Holiday Goodies

We just can't resist a festive cocktail to liven up the holidays. Here are three sure to please martinis that will help you deck the halls with traditional flavors of the season.

Winter Wonderland Martini

2 oz. Three Olives Cake Vodka
2 oz. White Chocolate Liqueur
1 oz. White Creme de Cacao
1 oz. Heavy Cream

Combine in a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a martini glass, sprinkle with coconut flakes and stir. Garnish with a white chocolate wafer (if desired)!

Candy Cane Lane Martini

2.5 oz. Three Olives Cake Vodka
1 oz. White Creme de Menthe
1/2 oz. Peppermint Schnapps
Heavy Cream
Dash of Grenadine

Add grenadine to the bottom of chilled martini glass. Shake remaining ingredients and strain into martini glass to create swirl effect!

Eggnog Cocktail

1 oz. Three Olives Cake Vodka
2.5 oz. Eggnog
3/4 oz. Amaretto

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice and strain into a martini glass. Top with grated cinnamon or nutmeg and enjoy!

- Recipes courtesy of Three Olives Vodka

For the holidays, old favorites are entitled to special love. Case in point, apple pie. Nothing is more American and no dessert is more satisfying than apple pie, hot from the oven, topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Delicious as it is, special occasions call for special ingredients.

Whisky's smoky sweetness seems like a perfect companion for apple pie's richly comforting wholesomeness.

My mother made apple pie for Thanksgiving and Chanukah. Her recipe was the essence of simplicity. One of those dishes that intuitively adheres to the principle of "let the ingredients speak for themselves."

At a time when farmers markets didn't exist in cities, my mom would pack my sister and myself into her Dodge and we'd head out to the farms in the areas surrounding Banning, California, the small town on the way to Palm Springs where we lived during my high school years.

As each time zone in the world welcomed the new millennium, twelve people in a little flat in San Francisco celebrated with a unique dining experience.

The New Year’s Eve feast began at 4pm Pacific Time with long-life noodles and caviar tarts, as Sonja, her husband Dave and their guests joined a few billion people who were still partying in Asia and Russia.

Then, every hour on the hour, wherever it was midnight, they served assorted bite-sized cuisine indigenous to countries where the 21st century had just begun. 

From the L.A. Times

Let's agree to set aside the grim recessionary landscape for the moment: The time has come for bubbles. There is simply nothing like a glass of sparkling wine to set this season apart. Welcoming, smile-inducing, instantly festive, bubbles give every holiday occasion a lift.

Of course, not every occasion is the same: The wine for the office party, the New Year's party and the family toast aren't necessarily going to come from the same bottle. Nor should they.

But that's not a problem, we have a world of choices available. We're in a kind of a golden age of bubbles, and the range of flavors, moods and prices has never been broader. So here are a few strategies for finding the right bubbles for the right occasion.

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