent long lunch at my girlfriend’s place and I decided to make a couple of St Germain cocktails to kick off our lunch. The St Germain is essentially a champagne cocktail using St Germain liqueur (a French artisan elderflower liqueur).  It’s very easy to mix and the taste is very refreshing. [...]

Saturday night I decided to whip up a couple of gin and tonics for myself and Monsieur Bonbon.  I spied a couple of empty jars on the bar counter and thought I’d create a more festive G+T.  It’s just a bit of fun really, but I quite like the look. Nothing like a stripey straw [...]

It’s a popular wedding trend to use mason jars to serve cocktails and other refreshing drinks to guests.  I’ve taken inspiration and incorporated a couple of uses for mason jars as party decor.  You can use the jars as containers for cocktails, desserts, flowers and lighting. With a little time and preparation you can create [...]

Tonight’s cocktail is a Lychee Martini.  It’s a fruity, heady drink and perfect as a pre-dinner cocktail with friends. I have previously posted a lychee martini recipe, however it was made with a vodka base. Tonight’s recipe is made with good quality gin. It’s very easy to make and quite moreish.  Here’s my recipe for [...]

I came across this fantastic little book on Amazon the other day.  It’s based on Mad Men, a TV drama about a prestigious New York ad agency at the beginning of the 1960s. ‘The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook‘ is an anthology of cuisine and cocktails that either appear in Mad Men, or were served in [...]