A Cocktail with Moxie

Groundhog day. It rates right up there with National Buttercrunch Day on the holiday yawn-fest barometer. Since February can be such a 'blah' month, even with this year being a leap, why not celebrate the dickens out of it? Give it some bling, a shot of Angostura bitters, a maraschino cherry tiara. Va-voom, Feb, you've got style! I'm a hipster flunkie, but I do have 'moxie' and what do folks who have moxie do when the days are sooty and short, and a Naked Lady Party is looming on the horizon? You guessed it, invent cocktails!

So, I figured, what better month to be experimenting with cocktails for the Naked Lady Party we are having with our Petaluma Craft Mafia famiglia. Winter's end requires all the extra glow you can muster. They just beg for cocktail experimentation, don't you agree? Make it a party, invite friends to help with that book, "DIY cocktails." Heck, pull out your game of "twister," all the hep-cats do it. I won't tell anybody.

Though, not in season, peaches and strawberries have been on my mind. It's deep winter, and I'm craving the taste of summer fruits. Usually a big, fat glass of zin is my favorite winter libation and my favorite cocktail stand-by is a cranberry vodka, with cointreau and twist of lime. My mother perfected the art of the cranberry cocktail, and I adore them. But, with Spring blooming, I'm ready to move on and give my cocktail a new party dress. And really, who could disagree that crafting and cocktails don't make a beautiful pairing? I'm sure our sultry vixen header would agree, and volunteer to play bartender.

Okay, right. Peaches. I keep coming back to peaches, and after taking a peek over at Jesse's blog, "bread baby," right here, and coming across this heavenly sounding peach, cardamom cobbler, I knew peaches could hold the answer for what to drink for our Naked Lady Party.
And if you are not a peach lover, you know what they say, "if'n you don't like the peaches, don't be shakin' that tree"... or something, like that. Try another fruit, mango, for example.

I'm still in experimentation mode, but insofar, this beta-test version is coming up a winner! I also think it might be nice to switch it up and replace strawberry puree for the cranberry juice. But were talking peaches here, and I'm calling it a "Naked Lady Blush." It pairs nicely with just about any appetizer from goat cheese on toast points to cheeze whiz on celery. But, I just know you gourmands can put the spread on, and do better then that.

A word of warning: This is a woman's drink, not a little girl's. It's got warmth of a cracklin' rosy fire, depth and body, and is refreshing at the same time, thus incredibly easy to drink...just saying. You might say this cocktail's got "moxie." It goes something like this:

Naked Lady Blush

1 oz of your favorite Vodka (I like Tito's Handmade Vodka)
1/2 oz presecco wine (optional)
1/2 oz Cointreau orange liquer
1 lime wedge
1 splash cranberry juice
1/2 ounce peach puree or juice (preferably white peach)


Pour vodka and cointreau into a shaker. Squeeze in the juice of one wedge of lime. Add peach puree, a splash of cranberry juice, (your Naked Lady, is going to blush now), and shake it, baby , shake it. Strain into a cocktail glass. Mmmmph. Ya'll, February doesn't scare me. Cheers!