DIY Happy Hour: Mulled Wine

posted by Katie

Last year, my mom and I made Hot Apple Pie drinks for Christmas. They were okay, but this year we decided to go in a different direction and try our hand at mulled wine.

Mulled wine is basically warmed sangria with a few extra spices thrown it. The following recipe is based off Ina Garten's recipe with a few minor changes (most notably, no star anise because we couldn't find any). Since the recipe calls for a whole bottle of wine and my family are pretty light drinkers, we had leftovers which we just put in the fridge and reheated in a saucepan a few days later. That worked nicely since the few extra days in the fridge strengthened the added flavors. Leftover mulled wine can also be enjoyed cold if that's more your style.

What You'll Need:


- 1 bottle of red wine (we used Cabernet Sauvignon)
- 4 cups of apple cider
- 1/4 cup of honey
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 orange, zested and juiced
- 3 oranges for garnish

Step One:

Combine wine, cider, honey, cinnamon, zest and juice in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.


Step Two:

Once mixture is boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Step Three:

While wine is simmering, cut oranges for garnishes.


Step Four:

Pour wine through a strainer to remove spices and zest.


Step Five:

Pour wine into glasses and add orange garnishes.

Enjoy!

Portland Happy Hour: Typhoon

Posted by Kelly

Adam and I have wandered by Typhoon on NW 23rd many times and noticed their sign promoting happy hour from 4 to 6pm and recently decided to check it out. The portions were good, but the pad thai ($5) just wasn't Thai Ginger's. We also order the spring rolls ($2.95) which we liked and the calamari ($5) which was also good, but not the best in town. I was a little hungry still so we tried the Miang Kum ($2.95), which was very interesting combining lime, chewy ginger, crunchy things, on a spinach leaf that you just rolled up and popped in your mouth, but it was also very spicy! Typhoon also offfered beer and wine specials, I opted for a $4 glass of the house white, nothing great.

I've had better food there so maybe it was just an off night, but I don't think it will be on my list of happy hours to return to.

Portland: Dragonfish Asian Cafe

Posted by Kelly

So sushi is one of those foods that I begin to crave and it won't go away until I have some. Thankfully after about of month of suggesting sushi, I finally got some at Dragonfish Asian Cafe* happy hour on the corner of SW Park and Taylor.

Sofi, Grete and I arrived first, all initially walking left once going inside the doors and being told by the Dragonfish restaurant bartender that happy hour was across the lobby in the Dragonfish lounge. We decided he probably gets that a lot, poor guy.

First, we ordered drinks. Grete had beer, Sofi enjoyed a warm and delicious Peppermint Patty seasonal cocktail ($8), and I tried the $5 Lemongrass Lime Rickey made with lemongrass infused vodka and served on the rocks. I think Sofi made the best choice, but how can you really go wrong with hot chocolate and alcohol? The Lemongrass Lime Rickey was good, but weak and not very flavorful. Katie came just before happy hour ended at 6 and ordered some tea to warm herself up! It's been SO cold! (Though I'm sure Katie is colder in Boston)

The sushi was great, though I am still a Mio fan, perhaps out of habit after living in North Portland and having that be the closest sushi destination.

We ordered Inari ($1.95), a salmon nigiri ($3) and smelt, two orders of the smoked salmon roll, the spicy tuna roll, and the california roll, and one order of the crunchy crab roll. Two orders of potstickers also made the cut, with 4 of us and only 3 potstickers per order we obviously had to get two. Sofi also had miso soup ($2), which she said was good and for only $2, why not?

We orderd quite a bit off the happy hour menu, but discovered at the end that it's actually not an exceptional deal. The spicy tuna roll was $4 on happy hour, but you only get a half order (4 rolls) and on the regular menu a roll of 8 is $9. So by the time we ordered two orders, we really only saved $1. Still a savings, but not one that makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. The california roll is a better deal being only $2.75 for 4, whereas it's $8 on the regular menu. If you are hungry for half a roll and miso soup or postickers, than the happy hour is a deal. Definitely a central spot to meet people on the Park blocks and the wait staff was very friendly, Grete and our waiter bonded over Virginia and Sofi definitely got a shoulder pat for making such exceptional sushi choices.

Of course I forgot my camera again so thank you Grete's iPhone for the pics!

* heads up, their online happy hour menu is not accurate

DIY Happy Hour: Cranberry Margaritas

Posted by Katie

Margaritas are a happy hour honey favorite and my parents' drink of choice too. So when my mom found a recipe for Cranberry Margaritas in Sunset Magazine, she suggested that we try out the recipe when I was home for Thanksgiving.

Sunset's recipe is for blended margaritas which are unacceptable in most cases, so we had to do a bit of tweaking to make them the more superior on-the-rocks variety.

Ready to find out how to make these festive and yummy drinks?


What You'll Need:

- 3/4 cup of tequila
- 1/2 cup Cointreau or Triple Sec
- 1 1/4 cups cranberry juice cocktail
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1 1/2 cups (6oz) of fresh or frozen cranberries
- 3/4 cup fresh lime juice
- ice

This will make 3-4 margaritas.

Step 1: Wash the cranberries.
Duh. But check out this photo where I was trying to go all Bakerella. I think I need more practice. Or maybe cuter backgrounds and a reeeeeally nice camera.

Step 2: Blend cranberries, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 1/4 cups cranberry juice, and 3/4 cup lime juice
 How many drinks are you making? 4? Set aside 12 cranberries for garnish. Throw the rest of the cranberries into the blender with the sugar, cranberry juice and lime juice.

Step 3: Sugar rim time!
Pour some sugar onto a flat plate. Run the lime rind (that you didn't throw away yet, right?) around the rim of the glasses. Place the rims in the sugar and gently twist them to make sure the whole rim gets covered.

So pretty!

Step Four: Add tequila to cranberry mixture
Pour the tequila into the blended cranberry mixture. This recipe calls for 3/4 cup of tequila but we wouldn't judge if you wanted to up that a bit. Stir.

Step Five: Pour over ice
Place ice in cups and pour margarita mixture into the glasses. Careful of the rim!

Step Six:  Add a "Cointreau floater"
This was my dad's contribution. Use a spoon to gently "float" the Cointreau on top of the margarita mixture. Or you can just put the Cointreau in when you put the tequila in.

Step Seven: Garnish
Sunset says to use toothpicks but we didn't have any so my mom found some twigs in the backyard to serve as the skewers for the cranberries. (Don't worry, we washed them.) We decided they give these drinks a nice rustic look.

Slide the cranberries (3 is a good number) onto the toothpicks/twigs/whatever you can find, and place them on the edge of the glasses.

Enjoy!