woah. what a week. 

i arrived home from a pretty action packed and emotionally draining trip to chicago on monday afternoon. i went straight home to blog, teach a swim lesson and prepare for my wednesday morning photo shoot. tuesday morning i woke up before the sun to teach my 6 am class, then hit the ground running. shopped all FOUR stores necessary for wednesday's shoot and thursday's dinner deliveries. 

let's take a pause from my rant to really hammer it home that i can't wait till i make enough money to have my supplies delivered. the super market is not my friend. neither is its buddy, the out of control parking lot. 

so back to tuesday. came home from many stores, cooked well into early wednesday morning and went to bed with the alarm set with plenty of time to get everything finished up, packed up and out the door for my 8 am call time. 

queue my eyes slowly opening to bright light and the sheer panic that came over me as i realized it was way to bright for 6:17 am. it was of course 7:17 am. one hour after my alarm was SUPPOSED to go off. 

so after all that running and working and so, so much sugar, i was a half hour late to the shoot. and the whole way down i was having a total freak out. we are in the very infancy of our business and i couldn't believe i was going to be late. so unprofessional. and of course in my rush to get out the door not everything was finished and accounted for so i knew i would be scrambling. basically, i was starting to feel like i really wasn't good enough to make it in this hard industry. 

but then i showed up. and i was the second person there. the shoot came together beautifully. as usual, i had over prepared and even with some things missing and some things undone it ended up being perfection. everyone was so cool and it was amazing to spend the day with smart, talented, women business owners who deal with the same struggles i am going through every day.
the rest of wednesday, thursday and this morning were pretty much a blur and here we are. drink time. 

we all deserve this bad boy. 

satsuma tangerine's are only in season for a month or two around the holidays and they are citrus perfection. usually no seeds, so easy to peal and always tender and juicy. and now, they are turning your friday around. 

tangerine campari soda
serves: 1 cocktail
total time: 2 minutes
ingredients: 2 oz vodka. 1.5 oz campari. 1 oz satsuma tangerine (or other citrus) juice. 2-4 oz club soda. tangerine section for garnish. cup of ice. 

in a tumbler with the ice, combine the tangerine juice and club soda to taste. 

pour in the campari.

garnish with tangerine segment and enjoy. 

xo, a

tangerine campari soda
serves: 1 cocktail
total time: 2 minutes
ingredients: 2 oz vodka. 1.5 oz campari. 1 oz satsuma tangerine (or other citrus) juice. 2-4 oz club soda. tangerine section for garnish. cup of ice.
in a tumbler with the ice, combine the tangerine juice and club soda to taste.
pour in the campari.
garnish with tangerine segment and enjoy. 

it is that time again. we all made it to the end of the week. and man o man was this one a doozy. 

between prepping for wednesdays shoot, shooting all day in the desert wednesday, food and dessert deliveries thursday and working at the studio friday morning, i pretty much burnt the candle at both ends for the entire week. and it's possible i am in a zombie like state. 

but all the hard work and lack of sleep was well worth it. wednesday's shoot was drop dead gorgeous. all the vendors came together to produce some really beautiful work. 

i was particularly thrilled with the way our styled cocktails turned out. these cocktails make the desert feel like the coolest place to be. 

a little trick to always have a picture perfect cocktail ready is to create some pretty ice in advance. if i have extra herbs, berries or fruit, i freeze it in ice trays for future use. that way when guests come over, even the simplest vodka soda can look like a fancy beverage with the addition of lavender or blackberry ice. once the ice is frozen you can store it in bags or baskets in the freezer till you are ready to use. 

since i'm running on fumes, today i put together a tasty libation with leftovers from the shoot. ginger + pears made the perfect slightly sweet and spicy compliment to your favorite whiskey. 

ginger + pear whiskey soda
serves: 1 cocktail
prep time: 5 minutes
active time: 2 minutes
total time: 7 minutes

ingredients: 1.5 oz whiskey (i used bulleit rye). 1 tsp grated ginger. 1 tbs chopped fresh pear. 1 tsp lime juice. club soda. pear slice for garnish. 2 dashes bitters if you have some on hand. shaker or pint glass with strainer. 2 cups ice divided. 

start by combining your pears, ginger and lime juice together in a bowl. muddle until the pears are smashed.

combine the pear mixture in the shaker with 1 cup ice and the whiskey.

shake well.

strain the mixture into a glass with the rest of the ice. 

add club soda to taste. add bitters if available. 

garnish with pear wedge and enjoy. 

xo, a

ginger + pear whiskey soda
serves: 1 cocktail
prep time: 5 minutes
active time: 2 minutes
total time: 7 minutes
ingredients: 1.5 oz whiskey (i used bulleit rye). 1 tsp grated ginger. 1 tbs chopped fresh pear. 1 tsp lime juice. club soda. pear slice for garnish. 2 dashes bitters if you have some on hand. shaker or pint glass with strainer. 2 cups ice divided.
start by combining your pears, ginger and lime juice together in a bowl. muddle until the pears are smashed.
combine the pear mixture in the shaker with 1 cup ice and the whiskey. shake well.
strain the mixture into a glass with the rest of the ice.
add club soda to taste. add bitters if available.
garnish with pear wedge and enjoy.