Espresso Martini.

Have I mentioned how indecisive I am before? Well, I am, badly. A month or two ago I was looking up and down a cocktail menu trying to decide what to have. Each one sounded wonderful! Caipirinha, Strawberry Daiquiri, Espresso Martini, Long Island Iced Tea. Wait... what? An espresso cocktail?! How have I not had this before?

I ordered it and fell in love. It tastes like a grown up milkshake! So, naturally, when I got home I read up how to make my very own (personalised and tastier) version. And I am so happy I did. 

To make your own batch of Espresso Vodka Martini you'll need:

     - 250ml of your favourite espresso, cold (I use Square Mile beans)

     - 300ml vodka

     - 200ml Kahlua 

     - 250ml cream (I use Alpro Cream)

     - 1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract

     - Ice.

     - Large Jar (or cocktail shaker... I dont have one yet)

Pour all your ingredients into the jar (or cocktail shaker, I don't have one!) and shake with ice until smooth and frothy. Serve it chilled with a dash of extra cream. Garnish with coffee beans if you're feeling extra fancy! You can chill further in your jar, or drink straight away. No martini glass needed.

The vanilla should be subtle and coffee strong. If you aren't a huge fan of the coffee taste, use less espresso, or you can add sugar; the kahlua and cream should take away the bitterness of the coffee though, so be careful not to over sweeten it. If you don't have vanilla, try a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg. I whisked mine up for extra foamy goodness. Drink chilled or with ice and enjoy!

ps. is my coffee obsession shining through yet?

Rosy-Lemon Juice Recipe.

Rose water may be one of my favourite smells and tastes ever. It is sooo good (and so Summery!). I recently stumbled across a few bottles in a health food store, had a load of ideas on what I could do with it, then subsequently completely forgot about which store it was! Doh. I found them again though, don't worry. I decided to make a fancy drink to share with you guys.

Rose & Lemon water is very easy, refreshing and a little different. Perfect for day dreaming about beaches and picnic in parks. Here is how to make your very own!

You'll need:
   - 7 lemons for juicing and 1 for slicing
   - 1 cup of sugar
   - Rose Water (I used 'Essence of')
   - Water
   - Ice

1. First, juice your lemons into a jug. Watch for pips! I used a sieve to get rid of any nasty bits, pulp is fine though!

2. Stir in your sugar and stir thoroughly until dissolved. Then add in your water; You'll want to have the ratios at about 1 parts lemon to 3 parts water.

3. Time for the rose water. Now, this part will completely depend on the kind of rose water you have, or how much juice you've got. Add a little at a time and taste. As mentioned about I used Rose Water Essense, and this is kind of weak. I used 5tbls for my jug.

4. Stir one last time, add your ice and lemon slices and now its ready to serve!

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As with all my recipes, they are completely to my taste. Feel free to change around anything, add more, add less. Its up to you! You could even add something completely different, if you do, let me know! I'd love to hear.

Strawberry Mojitos.

I made my favourite drink over the weekend. As a pre-birthday treat! I thought that I would share it with you... Strawberry Mojitos! I first had this drink on the beach in Barcelona, and completely fell in love. It's the first time I've made them myself. It turned out very well!

You'll need: White Rum, Soda Water, Ice, 2tbls Brown Sugar, 4 limes quartered, a handful of strawberries quartered & a bunch of fresh mint. 

Directions: In a jug, squeeze out 2 limes worth of juice, add your brown sugar and stir until partly dissolved. Add in your fruit and the leaves of a small bunch of mint. Give it all a stir. This will bruise the mint to let out its tasty oils and let out some of the strawberry juice! Add 2 cups of rum to 5 cups of soda. Add ice. Mix and serve!

You can add more sugar if you'd prefer, or more lime (I love lots of lime). Taking out the rum and adding mango juice makes a great mock-tail too! I hope you love them as much as I do.

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Berry Infused Gin.

Gin is definitely my favourite spirit. I will always lean towards a gin mix when looking at a cocktail menu, but I rarely have it around the house! Recently I have been loving thinking up new tasty cocktail recipes, so when I was given a bottle of Gordon's for Christmas I decided to experiment.

I decided to infuse my gin. After reading a few recipes I settled on my favourite flavours, berries! I used; blackberries, blackcurrants, raspberries and redcurrants. I couldn't wait to see the amazing colour it turned!



If you'd like to make your own, it's super easy! Use a cup of berries, with 2 teaspoons of sugar for 500ml of gin (approx). Chop up any bigger berries and pierce a few with a fork. Once in your bottle of choice, I used a swing top, shake up your mixture carefully and refrigerate for about a week (my label suffered through this stage!).

Once your berries seem to be losing their colour, pour your gin mixture into a bigger jug and sieve out the berries. Keeping the berries in the sieve and squash out all the juice. You can then pour back into your first container and refrigerate for a couple more days. Then, enjoy!


I served mine ice cold with a whole boat load of fresh lime juice and tonic water. I'm saving the rest to make berry martinis for my birthday (which is only a month away!!)

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