I'm not crazy

...right??

J.D. enjoyed a mixed drink after dinner last night and I got pretty excited. A far cry from the usual glass of wine or bottle of beer with a meal. I think I even cried out, "I didn't realize it was cocktail time!!" before springing for the stainless steel cocktail shaker in the kitchen.

Before I knew it, the Rosemary Bellinitini was born out of my crazed head. We had half a bottle of peach purée in the fridge, an entire bag of rosemary from the last time I trimmed the hedges in the yard, and a pretty untouched bottle of Swedish clementine vodka. Money.

I mixed up what I thought would be a winning combination before spitting it out into the sink. You see, I'm pretty sensitive to the strength of alcohol. Shoot, I'm good to go after two drinks, tops. So you can see how a regular martini could be a bit much for me.

Modifications were in order. And I whipped up my first ever batch of simple syrup. Here is the final product of my 30 minute laboring:

(In my haste this was the only picture of the concoction shot -- from my iPhone)

Rosemary Bellinitini

• 2 oz. Clementine vodka
• 1/2 oz. Grand Marnier
• 1 oz. peach purée
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• 2 sprigs of rosemary

Toss two sprigs of rosemary into a cocktail shaker, making sure the needles don't fall of the stems. Then add about two handfuls of ice, to ensure your drink stays nice and cold. Add in the remaining wet ingredients, cover and shake vigorously. Garnish with rosemary if you wish and enjoy.

Maybe next time I'll throw some sparkling wine into the mix...

(Source)

Oh yeah, during the next three days, voting is OPEN for Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog! Whether you're a member or not, please go here and help me move on to the next round :) Then I'll show you a celebration that puts this drink to shame.