Get Yer Basil Buzz On

Clip art copyrighted by Bobbie Peachey, 

http://webclipart.about.com

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, my fellow Tasty Tuesday bloggers and I decided to  dedicate today's blog to foods and drink that are pink. 

My contribution is a purple basil gimlet, which, as you can see from the picture below, is a beautiful magenta shade. Isn't it pretty? And, mmmm, anything that combines basil, lime and vodka...how can you possibly go wrong?

This picture also puts me in mind of the following excerpt from Visions Before Midnight (Oberon, book 7) which is fitting, since most of the book is set in October...

Erin Allridge stared dubiously at the drinks the bartender had just deposited on the bar in front of her.  Electric blue with a lemon twist, and neon green with a cherry.  Colors so virulently bright, they hurt her eyes. 

            “You’re sure they’re safe to drink?” she asked uncertainly.  They looked...surreal, futuristic, and, very possibly, radioactive.

            Her friend, Melissa, rolled her eyes.  “Well, duh.  What do you think?  Would I be trying to poison us?”

            Erin shook her head.  She wasn’t sure what Melissa was up to.  It had been a surprise when her friend had called and insisted she come out for a drink with her.  Erin thought they’d have some wine, or a beer, maybe even a shot of scotch.  Something vaguely familiar.  But not these.  These looked like the kind of drinks they might be serving right now on another planet, somewhere in a far distant corner of the galaxy.

            Maybe it was culture shock.  She’d spent most of the last six months living on the Traansveldt in South Africa following a pride of endangered white lions.  Or, to be accurate, following her husband as he followed the lions.  There was nothing in the veldt that resembled these drinks, she thought sadly.  The land of the singing grasses was gold and dust beneath a faded blue sky.  It was all the rusty shades of heartbreak, like old bones, tear stains and dried blood.

            Tear stains and dried blood?  What the hell am I thinking?  She shook her head in hopes of clearing it.  It was the jet lag.  It had to be.  She didn’t even recognize her own thoughts anymore.  Shades of heartbreak.  Jeez. 

Read the rest of the scene HERE.

http://www.venusrestaurant.net/

But enough about that. Now, on to the recipe, which, by the way, I should probably mention comes from Venus.

No, really, it does! 


Venus Restaurant, that is, one of my favorite Berkeley hang-outs.

Oh! And, you can, of course, make this drink using regular basil, if you don't have the purple variety handy, but then you won't get the pretty pink color.

Purple Basil Gimlet

Ingredients:

• 4 large basil leaves
• 1/2 ounce Simple Syrup
• 2 1/2 ounces vodka
• 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
• Ice

Directions:

1. In a cocktail shaker, muddle 3 of the basil leaves with the Simple Syrup. 
2.  Add the vodka, lime juice and ice and shake well. 
3.  Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with the remaining basil leaf.

Please check out these other blogs for more tasty treats:

Pretty in Pink Pancakes by Kimberley Troutte

Think Pink Lemonade Pie by Nancy Lauzon

Living Pink Raspberry Mojito by Moira Keith

Thinking Pink in the Kitchen by Selena Robins

And, later this week, be sure to stop back here for the Bewitching Blog Hop!