A holiday party is a great opportunity for employees and clients to relax and to get to know each other better. It can also land the company in legal trouble.
The source of the problem is usually alcohol. A staff member or client or other guest has too much to drink and starts groping or making unwanted advances toward an employee. Or someone has a car accident or falls down on the way home. A company can be held legally liable in each case.
via A good host minimizes alcohol risk at holiday party – Business – Modbee.com.
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
After publishing the recipe last Saturday as “The April Signature Cocktail” a little research was done. The cocktail itself is served everywhere and has been done for almost 200 years but it requires a bit more looking at. Using the LCBO local published prices:
CUVEE RARE CHAMPAGNE NV (PIPER HEIDSIECK)
VINTAGES 643734 | 750 mL bottle
Price: $ 129.00
PIPER HEIDSIECK BRUT CHAMPAGNE
LCBO 462432 | 750 mL bottle
Price: $ 49.95
REMY MARTIN VSOP COGNAC
LCBO 4101 | 750 mL bottle
Price: $ 89.95
this cocktail can cost a bit.
My first taste was at the Chateau Lauier where 2 each with 1 appetizer and 1 dessert came to over $150.00 with tip. How decadent.
The recipe as shown Saturday is the version served at the Fairmont Monte Carlo in Monaco.
Using LCBO Ontario liquor prices the raw materials to mix this drink will be at least $12.00 at the low end to over $20.00. The Chateau Laurier lounge, Zoe’s in Ottawa is a bargain at only $20.00.
At home I have been mixing this cocktail using a domestic sparkling wine from Magnotta. An Ontario VQA wine Magnotta 2008 Brut at around $10.00 per bottle makes an excellent substitute. In my home version I am using the Remy Martin but would like to hear of anyone with experience using a lower cost brandy. This all keeps the cost of this delightful cocktail at a manageable level.
Royal Cocktail
The Champagne Cocktail has been around for a long time. It is one of the most enduring cocktails with good reason. It’s fabulous. What better cocktail for the April Signature Cocktail to commemorate the Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince Andrew.
4oz. (120 ml) Piper-Heidsieck champagne
3/4 oz. Remy Martn VSOP cognac
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 sugar cube
Put a drop or two of the bitters on the sugar cube, pour in the cognac and then the champagne. Serve with a twist of lime or lemon.
The Champagne Cocktail History
References to this drink are found as early as 1862 in The Bon Vivant’s Companion and Jerry Thomas’s How to Mix Drinks
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 or 2 dashes bitters
Piece of lemon peel
Champagne
Fill tumbler 1/3 full broken ice. Fill balance with wine. Shake well and serve.
Thomas later published an updated edition in 1887 removing the shaking and crushed ice . The recipe is similar to ours but adds an ice cube and stirs. Serve with a lemon peel.
Image via Wikipedia
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$5.00 Discount on the Toronto Wine & Cheese Show coupon code promo. The Toronto Wine and Cheese Show runs
Friday March 18 to Sunday March 20, 2011
International Centre, Hall 5
6900 Airport Rd., Mississauga
Friday: Noon – 10 p.m. | Saturday: Noon – 10 p.m. | Sunday: Noon – 6 p.m.
A $5.00 discount can be applied at the door using this $5.00 off coupon and print it for presentation at the door.
At Fionn MacCool’s, Bloor the patio will be open March 17th to kick off spring. The weather forecast is friendly and the patio will be heated with patio heaters from ASAP Tent and Party Rentals.
Some cultures, such as those that devised the Celtic and East Asian calendars, call the spring equinox “mid-spring”, but others (especially in the USA and sometimes in England) regard it as the “first day of spring”. For most temperate regions, signs of spring appear long before the middle of March, but the folklore of 21 March being the “first day of spring” persists, and 21 June as the “first day of summer” is common in the USA.
To kick off spring with a blast on St Patrick’s Day Fionn MacCool’s will be serving up the suds with a celtic fiddler and roving dancers.
Image by Chris Yarzab via Flickr
We are honouring the last week of winter with a blind challenge taste-off of Porters and Stouts on Wednesday March 16 at 7 p.m. Our choice of dark brewed elixirs has little to do with the Irish themed week that a certain multi-national brewery would like you to associate with their black beer but owes more to the amazing selection of local craft brews in this style.
via Spotlight On PORTER + STOUTS CHALLENGE.
It is often hard to find just the right large quantity recipe for the theme of your party or for the “culinary experience” you are aspiring to offer your guests. Here are a few tips and suggestions on how to modify your favorite 4-6 serving recipes when you find yourself cooking for a crowd of 20 or more.
via How to Create Your Own Quantity Recipes for Cooking for a Crowd.
Valentines Cocktail
As in the movie Julie and Julia starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams I, Brian decided this blog should have a theme. This year it will be “The Signature Cocktail” AKA Drink your way through the LCBO.
Due to a technical difficulty this blog crashed and burned in January. (Didn’t backup before updating) The blog had to be restarted and set up all new with much of the last six years gone. Oh well. To make a long story short the material, photography and work were all done but you will need to wait until next February for the Valentine’s signature cocktail. It was great. Did it twice.
The real purpose of this blog is to get you to go to ASAP Tent and Party Rental’s web site and rent your party rentals there instead somewhere else. To that end the recipes wil be available as a download on that web site. No link to-day because there will be a big special announcement in the very near future.
The ultimate set of Paddy’s day skills: how to pour your pint of Guinness and draw a shamrock on top. Instructions for drinking pint not included.. Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/asap1
