Celebrate! Cranberry Champagne Cocktail

Happy birthday to the Three Cheeses! That’s right, we’re now celebrating our first year of food blogging. On this day, January 11 2010, our first recipe went up—Pretty as Pumpkin Pie. It’s been a great year, if I do say so. The Three Cheeses’ monthly readership has grown by leaps and bounds, and I’ve learned so, so much about the food blogosphere. I’ve also learned quite a lot about food photography, if you can tell anything by the first few recipes on the blog. The good thing is that there’s still so much more to learn!

To celebrate our first birthday, I’m publishing two recipes: this delicious cranberry and sparkling wine cocktail, and a scrumptious four cheese macaroni dish. Here’s cheers to another great year of food blogging!

Don’t forget to grab your copy of the free Three Cheeses Christmas Cooking ebook! All you have to do is sign up to our mailing list. You’ll be extra-prepared for the next holiday season. Find out more!

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Edited: January 10th, 2011

Sneak peek! Homemade Eggnog

You lucky readers you! This is one of the new recipes in the Three Cheeses Christmas Cooking eBook, which you can download for free by signing up to our mailing list. It has great recipes for the holidays (if I do say so myself), as well as an article by yours truly on cooking a holiday feast, and a guest article by designer Kelli Stride on decorating your table to dazzle. Go here to find out more, or get it right now by signing up to the mailing list on your left!

Eggnog has yet to become a staple in Christmas traditions in Australia. It’s not hard to find in the grocery store, but a quick poll of my Aussie friends told me that none of them knew / cared what it was. Well, it was time to change that! I guess most people would just buy a liter of the stuff, add some rum and have fun. Not me! I had to take a stab at making it at home, and the result was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

This eggnog doesn’t really taste like the store-bought stuff. I think it tastes better though, since it’s not made in vast quantities and all the ingredients are fresh and not processed. You can actually taste the egginess of it, and the fresh nutmeg is definitely worth the splurge, since it adds a spiciness and depth of flavour that just doesn’t exist with pre-ground nutmeg. I was surprised to discover that. In the ebook I call this “Not your grandma’s eggnog,” which I suppose is a bit dependent on how cool your grandma is. Or maybe she gave herself the toddy of rum and just gave you the normal eggnog? At any rate, this is one eggnog worth its calories!

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Edited: December 21st, 2010

The Kicking Kiwi Cocktail

Every western Canadian knows of the Cactus Club—which like its competitors, is known for good food, delicious drinks, and incredibly good looking servers. Whether you’re out for dinner or on a hot date or biding time before you can dance the night away, I’m sure we’ve all had a good night that somehow involved the Cactus Club.

Inspired by their popular “Brazilian” cocktail, this is a wonderful blend of kiwi, rum, lime, and a little hint of melon. It’s refreshing on a hot summer night or a wonderful reminder of warmer times on a cold Vancouver or Sydney weekend, and is of course best imbibed with friends.

We recently had our dear friend Ramsay visit us in Sydney, who brought along his friend Billy from Canada. Billy (who definitely fits that category of ‘incredibly good looking’) is a server & bar tender at Cactus Club himself. It was a great visit, topped off by Billy making these cocktails for us! We didn’t quite have all the snazzy equipment and ingredients for an exact replica, but you’re more likely to have these normal ingredients on hand anyway. So thank you Billy, and Ramsay for knowing him. You’re always welcome in our house! <3

On with the show…

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Edited: August 24th, 2010

Brandy & Apricot Martini

Sometimes, nothing satisfies after a stressful day at work or at the beach (ahem) like a deliciously cold and fruity martini. This one is sweet, but tangy and rich too. Get out your martini shakers, ladies and gents!

Ingredients:

• 4 parts apricot nectar
• 2 parts brandy
• 1 part Triple Sec or Cointreau
• 1 part Malibu (or other coconut flavoured rum; if in Australia, use Rumba–it’s a third the price!)
• dash lemon juice
• small pinch cinnamon
• 1 cup ice

Combine in martini shaker and add ice; shake. Pour into 2 martini glasses, garnish with cinnamon sticks. Share with someone you like.

Edited: February 21st, 2010