While I have a nice pot of albondigas(meatball soup) simmering on the stove for dinner, its the perfect time to get you my recipe for virgin mojitos. These are so versatile, you’ll love tweaking them with fresh or frozen fruit for company or a great pick me up anytime.
We are also only a couple weekends from Valentine’s Day., so if you’re looking for a quick and easy gift, grab a Kindle and download some books for your sweetheart. We have the entire All Tied Up In Knots series currently available on Amazon and coming soon to Nook & Kobo.
Book 1 of 8
Mojito Mocktail recipe-
Ice
10-12 Mint Leaves
2 Tbsp. lime juice-the fresher the better
sliced lime for serving
2 Tbsp. Simple Syrup
Unflavored Seltzer (for a basic mojito)
How to:
Fill half of the glass with ice
Muddle mint leaves with lime juice until the aroma hits you, add to glass
add simple syrup and stir well
add unflavored seltzer
garnish with lime slice or wedge and serve
Mix it up add 2oz of your favorite fruit juice, fresh or frozen fruit (try a strawberry mojito for Valentine’s Day)
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We’re past the middle of Dry January 2023 and two weeks into Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. What better time to mix up a batch of Virgin Hurricanes and check out the parade?
To see this year’s parade route, click on the link below. Recipe to follow.
Cranberry Pomegranate Mocktail on Ice-recipe below.
Since many of my friends are starting their New Year off by keeping to their fitness and health goals, I’ve decided to post a waistline friendly non-alcoholic mocktail packed with Vitamin C and antioxidants.
I began and ended 2022 with some medical hiccups, including covid-19 despite 3 (now 4) full vaccinations. It’s not easy living life with an autoimmune disease and I try my best to keep myself chasing the Perpetual Puppy and my imps that are forever growing taller and smarter.
The autoimmune disease itself affects my joints, skin, and the medications that let me move around affects my eye pressures and comes with the possibility of irreversible blindness from plaques than can build up on the retina, as if glaucoma wasn’t bad enough on its own. With a busy family having any issues is frustrating and challenging to get people and puppies where they need to go on time.
It’s not all bad, though, and I guess dealing with a progressive disease with no cure after 14 years without a diagnosis has made me focus on what matter most: love of family, puppy snuggles, making sure my children have their life skills down, and doing the impossible like writing books, shooting the spider(middle of target) on the archery range, and getting as much geek cred possible while I can. It’s also taught me not to waste time worrying or being negative and I support several different organizations that help people with illnesses (Diabetes, Lupus, Autism, Cardiovascular, Blindness, Mental Illness…). Doom and gloom are great in horror stories but not in real life, we can encourage and help instead. For now, let’s celebrate today!
Since we’re partying and getting ready for book releases in 2023 (fingers crossed), lets get to the mocktail.
Cran-Pomegranate Mocktail
Fill a tall highball glass with ice and add:
2 ounces cranberry juice (cranberry juice cocktail is okay, too),
2 ounces pomegranate juice (Pom is my favorite),
Fill glass to just below the rim with plain seltzer and garnish with cranberries and lime wedge. Serve.
Hope you have fun with the mocktail and challenge yourself in 2023. Have a great New Year!
Dubonnet and Gin, one a little stronger than the other
As a young girl my thoughts were on knights, princesses, castles, and unicorns. With news of the Royal wedding, it seemed everyone was buzzing about Prince Charles III and Lady Diane. There have been more weddings since then and one can’t help but admire how her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II managed to handle all the excitement.
As a mother myself, I strive to be part of all my children’s celebrations but I have to admit they can be exhausting. I don’t ever recall seeing the late queen waiver. Though her duties were always many, she seldom was seen without a welcoming smile.
When I sit this evening I’ll have one her of her favorite aperitifs(a cocktail meant to stimulate the appetite), a Dubonnet and Gin, and think fond thoughts.
For ages 21 and over- Dubonnet and Gin recipe:
1 part gin
2 parts Dubonnet
Mix well and we’ve in a wine glass. Drink safely and responsibly.
After a too brief beach visit to the Jersey shore on Wednesday(long story), this Jersey girl is missing ocean breezes and the feeling of sand under her toes. Knowing the beach season is coming to an end has me feeling blue and maybe I’ll just have a fun blue cocktail with Blue Curacao to perk me up.
Butler, the perpetual puppy, sits guard over a pair of my beach flip flops expectantly because he knows when I leave him with a sitter there will be many treats. Let’s face it, anytime is a good time for treats when you’re an impish Chinese Crested dog that’s too busy learning circus style tricks to figure out how to chase his own tail. There will be treats, that much we can be sure of.
As for the cocktail while I find a good book to sink my bookworm teeth into, lets make a Blue Lagoon.
Blue Lagoon Recipe:
1 fl. oz. Vodka- Belvedere if you got it
1 fl. oz. Blue Curacao
1/3 fl. oz. lemon juice
1/3 fl. oz. lime juice
Add 7-Up or other lemon lime soda to fill glass and garnish with starfruit slice and a green cherry. Have it with your favorite beach snacks and great book.
Here’s the reminder- Please use caution when drinking any alcohol beverage. We want to keep you partying and living life, so don’t drink and drive and don’t engage in any risky behavior. Save the SSC or RISK for a sober moment 😉
Some days Autoimmune Disease can make life unbearable. You make and change social plans and find yourself unmotivated to do anything else. Changes in weather, fluctuating hormones, stress(even excitement), and so many other factors can be a game changer before you have time to realize what happened.
Fortunately for me, a cute doggie comes and looks at me with a pair of soulful eyes. He brings me a squeaky toy or his favorite toy, knotted rope, and changes my day for the better. On the days I can’t do much more than sit on the couch, he’ll curl around my back keeping my lumbar region warmer than a heating pad.
Sometimes I think I waited too long to bring a dog home to live with me and my family, but most of the time I think I was just waiting for Butler.
For tonight, Butler will be drinking spring water and so will I. Work on the bod and the mind whenever you can.
Butler and I are anxious for the onset of Spring. It’s been a long Winter and we are so close to shaking off the long coats(even Butler) and embracing the sunshine.
Remember to set your clocks forward this weekend and hopefully brave the last of the snow we’ll see in 2022.
As for me, I’ll be sitting in a cozy chair, cuddling Butler, with a book in my hands while the snow falls. Hope you have something good to read. If not, please check out our previous authors.
Tonight’s featured book is Knot A Criminal from Eden Freed’s All Tied Up In Knots Series. Scroll down to see tonight’s cocktail and a note from the author, herself.
Holly is on the run from the past that involves a double homicide. She has no recollection of the events and wants to keep it in the past for a reason, she might just be the killer. Focusing on the future has Holly hopeful to learn pyrotechnics from a master of more than one skill. As she begins to fall for him, her past starts catching with her. Now, she is torn between her desire for love and the fear of what she might be capable of.
From Eden-
I’ve always considered myself to be a people watcher., but at best you only observe a small piece of their story. Imagination has to fill in the gaps. Could the people a few feet away from you in a shopping center be a couple in love, people going about their daily routine, spies, or aliens… whatever they are is left up to the flights of fancy your mind wants to take you on, no basis in reality required. Often we draw our own conclusions based on our own real world scenarios, hopefully none of them involve aliens, but I won’t judge either way.
The hardest thing to do is get people to stick to each other like magnets and if you’ve ever tried to fix up two of your friends or associates, you know what I’m talking about. You might push them in the right direction and find out their poles didn’t align and they just bounce off of each other. I do the same thing when I write, seek out the couples that need to flip around until they just fit right and connect in a way that is meaningful and lasting.
Knot A Criminal is the second full length BDSM novel in the All Tied Up In Knots Series. A little mystery, a lot of kink, and some New York excitement all go into making this book an interesting read. I hope you enjoy Holly and Johnathon’s adventure as much I did writing their story for you.
Excerpt from Knot A Criminal
“It was my fault. I shouldn’t have bragged that I could do it blindfolded with my hands behind my back. I didn’t expect him to take me up on it.” From a distance DJ Sean smiled at Crystal and gave a little thumbs up while picking up the coffee.
“Do exactly what blindfolded?” Crystal stood up. Her expression changed from one of curiosity to vexation. The sound of her knuckles cracking told me everything. She was getting ready to stomp over to Mr. Riley’s and let all hell break loose.
“Calm down, just the balloons,” I said and motioned for her to sit. “I made a death’s head moth and an owl.”
“Next time tell me that first. I was about to go open up a can of whoop-ass on him, boss or no boss. To think of everything that I went through to set it up so Johnathon would play you right after the interview, I’d have to go over there and stomp him into next week if this didn’t work out,” Crystal said.
“You didn’t!” I exclaimed.
“The hell I didn’t,” she laughed. “Remember when you were with Paul, how you said that you submitted an application for an interview with Johnathon Riley. I nearly pissed myself. Johnathon and I had a nice conversation about you. I never gave him your last name, so he wouldn’t know you from any other Holly on the street. Then, I made him wait until I was certain you had an interview for the job. No harm in keeping a man waiting.”
“That’s illegal at the very least, isn’t it?”
“Where you see legal issues, I see opportunity…”
Hypnotic and Absinthe make this cocktail dazzling
Tonight’s Steampunk Themed Cocktail: Blue Skies Ahead
Ingredients:
1 ounce Absinthe
2 ounces Hypnotic- one of my absolute favorite’s to mix cocktails with
1/2 ounce sour mix
2 ounces 7-up
slice of starfruit and green cherry garnish
Fill half a glass with ice and pour in the ingredients (add the soda last for a little fizz), garnish with slice of starfruit and green cocktail cherry. It’s a simple drink with a great presentation. Remember: Drink responsibly and don’t drink and drive. Be safe and have fun.
Hello my friends, welcome back to my Liquid Friday.
Before we jump into a book, we need to grab something strong enough to handle this kind of excitement. so how about:
A Painkiller
Ingredients: 4oz Rum, 3oz pineapple-orange juice, 1oz crème de coconut, ice, nutmeg and toasted coconut for garnish (optional) Directions: In a cocktail shaker, combine the rum, juice and coconut with ice. Shake vigorously to mix, then pour into a cocktail class. Sprinkle with nutmeg and serve.
You got it! Great!!! As you start slowly sipping it, begin to feel its effect spreading throughout your body, But wait, before you give yourself entirely to its delight, lets talk about our book.
In the All Tied Up In Knots series we have a few short reads, ideal for brief interludes with books or the Kindle app.
#2. Knot A Geek is a flirty little quick read about two geeks working in a high power Electrical Engineering lab.
#3. Knot His Superior is a quick read with kinky love triangle where rank has nothing to do with a uniform.
Next week we’ll be talking about the second full length novel in the series – a little mystery, a little kink, and a lot of sexy romance.
I must have lost my mind, but I’ve decided to give away some of my short stories on Amazon Kindle.
Hey, it’s Friday so lets drink to that! I am opening my favorite Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling. Nice and cold….. bubbly effervescent, dry with the aroma of sea shore and fresh fruit.
First we’ll have just for tomorrow and Sunday (Aug. 10th -11th):
Then, from Thursday through Monday (Aug. 15th -19th)
And last but not least, from Friday – Tuesday (Aug. 16th -20th) free for the first time ever since published:
Check out my other titles on my Author Page on Amazon. So, load up your Kindle and hit the beach.
I am opening my favorite Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling. Nice and cold….. bubbly effervescent, dry with the aroma of sea shore and fresh fruit.
edenfreed.com 