keep the sunshine in the glass, i’ll take the snow
Recipe: campari mimosas
Winter can’t make up her mind. Sun? Snow? Both? The “both” is usually accompanied by insane winds. Around my ‘hood, you’ve got to keep your eye on the weather for that perfect combination of recent snow, light winds (under 35 mph is pretty good), and decent ski temperatures. What’s decent? My GP says she likes to ski in the 40s. Um… ice MELTS starting at 32Β°F on the Earth’s surface – pah! My perfect temperature for skiing is probably around 20Β°F, lower if it’s not windy.
lovely day = no ground blizzards
Our local hill has expanded their open terrain from the White Strip O’ Death (you know, when only one run is open and it’s mostly man-made snow) to three complete runs top to bottom. Every morning, I wake up and check the snow report on about… five mountains. When you have afternoon appointments, you have to forgo those 8 inches of freshies at Vail two hours away in favor of 3 inches of freshies just ten minutes away. It’s the adult thing to do.
jeremy skis a line that connects all of the untouched powder patches
and we ran into my friend, james (nice pants, man)
By the time we left, the powder was pretty much skied up. Our work there was done. Not a bad start to the morning. I certainly can’t complain. It’s good to unplug and often! But there’s always work to be done back at the office…
officemate with her assistant (that’s mr. hedgehog, to you)
If you will recall the tea I hosted a few weeks ago, we served mimosas to our guests in addition to tea. When I consulted with Manisha on the mimosas, she sent me to a recipe for Campari mimosas. Sure, why not? I could buy some Campari and champagne.
simple is good: campari, prosecco, oranges
getting a nice strip of orange peel
I’m always learning something when I walk into a booze shop. That’s not hard because I know practically nothing about booze. There’s this fellow at Boulder Wine and Spirits who always gets saddled with helping me pick out a wine or bubbly or beer. But my questions are never, “What’s a good X, Y, or Z?” My questions are usually, “I’m preparing such-and-such to serve with blah-dee-blah – can you recommend a nice pairing for that?” I love this guy. He is SPOT ON every time.
coiling the peel
juice that orange
Do I really need champagne? What kind should I get? If I spend $10 on a bottle of champagne will it suck? I’ll spare you the back and forth, but my wine guy recommended an extra dry Prosecco and it worked beautifully. Not only that, but he saved me $30. I should probably bake him some cookies. I love that guy. I wish I could park him on my bookshelf with all of my cookbooks. Don’t worry, I’d feed him!
a half ounce of campari
two ounces of orange juice
While my girlfriends enjoyed their Campari mimosas (as did Jeremy – I TOLD you he loves the chick drinks), I had to give mine to Jeremy. I’ll be honest, I can’t handle much booze at all – even bubbly. It makes my brain all cloudy and control freaks hate to have cloudy brains. Besides, I am a juice girl. So Jeremy reversed the proportions of orange juice to champagne for me and omitted the Campari. Awesome. AND I was able to wake up early the next morning to scope out the snow reports.
top off with bubbly
garnish with curly orange peel
Campari Mimosas
[print recipe]
from Cooking Light
1/2 oz. Campari
2 oz. orange juice, fresh squeezed
Prosecco or brut Champagne, chilled
orange peel (a long strip, curled)
In a champagne flute, combine the Campari, orange juice, and Prosecco (or Champagne). Garnish with orange peel. Makes 1 glass.
December 8th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Jen, I love the deep orange color of this mimosa. It must something special with the campari. I love the curled orange peel!
December 8th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
How lovely. Mimosa is now special.
December 8th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Hi Jen,
Love Boulder Wine and Spirits! And love this twist on a mimosa!
Gracias.
December 8th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
So happy you made the adult decision :)
I adore bubbly… I’d drink it every day if I could… and this is such a pretty way to do it!
December 8th, 2010 at 1:25 pm
I think that you have spiced mimosa to a new level of beauty. It definitely will be on my guests’ branch menu some day.
December 8th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
i’m not much of a drinker. but i remember back in college those nights we’d go skiing at night it was bone-chilling cold. And sometimes we’d bring hot toddy’s in a thermos. Man did that take the chill off fast. Seeing this drink reminded me of that.
December 8th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Beautiful drink! I love the curly orange peel dangling down the glass!
December 8th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
That is cool what you did with the orange peel.
December 8th, 2010 at 11:59 pm
That looks so beautiful! We served almost the same exact drink at a gorgeous Italian restaurant I worked at when I lived in Chattanooga, TN called Alleia.
December 9th, 2010 at 4:31 am
My favorite drink Campari and orange juice. Prosecco is my next favorite. Never though of mixing the two together.
LOVE IT! Thanks
December 9th, 2010 at 8:35 am
I’m thinking Christmas morning…oh, yeah! …and I am so jealous of your snow. Our local ski area opened today on ALL manmade stuff. Yuck…but got to get some teleturns in!
December 9th, 2010 at 10:11 am
That looks like a party in a glass. Thanks for the tip on how to curl the peel like that. It’s so glam looking. I’m definitely going to have to try that out.
December 9th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
So that’s how you make the orange curl! It seems so obvious now.
I made a champagne cocktail recently that was reversed – champagne, cranberry juice, and a bit of orange liqueur. It only had a tiny amount of liqueur in it, so it wasn’t strong at all. That might be more to your liking!
December 9th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
campari with oj is one of my favorites. i’ll have to try your version now!
December 9th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
I’m looking for something to serve at Christmas; my initial thought was a Sangria recipe I’d recently snagged, but this looks so refreshing. Now all I have to do is learn what Campari is. (Yes. I am THAT dense!) ;)
Again, Miss K. is mucho el beautiful. Your photo is most remarkable. I can ‘read’ the love between your lens and her eyes. SWEET!
December 10th, 2010 at 9:18 am
MMMMmmmmmmmm, Mimosa!
December 10th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Ahh, I love Campari! Try this with grapefruit juice instead of orange juice, if you like bitter – thats the answer!
December 10th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
The Campari cocktail looks nice as does Kaweah and the skiing photos. Cheers!
December 10th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
I drove through Vail recently it’s soo beautiful there
December 11th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Oh that looks so delicious! This might be my Christmas morning bevvie.
December 12th, 2010 at 9:36 am
What a beautiful drink!
December 12th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Lovely photo Jen! I always have a hard time trying to shoot drinks. Can you share some tips please? Thanks!! xxoo
December 19th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Glad everyone is excited about the Campari mimosa. They are lovely drinks and if you like bitter, the Campari will take you there.