Raspberry Serrano Sparkling Margarita

May 5, 2016

Happy Cinco de Mayo! When we moved to Napa, I was 100% sure about our new adventure until the last week or so before our move. Swept up in the excitement of buying a house, it hit me like a ton of bricks as we were packing that we were actually, really leaving LA. I was nervous about leaving the beach and trail I was accustomed to (where would we go for a run?) and everyday conveniences like our grocery store down the street where I knew everyone by name. I worried about no longer working out of our office every day and already missed our teammates (and their dogs!). Additionally, there is such an amazing creative community in LA that I felt we were just starting to tap into – as a creative at ONEHOPE, what was I thinking leaving that town? But aside from all of that, the major thing that made my heart sink, was leaving behind all of our favorite restaurants.

LA is in a bit of a food Renaissance and it’s tough to find a bad meal there. Jake is gone so much for work and we both travel a ton on weekends for weddings and events, so on the off-chance that we’re both home for a weekend, brunch is our jam. One of our favorite places in Hermosa Beach for brunch (and dinner) is Palmilla – a Mexican restaurant on the pier that we would walk to from our place. I’m sure it sounds crazy that I would have a margarita for basically breakfast, but anything goes when you’re eating eggs at noon – am I right? 😉 Palmillia is famous for its Raspberry Serrano Margarita – so perfectly tangy, spicy, sweet and salty all at once – and since we won’t be in LA for one of our favorite holidays today, I knew I needed to find a way to replicate it for Cinco de Mayo in the Bay Area. I created a Sparkling Margarita for ONEHOPE last year and it’s one of my favorite cocktails ever, so adding a dash of Sparkling on top of this guy just takes it to the next level. Enjoy!

PS: On a personal level, while we miss our LA restaurants, we’re having a ton of fun exploring the food scene of Napa Valley – it definitely wasn’t a bad place to move to on that front 😉

Raspberry Serrano Sparkling Margarita

Ingredients

ONEHOPE Sparkling Brut
1 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 oz. tequila
3 slices serrano (more for garnish)
3 tbs. raspberry (muddled)
a dash of agave
lime wedge
salt

Directions

Combine lime juice, tequila, serrano, raspberry and agave into a shaker filled with ice. Shake to combine and pour into a salt rimmed glass. Garnish with extra serrano and lime wedge and top with Sparkling Brut. CHEERS!

Wine Wednesday | Radiant Orchid Granita

July 16, 2014

Happy #WineWednesday! You know those projects that come across your desk and you just cringe at the thought of having to tackle them? This one was it for me. I honestly can not remember being so stuck creatively – ever. When Pantone announced its color of the year for 2014, a part of me died inside. To go from Emerald Green (hello, best color EVER), to a bright purple hue inspired by my least favorite flower on the planet, seriously bummed me out. Fast forward a few weeks into 2014 and our PR firm was asking for us to whip up some sort of Radiant Orchid concoction. WHY.

I spent forever trying to figure out a way to make this happen. I knew whatever wine we used needed to be virtually colorless (Sparkling) and that there needed to be some sort of mixer that was a borderline unnatural shade of purple to make the entire look come together. I can’t say I’ve ever tested, tried and mixed so many ingredients in my life to make it happen, but it finally worked and I was floored with the results. Of course the primary ingredient ended up being one simple, pretty natural thing – Blueberry Lemonade. Seriously? After all of that?!

You know how they say your greatest challenges often wind up being your biggest rewards? This one was it. I could not be happier with how it turned out. Thank you, amazing PR firm for challenging me to think outside of the box… you girls absolutely rock 🙂

Check out a few of my favorite outtakes from the shoot and the full recipe below. Cheers!!!

Prep: 5 minutes
Total time: 3-6 hours

Serves: 8-10 (depending on glass size)

Ingredients
1 (750ml) bottle of ONEHOPE Sparkling Wine
1 liter blueberry lemonade

Directions
1) Pour blueberry lemonade into an 8″ x 8″ glass baking dish and freeze for 1-2 hours.
2) Carefully remove freezing lemonade from freezer. Using a fork, scrape the mixture until the consistency is slushy throughout (lemonade will be more frozen toward the outside edges of the dish when you start).
3) Put the mixture back in the freezer for 1-2 hours and repeat two more times. Scraping the mixture prevents it from freezing into a solid brick of ice and maintains the slushy, icy consistency that is so delicious about a granita 🙂
4) Scoop granita mixture into glasses (we used champagne coups) and top with ONEHOPE Sparkling wine. Cheers!

Grapefruit Sangria

June 11, 2014

Happy #WineWednesday!!! I can’t believe the week is halfway over already! Last weekend was complete perfection (you can see it all documented on Insta), but there is SO much to get done before our big catalog shoot at work next week. Cue the anxiety! I will definitely be enjoying a glass of wine tonight to calm the nerves 🙂

Today I’m sharing the Grapefruit Sangria recipe I created/shot for work last month. I was really on the hunt for some unique sangria options and wanted to throw a little grapefruit in there to mix things up a bit. Grapefruit is something I do not get enough of and I realized that with the grapefruity presence in our Sauvignon Blanc (as well as it making mean mimosa!), it would be the perfect fit for a super citrusy sangria.

Ingredients

1 bottle of ONEHOPE Sauvignon Blanc
1 bottle of ONEHOPE Sparkling Wine (optional topper just before serving)
grapefruit slices (from 1 small grapefruit)
3/4 cup sliced ripe strawberries
lime slices (1/2 lime)
orange slices (1 small orange)
3/4 cup pink grapefruit juice
1/4 cup simple syrup, more if desired

Directions

1) Combine all ingredients in one of your sangria bar carafes and cover tightly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

2) Fill glasses with crushed ice and garnish with fresh grapefruit, strawberries and orange slices. Top with sparkling before serving (if desired).

Yield: 4-6 servings

Recipe adapted from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/strawberry-pink-grapefruit-rose-sangria-recipe.html