Holiday Pairing Party with DRY Sparkling!

To celebrate the upcoming holiday season, we’re having a virtual Holiday Pairing Party! I gathered up a handful of other bloggers to virtually sip sparkly seasonal drinks and nibble on tasty holiday food pairings with DRY Sparkling’s new limited edition Ginger and Cranberry sodas (in big champagne-sized bottles!)! See below for the full recipe round-up, including my chocolate satsuma truffles and mini blue cheese bacon cheesecakes!

Tropical Garden Party Cocktail

HI, it’s me! And I come baring refreshing summer cocktails… because it finally sort of feels like summer in Seattle! These are bright and fresh, a little sweet, slightly savory, and super herbaceous, with muddled shiso leaves and cucumbers, gin (I used Hendricks for that extra floral/herbal kick), lemonade and a splash of pineapple juice (though a muddled chunk of fresh pineapple would be the way to go if you have it!), and a sparkly splash of Serrano DRY to finish it off. 

A Dinner with DRY + Lemony Roasted Chicken Legs with Garlic and Rosemary

I did something fun and rad and I've been keeping it a secret! Picture this: a bunch of your favorite people, a sunny warm spring evening, twinkly candles, and vases full of colorful flowers. A record playing lightly in the background, a well-rounded cocktail in one hand, a crostini in the other, and an enormous cheese plate in front of you. This is basically the PERFECT evening for me. You guys, I am SO almost 30. And I love it.

Taking it to a Whole New Level

I'm The Next Food Network Star! Ok, so maybe I didn't participate in a Top Chef-style reality show, out-shining and out-cooking other contestants to win bragging rights and my own celebrity-chef cooking show, and maybe my blog didn't gain so much over-night popularity that it's being turned into a movie starring Meryl Streep...but I WAS on Food Network's 'Unwrapped' last night! Until my IMDB profile is updated with my professional television acting experience, I'll give you the low-down right here on Loves Food, Loves to Eat!

My dear friend and old college roommate, Bree, is the marketing genius at Seattle's very own DRY Soda Co. DRY Soda is 'a line of all-natural, lightly sweet sodas, flavored with fruit, flower or herb extracts, and sweetened with a small amount of pure cane sugar.' Several months back I received a call from Bree, informing me that Food Network's Unwrapped was going to be filming for an episode about fun drinks...right there at DRY... two blocks down from my office!


My (now ex-coworker) CK and I high-tailed it to the DRY tasting room, where we pretended to randomly stumble in on the taping of a popular Food Network television show (wow! and we just wanted to do a tasting!). We participated in a long, extensive DRY Soda tasting, where we tried all the delicious soda varieties, such as the newly released can't-believe-it's-not-booze juniper berry soda. We also spouted off insightful one-liners and provoking descriptions of the soda, as well as some high-class, pinky-in-the-air styled soda drinking...trying to land a brief cameo on the show...

And land a cameo we did! Not only were we featured several times, tasting and sipping and enjoying (the enjoying part was no act), I was also granted a speaking part in last night's performance. On my favorite television network-right there beside Florence, Flay, and Bourdain, in an ode to Cora, Batali, and Morimoto- I raised my glass of DRY Soda, and made my entrance into the Food Network hall of fame with "It really takes soda to a whole new level!

WHAT!? That's what I said? My big break and I come up with THAT!?! So long Batali, Bourdain, and dreams of grandeur...that cheesy quote is going to get me a seat next to Sandra Lee, Rachel Ray, and Paula Dean.

Oh well, at least I made it on tv. And I got to drink a lot of delicious, subtly sweet, slightly bubbly, and super fun soda.