Meet the Gemini

The Gemini was featured in the June 2009 edition of Martha Stewart Living. The cocktail works well with either brunch or as a before dinner drink. Use 100% grapefruit juice with nothing added for best results. The juice cuts down on the sweetness of the cocktail. Whole Foods sells fresh squeezed juice by the half gallon - unless you wish to squeeze your own. St-Germaine has several additional cocktails listed on their site.

About: St-Germain liqueur is made from the Elderflower, a blossom of the Elder Tree, picked fresh from the Alps.

The drink buys you a ticket - almost - to sophistication. Careful. Using Elderflower and Alps in the same sentence may make you sound pretentious. For now, I will just keep it light, refreshing and call this cocktail satisfactory.

Makes 2

4 ounces fresh grapefruit juice, strained
3 ounces St-Germain liqueur
2 ounces vodka
Ice cubes
Prosecco
2 grapefruit-rind twists

Mix grapefruit juice, St-Germain, vodka, and ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into 2 chilled glasses. Top with Prosecco.
Serve each with a grapefruit twist.

Perfect Bowls for Summer Entertaining

Macy's has a new set of melamine* bowls available through their Martha Stewart Collection. The Camellia Nesting Bowls come in two different color combinations (shades of blue or shades of pink). I found they set-up nicely for a buffet. I used them for fruit and yogurt when I recently served a brunch buffet. They are only available in Macy's stores and not online. Currently they are 50% off. The sale price is what they are worth. The original price was north of $40.00. However, around $20.00 is a good price for an attractive set of four nesting bowls.

*Melamine should not be used in microwave.

Watching TV on Hallmark Channel

She preferred the numerous commercials and frequent interruptions over the much viewed episode of Little House on the Prairie. Rev. Alden was in trouble but all was resolved in the last five minutes thanks to Charles Ingalls.

Sadie Does Laundry

Sadie behaves like a cat sometimes. She is very excited about warm laundry fresh from the dryer. While I had my back turned, she took her usual turn at doing the unspeakable. This time she dove into a pile of freshly laundered towels and boxer shorts. Sadie dove through the leg of a pair covered in romping dachshunds. She wore them as a fashionable muffler until I ended her laundry romp and began to fold the cotton tower.

Animatronic Obama Going to Disney World With High-Tech Style

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/us/politics/22obamatron.html

President Obama (Obamatron) goes live in July as part of the newly revamped Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. President Lincoln will read the full text of the Gettysburg Address and President George Washington will also have a speaking part in the new show.

Lincoln was the first life-sized human robot that Disney built and it was introduced at the Sate of Illinois Pavilion in the New York World's Fair in 1964. The original show was called Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, which will re-open at Disneyland later this year. In that show Lincoln remains the only President.

Like I needed another reason to visit WDW.

Martha Plants Terrace with Home Depot Finds

Planting my outdoor terrace at Skylands
posting from Martha Stewart Blog

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Usually, Martha uses plants grown from her private greenhouse or other speciality plant suppliers. She may have a deal cooking with the big orange box store and is simply sharing the love. Whatever the reason is I like it when she makes affordable choices elegant. One of her plantings inspired me to do the same in one of my garden pots. I will update you on that latter. Perhaps, the long holiday weekend will offer us all the sunny weather for fun and gardening with time to rest.

Martha's selections before planting.

I believe the cycads are $22.99 a pot at Home Depot. In my experience with HD plants it's best to catch them as close to their stock date as possible. Some locations do not give them the care a smaller nursery provides. I am planting one indoors and one outdoors.

Cream Puffs with Lemon Mousse and Blueberry Sauce

Here is another item from brunch this past Sunday. We capped off the afternoon with this very refreshing desert, which seems light despite all the eggs and heavy cream involved. I was perusing the June 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living and found this in the From Martha's Home to Yours section. At first glance I was not a big fan of this current issue. Also, I should come clean in case it was not completely obvious before now that I am a follower of Ms. Stewart's. She's like a relative in the house. Well, I should make clear that I'm glad she's not a live-in one because I would be out of my mind with perfectionist worries. She inspires me though I cannot relate to being a supper wealthy owner of a company and many properties. Would I like to? Hell yes!!!

The cream puffs are the most labor intensive part of the recipe. The light confections would also go perfect with your favorite ice cream, sauce and toppings. Do not forget to add the egg wash at the end before applying sanding sugar for a crunchy, sweetness texture. Be liberal with the sugar. Also, do not skip straining the crud through a fine metal sieve after cooking.

The cream puffs were almost to pretty to cut open.

The recipes for the blueberry sauce and lemon curd mousse made enough to top 12 cream puffs. I had extra cream puffs that I made good use of with some strawberry jam.