Toasting Joffrey's Wedding with Blood Orange Mimosas

Happy day! Callooh! Callay! It looks like King Joffrey is getting married soon. And since we…love?…him so much that we have decided it’s time for a toast from North of the Wall in his honor. 

You may recall from our last North of the Wall post that the oldest one of us is now living in Germany. Since the rest of us have been nice and warm in Atlanta (relatively... Yes, Starks, winter came to the south), we let our oldest in the not-so-frozen north of Germany warm us up with some tasty drinks. 

For our toast today we’ve decided to settle on Prosecco, the Italian version of Champagne which is just a little sweeter than its French cousin. 

But just pouring out a glass of Champagne and toasting with you all would be pretty boring, so let’s make mimosas instead. 

Remembering the Red Wedding and with a nod towards the future, we’re changing up our fruit a little and using blood oranges for our mimosas. 

Blood oranges are a bit different than the typical orange. With a distinctive red coloring to their pulp, these oranges are a bit smaller than navel ones and also a little sweeter. 

Blood Orange Mimosa Recipe:

2 parts blood orange juice 

1 part prosecco

If you prefer to use champagne or another sparkling wine, that's fine too. 

Let's raise our glasses this week, shall we? 

Champagne Julep: a classic drink to celebrate us all being back together

Huzzah! The sisters of House Cook are all together for the first time in several months! To celebrate all being together...and since we're here in the South...we're toasting the day with Champagne Mint Juleps  These delicious, fresh drinks are perfect for the hot weather and a sweet way to celebrate in the humid heat. 

Champagne Julep Recipe

Ingredients:

Makes 4 cocktails

fresh mint leaves

4 oz aged rum

6 tsp powdered sugar

3 cups champagne 

cracked ice

Bruise your mint leaves by crushing them between your fingers and mix your leaves, sugar, and rum with the ice until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved. Pour in your champagne and stir. Once all of your ingredients are mixed, pour into glasses and serve cold. I added an extra sprig of mint leaves to each glass as a garnish. 

The Kingslayer: A Whiskey Drink

This Sunday marks the finale of 'Game of Thrones' season three. It's almost hard to believe that last week's startling episode 'The Rains of Castamere' wasn't the cliff-hanger ending simply because of how shocking it was. What more could happen?! We're not sure we're ready to find out! To help steel our nerves, we're going to need a little more than a tasty wine smoothie or delicious limeade to sooth us. This week, we turn to a character for inspiration who is at once likable and loathsome, but most of all incredibly interesting: Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer.

On the one hand, the drink we've prepared is somewhat sweet, but is ever willing to stab you in the back and has a bite to it to watch out for. Perfect and refreshing for enjoying with friends 

Kingslayer Drink Recipe: 

Mix 1/2 oz sour mix, 2 oz cranberry juice, and 2 oz Jameson Whiskey. Pour over ice.