National Drink Wine Day: New Year’s Eve Bubbly

Well, let’s face it–every day is drink wine day for me. But that doesn’t mean that today shouldn’t be celebrated!

Here is a little libation from a shindig that me and my mum hosted over Christmas break (yes, I’m still posting shit from December). It was a girls’ only party–so the book club ladies and my friend Dillon were our guests. I went with a quasi-theme and made nothing but treats from my retro cookbook collection. I will get to those at a later time–but for now: drinks!

We  had some wine on hand (Pinot Grigio, of course) but the signature cocktail, if you will, was a big ol’ punch bowl of New Year’s Eve Bubbly from the 2 in 1 International Recipe Cocktail and Hors d’oeuvres Card Collection (1977) Yeah, it wasn’t NYE, but I wanted to make a fizzy punch and this fit the bill. I also wanted to bust out the vintage silver punch bowl set that I got my mum for Christmas last year and she never used. So this was its maiden voyage–at least in this household.

The evening before I made the Cherry Ice Ring. I was all about the ice ring because who does that anymore? I think it’s absolutely darling. Anyhoo, I used concentrated pink lemonade and a can of those unsweetened cherries since fresh bing cherries weren’t available and I wasn’t going to brandy some cherries. I think it worked out just fine.

Other modifications: I only made 1/3 of the recipe because there weren’t 24 of us. And my mum couldn’t find kirsch at the neighborhood liquor store—but the liquor store guy said that Chambord would be a suitable substitute. I am unfamiliar with kirsch, so I will assume that it was a good sub. And we used diet Ginger Ale–which was good because the Chambord is so sweet.

Here’s the end result. Punch and ring:

Well, that looks nothing like the photo on the recipe card.  I assume that kirsch is nowhere near as bright or red as Chambord. And my ice ring–well, I used a wreath mold and none of the cherries are visible. I admit it looks a little sad.

Oh well. It tasted good. I love bubbles. And it was just so damn festive. As the ice mold melted there were little cherries floating about in the punch bowl–which I totally loved. I really like it when my cocktail includes a snack. I have seen recipes for Martini punches–I think it would be rad to make an olive ice ring.

Like I said, I will eventually share with you all of the snicky snacks we prepared for this party. But in the meantime, please join me in celebrating National Drink Wine Day with some ladies who probably account for at least 5% of the annual wine sales in the US–The Real Housewives!

And of that 5%, the majority was consumed by Ramona Singer.

Cheers, darlings!