Earlier this week, I popped over to the Victoria Vitale’s lovely blog, Scissors & Sage, to share a blood orange whiskey cocktail recipe I developed. When she asked if I’d guest-post on her lifestyle blog, I couldn’t resist. She posts weekly DIY tutorials, crafting projects, recipes, and design ideas. It’s pretty much a one-stop for all things pretty, fun, and crafty. I was happy and honored to grace her pages!

As you well know, I have kept a bowlful of blood oranges at the ready, over the past few weeks. So, I have obviously also kept my cocktail glasses filled to the brim with citrus-y drinks. This one is a perfect balance of sweet, savory, acidic, and bitter notes. Even if you don’t have blood oranges on hand, any kind of orange will work perfectly with the cocktail’s components. So, head over to Victoria’s blog for the original post or skip down for the details on the recipe.

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Scissors & Sage – “Cocktail Concocting with Jayme Henderson”

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blood orange whiskey cocktail

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• 1 1/2 ounces whiskey or bourbon {I used Bulleit Bourbon}
• 1/2 ounce Amaro Nonino Quintessentia
• 2 1/2 ounces freshly squeezed blood orange juice (about two blood oranges)
• 1/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice (about a quarter of a lemon)
• 1/2 ounce agave nectar
• 2-3 dashes orange bitters
• Sprig of thyme

1. Juice the citrus and set aside.
2. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the whiskey, amaro, blood orange juice, lemon juice, agave nectar, and bitters.
3. Shake until nicely chilled. Strain and pour into a cocktail glass filled with fresh ice.
4. Finally, squeeze the thyme sprig a few times to release its aroma and garnish!

• This recipe can be easily doubled, and tastes great served up shaken and strained.
• If you have trouble finding blood oranges, navels or other types can be substituted.
• Depending upon the sweetness of the blood oranges, increase or decrease the amount of agave nectar, to taste.

Wishing you a very happy Friday!! I know there are only a couple of hours left, so make them extra happy ones. That’s what I will be doing. I never could get into a groove until around 5:30 today {that’s PM, by the way}, despite imbibing two-thirds of a French press and one Venti iced soy latte from Starbucks. That’s a little disturbing.

Maybe it has to do with staying up way too late last night, debating with my boyfriend whether or not that damned striped dress was blue-black or gold-white. Well, for the record, I was right. It was blue. We did end up agreeing that the entire thing was ridiculous and wound up dying laughing at this scene, another battle of colors, from Liar, Liar. Remember when Jim Carrey’s character can’t lie and tries telling himself that his blue pen is red?

More realistically, it has to do with the workload and stress level this past week. I mentioned in an earlier post that our restaurant participates in Denver Restaurant Week, along with over 250 other restaurants, offering a prix fixe menu, modestly priced at $30 per person. We have about 700 on the books tonight, but somehow, I managed to get the night off. I am not complaining at all! Two more days of the craziness, and we are back to normal.

Here’s round two of my monthly check-in of what I’m into, what I’m focused on, and what’s currently striking my fancy. This little series is inspired by Keira, who was inspired by Sydney, who was inspired inspired by Pip.

Have an amazing weekend!

XO,

Jayme

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taking stock | 02

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Making  |  lots of shrubs! Ever since buying the book, Shrubs, by Michael Dietsch, I have made a blood orange shrub, a raspberry-mint shrub, and a strawberry-peppercorn shrub. #nomoreboringdrinks
Cooking  |  …actually, baking weekly granola batches.
Drinking  |  these blood orange whiskey cocktails and sipping on this White Zinfandel. Yep. White Zinfandel. And it’s goooood.
Reading  |  Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel and Marathon by Jeff Galloway. The books are actually related. I am going to need a lot of zen to finish both the 1/2 and the full marathons I’ve committed to running.
Wanting  |  for my glass jars to arrive in the mail, so I can fill them with dried, organic herbs from my garden and put them up for sale!
Looking  |  at my to-do list and hoping to check off some seriously procrastinated tasks this weekend.
Playing  |  that stupid game, where if you look at a friend’s hand, while they are making the “okay” sign with their fingers, they can punch you. Pretty mature, huh? Somehow, it is my ultimate goal to win this game against our sous chef. Does this game even have a name!?
Wasting  |  time researching tips on organizing my desk and not actually putting them into action.
Drawing  |  upon my amazing resources and finally amping up my SEO, thanks to my talented friend, Kristy.
Wishing  |  I could just get up, when my alarm rings. I am so trying to get up at a consistent 9:00. It is tough, sometimes.
Enjoying  |  the fact that I planned ahead and got tickets to both Hot Chip and Belle & Sebastian. First shows of the year!
Waiting  |  patiently for March 19th, when I can have a delicious glass of wine again. I have given up alcohol until then {I’m almost three weeks in!}, so that I can focus on my running regime.
Liking  |  all of these recipes for blood oranges. My blood orange sherbet made the list, annnnd it’s spiked with a little Campari.
Wondering  |  why I chose to run a half-marathon the day after I get back from vacation in May. A wine-tasting vacation. I am seriously a sucker for pain.
Loving  |  the nine inches of snow in our backyard! I think I might build a snowman! And now I have that song in my head. And now you do, too.
Hoping  |  for some inspiration to start sketching again. I’m still stuck on geometric shapes and flowers of the basic variety.
Marveling  |  at these beautiful, watercolor botanical letters and pinning this tutorial on how to make them! Smitten.
Needing  |  this t-shirt and seething that it is not in stock!!
Smelling  |  victorious. I made it through 6.55 miles on the treadmill today! That’s exactly halfway through the distance I’ll run on May 17th at the Colfax Half-Marathon.
Wearing  |  a tacky pink hair clip from the late 80s, mismatched socks, my Asics, a sweaty, black Nike tank top, and hot pink Nike basketball shorts. It’s my day off.
Following  |  the lovely ladies at Hooch & Home. They make amazingly rad cocktails.
Noticing  |  that there is always a positive angle that you can find from any situation.
Pinning  |  lots and lots of baked goods, especially this macha layer cake. That’s right.
Thinking  |  I should finally upgrade to a Garmin running watch, but is it worth the nearly $200 price tag that accompanies it?
Feeling  |  super excited that Steve and I are going to Cali for almost a week in May! He’s turning 40, and we are celebrating in wine country! #duh
Listening  |  to Beck, Sea Change, especially “Lost Cause.” And I just turned it off because it was too depressing. Time for some Belle & Sebastian! I still need their newest album…
Learning  |  how to make this whipped coconut oil and rose body butter.
Giggling  |  at Maria Bamford. So, I’ve had Amazon Prime for a couple of years but never knew about all of the videos, movies, and shows that are available for streaming! Lately, I’ve been addicted to True Blood, old X-Files episodes, and so much stand-up.
Feeling  |  hungry for these adorable mini shortbread cookies. They will go perfectly with all of the lemon curd I made. And that is why I run! 😉

XO,

Jayme