Six days in and we have a winner, kids.  There is hope for Christmas.  Cranberry Gimlet.  Two ways.  Gin for me, vodka for the husband.  Festive looking, festive tasting.

Yesterday started with typical holiday busy-ness.  Finished the annual Christmas ornament, which took about an hour and a half longer than expected.  Went to town to visit Mud Bay pet store to finish Santa’s shopping for the cat and to adopt-a-pet off of their tree.  It’s one of my favorite annual events.  Though, I gotta tell you, when I stand there reading the tags for cats with cancer, elder companion cats, cats who have been displaced by domestic violence, etc., I just want to bawl.  And slap my credit card on the counter and yell, “I’ll take the whole tree!  Ring it all up!”  This year I adopted this adorable old man.  His name is Snickers.  He’s 15 and has kidney disease and a broken jaw.  Snickers got everything on his list.

After shopping I came home and ran through the list of things I could do:  wrap gifts, bake cookies, vacuum and sweep…the list is lengthy this time of year.  Instead, I went for a walk out Woodard Bay, one of my favorite local haunts.  There’s a nice circle through the woods, out to the bay and back that clocks in at a little over two miles.  It kept threatening to rain, and dropped some light showers on me, but nothing serious.  Almost no one was out there.  Perhaps because of all of the aforementioned busy-ness.  The birds were chirping, the frogs were croaking, all was green and Pacific Northwest-y.  It was wonderful just to stretch my legs and breath a bit.

When I arrived home I whipped up the Cranberry Gimlet, a recipe slightly adapted from The Food Fanatic, and invited the husband to join me on the couch for a cocktail in front of the tree.  One our favorite things to do during the holiday season.

I’d also like to note that you’re pretty special; not only did I use the DSLR for these photos, I also stopped by Value Village this week to buy some swanky new glassware to jazz up the cocktail display.

Cranberry Gimlet

Simple syrup:
Put 1/2 c sugar, 1/2 c water in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and allow to simmer for five minutes.  Set aside to cool.

The gimlet (makes one cocktail):
2 oz gin or vodka (truly based upon preference.  Remember, the husband hates gin, so he got vodka)
1 oz unsweetened cranberry juice (I always get mine from Trader Joe’s)
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz simple syrup (adjust this to your taste.  I used about this much in mine, but added a little to the husband’s)

Put all of the above in a cocktail shaker and shake-shake-shake.  Pour into a pretty little cocktail glass and garnish with fresh cranberries if you happen to have a bag in the fridge or freezer (as we often do this time of year).