Festive Drinks for the Holidays

With the holiday season approaching, instead of blasting the Christmas/Channukah music, I opt to pull out my holiday recipes instead. There are definitely some foods and drinks that always remind me of the holidays and I tend to only make them around that time.

So today, I've teamed up with Alexis from Chemistry Cachet to bring you our favorite holiday recipes.

Celebrate with a Mexican Mule for Cinco De Mayo!

Happy Cinco De Mayo all!! Today, we're welcoming Brittany from the Lady Lawyer! She's gonna share her favorite Cinco De Mayo food and drink recipes! Enjoy.

I NEVER need an excuse to stuff my face with yummy Mexican food but when my calendar tells me it's Cinco de Mayo you better believe I'm going to take full advantage of this holiday to eat some of my favorite food!

Who doesn't love a good happy hour? I know I do! What better way to celebrate than with yummy appetizers and drinks--especially if it's as easy to put together as what I'm showing you today! Throw this together in 30 minutes flat and enjoy a fun and yummy weekday fiesta!

Grilled Corn Pineapple Salsa

This salsa is so refreshing and pretty! The colors of the fresh ingredients pop on your chip! The combination of the sweet corn and pineapple are the perfect balance to the spicy jalapenos. It's so easy to throw together! Dip it with chips, top on grilled chicken or fish, or add to a salad--so many possibilities. Psssst..it's healthy so go ahead and indulge in that second third drink..I officially give you permission :)

4 roma tomatoes

3 ears of corn (grilled)

2 cups of cubed pineapple

handful of cilantro

2 jalapenos 

1 lime

Chop, Chop, Chop

This is the hardest and ONLY part of  this recipe. Finely dice the roma tomatoes, pineapples, corn, (I wrapped the corn on the cob in aluminum foil and grilled for 12-15 minutes or until you get nice grill marks) cilantro, and jalapenos. 

Add the chopped ingredients into a bowl and squeeze in the juice of a lime. Give a nice stir and season to taste with salt and pepper!

That's it! Now it's time to dig in with your favorite tortilla chips!

The Mexican Mule

You've heard of a Moscow Mule, right? The delicious vodka and ginger drink is one of my faves so I thought I would add a Mexican twist to it! I replace the vodka with my buddy Jose (I use "buddy" loosely..he's not always been nice to me) and add an extra squeeze of lime. It's seriously so refreshing and easy and my new go-to cocktail. 

1-2 shots of tequila (I used Jose Cuervo)

Ginger beer

Juice of half a lime

ice

Combine the tequila and lime juice and top the glass off to the top with the ginger beer. Stir, add ice, and garnish with lime. Enjoy!! 

Happy Hour is the best hour so enjoy this yummy fiesta!

Follow Along with Brittany here: Blog | Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter

Say hello to this month's sponsor, Jasmine:

One Hundred Percent Pure

Oh wine. How our relationship has grown. Since my last wine post, I realized, wow a lot of people don't drink reds. So I sent my boyfriend out to get a white for me and he came back with Layer Cake Chardonnay. And boy, did he do good!

As I said in my last wine post, I'm all about wines that are affordable. This wine ran us $14 and tastes amazing. After doing a little bit of research, this is exactly why Layer Cake was born. “My grandfather was not a guy who could afford Hundred Acre,” Jayson Woodbridge, the maker of Layer Cake wines said, “I’m trying to make a wine that sells for $15 and tastes like $50.” 

The wine itself features a smooth citrus flavor, with distinct apple and pear notes and a dry, toasty finish. Also, it is a "virgin" un-oaked wine. I still need to do some research on what the big deal is between oaked and unoaked wine. I paired the wine with some teriyaki Salmon and rice, but I feel like it would go very well with a less overpowering white fish like tilapia, crab cakes, or even a sandwich like a Cuban.

I was disappointed that it was a screw-cap wine, primarily because I'm collecting wine corks for a DIY project. Overall, a very good Chardonnay to try if you fruity whites. 

Have you tried any of the Layer Cake wines? 

Where To Brunch in DC

Happy Monday! Who watched the Oscars last night? I was able to break my usual grandma routine and stay up through most of them. I'm so glad I was able to watch Birdman early Sunday before the Oscars since it won so many awards last night. I was also happy that the Grand Budapest Hotel took home many well-deserved awards. Even though Boyhood wasn't my favorite movie, I thought that the movie would have won more... Were you surprised with any of the results?

Today, I bring you: the best brunches of the D.C. metro area!

Like any twenty-something, I'm practically obsessed with brunching (yes, it's a verb) and mimosas. I can drink them all day (but I won't, don't worry). Not sure how important brunches are in other cities but around this area, it's the thing to do. So if you're ever in the DC metro area here are some of my favorite places on Sunday morning.

Birthday brunches. Couldn't even stop eating for the picture.

Best Party Brunch: As a preface, Virginia doesn't allow any "unlimited" drink specials. It's sad. But luckily D.C. does! The best party brunch I like to go to is Mad Hatter. I've been there for a handful of birthdays and they also have a nice private room that you can have for large parties. It's a whopping $10 for unlimited mimosas and their food is your typical brunch options with options like eggs benedict, french toast, breakfast burrito, etc. Also, they have that crazy drink pictured below! It's a Mad Hat!

Unattractive, I know. But you had to see that drink!

Best Farm to Table Brunch: Copperwood Tavern. All their food is farm to table and they make all their condiments in-house (downfall: their ketchup is kind of weird...) They have a good selection of drinks and I would highly suggest their spicy bloody mary. You can get great food from simple steel-cut oatmeal to a fancy quiche lorraine. A nice perk for your friends who don't like brunch food as much as we do, they can order from the regular menu.

Best Buffet Brunch: Whitlow's on Wilson. If you are hungry, go here. You will have food options for days. Buzzfeed actually rated this the best bar in Virginia. It's $18 for all you can eat. Their buffet food goes on for days where you can select anything from Cheesecakes, Scrambled eggs to...wait for it.....king crab legs! A secondary perk is their bloody mary bar for the pick bloody mary drinkers in your life. Pro tip: Their brunch starts at 9 a.m. but they don't put out all the food until 11 a.m!

On that note...Best Seafood Brunch: If you've never ventured into Old Town Alexandria, you're truly missing out. It's super quaint and walkable all on King St. There's tons of great restaurants but I really like Virtue Feed & Grain. They have an amazing ambiance. Their hush puppies are mouth-watering and have a great seafood soup. My favorite is their Chesapeake benedict which is an eggs benedict with Maryland Crab cakes. 

Best Patio Brunch: Can you tell that I'm ready for Spring & Summer yet? Lavagna in DC has a great little patio to eat their amazing food on. You have the option of mimosas bottomless or not (always a plus!), bellinis, plain prosecco, bloody marys, and tequila bloodies. My favorite food to eat is the pancakes with nutella!

Best Dim Sum: A lot of people opt to go to Ping Pong, which is great. I've been there but if you want true authentic Dim Sum, check out China Garden. I've been going there with my parents since we moved from Toronto. It is your most authentic dim sum food (seriously! Chinese tourists come here in bus loads). If you've never heard of or tried Dim Sum, check out this article here. Also it was just the Chinese New Year! Go be cultural. 

Love all you loyal readers. I hope you like brunch as much as I do and if you're in the area, I'm always up to trying new places! Give me some suggestions.

Joining the Let it Shine Blog Hop and Mingle Monday.

Shhh, don't talk. Just taste.

In honor of wine'd down Wednesday, I thought I would confess my favorite wine wine obsession! #wino

It's Flirt Red Wine! I obviously first got it because it's such a cute label and for $10 at Harris Teeter ($13 if you don't have a Harris Teeter card) it's a great deal! It's a blend of syrah, tempranillo, and zinfandel. It has a fruity spice and is easy to drink alone or with a meal. Taken from the word of Hipstererenology, "It has everything you could ask for in a wine at this price: fruity spice with a little character and intrigue. What more could you want in a flirt?" 

It also has adorable quirky corks like the one above and "Because things with your old wine just weren't working out." I think I'm going to start collecting them and making some sort of DIY craft from it. Does anyone know of any wine cork crafts I could make?

Also linking up with Melissa, Lauren, and Kels.

(In case you were wondering, this is not a sponsored post. I wish Flirt would sponsor me and send me free bottles of wine...#prettyplease?)