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Father's Day, Home

A Southern French Martini Recipe with my Well Told Yellowstone Rocks Glass

Erin Sluka
Southern French Martini

OK, so a martini should be served in a martini glass but when you have a Yellowstone Rocks Glass available and you just want to drink from it, it is perfectly acceptable to make a martini in one. As I feature one of the National Parks Rocks Glasses that Well Told offers, I thought I’d share how I recently learned how to make a Southern French Martini. A southern french martini has a simple syrup in the recipe. To not use a simple syrup would make it a french martini (without the southern title). I use stevia or monkfruit rather than standard sugar for a sugar free simple syrup and I infuse my syrup with pineapple so there is an element of ‘natural sugars’.

Southern French Martini

I got this recipe from a family member. I used a monkfruit sweetner for my infused simple syrup, however this does contain natural sugars within the fruit I use.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings: 1 cocktail
Course: Drinks
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 oz Vodka
  • 1 oz Raspberry Liqueur I used Chombord
  • 1 oz Fresh Pineapple Juice I used Dole 100% Fresh juice
  • .5 oz Simple Syrup I used pineapple infused
  • Ice to shake and chill

Equipment

  • 1 Shot Glass
  • 1 Cocktail Shaker

Method
 

Pineapple Infused Simple Syrup
  1. In a small saucepan ass 1:1 ratio of sugar (I used monkfruit sweetener) and water. I cup each will make several drinks. Add fresh cut pineapple. I buy precut pineapple from my grocers fruit bowl section. Bring to a boil as you stir occasionally. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Cool and transfer to a glass container. It will keep for a week in the fridge.
The Cocktail
  1. Add ice to your shaker
  2. Add the vodka, liqueur, simple syrup and pineapple juice and shake until blended and chilled. Drain into a glass and enjoy!

Notes

You can omit the simple syrup and use the other ingredients. In this case you have a French Martini rather than a Southern French Martini (Southern=Sugar)

Well Told has the best barware and drinkware. I have many Well Told items in my bar and they always bring compliments. Not only am I a Yellowstone (TV series) fan, but we visiting Yellowstone last summer in an RV road trip. I was so excited to find this rocks glass. You can also choose city maps, colleges, literature and more that are etched with the best quality. Shop Well Told for gifts and glasses for you home bar!

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Family activities to do in the garden

Erin Sluka
Family activities to do in the garden
Photo by Marissa Price on Unsplash

If you’re lucky enough to have a beautiful garden where you live, then the warmer months are the perfect time to make the most of it with your family. However, your children probably won’t be content to sit and take in the peace and tranquillity, so you’ll need to come up with some fun activities that you can all do together. If you’re drawing a blank, this blog has you covered. Take a look at these amazing activities you could do together this summer:

Get planting

The beauty of having your own garden is that you can plant anything you like in its soil. This is what makes spending time in your own garden so different from visiting a park or woodland trail and it’s about time your children discovered that. Whether you decide to plant a birch tree for a classic look, lots of flower beds for a more colorful aesthetic, or a vegetable patch filled with tomatoes and carrots for a more sensory touch, your children will love getting their hands dirty and helping out. 

Have a picnic

Picnics don’t always have to take place in a far-off location. In fact, the best way to make use of your garden is to have your meals outside. Buy a large picnic blanket and some fun plastic plates and cups and enjoy having pizza or sandwiches out on the lawn. While you can create all kinds of unique snacks for your picnic, if you want to make it a regular event, you could have many of your regular meals outside too.

Play some sports

Children of all ages need to be active and get some exercise regularly, so playing sports together is a great way to encourage them. Sports that can be played in the garden include badminton, tennis, cricket, and football, but if your children aren’t excited by those, have a skipping or hula hooping competition instead. It doesn’t matter what kind of game or sport you make up, as long as you’re moving around and having fun.

Take some photographs

Have you ever wanted to do a family photo shoot but aren’t sure if a studio is your thing? Photos in the garden are much more interesting than those shot with a simple white background. Set up a tripod and take some snaps of you and your kids enjoying the natural world together. These photos will be much more important and memorable than those taken by a professional. What’s more, they’ll showcase your beautiful home and garden so you can see how that changes over the years as well.

Learn about nature

Children are naturally curious and nature is just begging to be explored. If you have many different plants in your garden, equip your children with a simple guidebook and challenge them to spot various flowers or bushes in your garden. If they find a certain number, tell them they can have a sticker or treat as a reward for all their hard work.

Home, Reviews

2 Gifts Dad can use for Traveling this summer from Spice of Life

Erin Sluka
2 Gifts Dad can use for Traveling this summer from Spice of Life

As you prepare for summer travels, Father’s Day and celebrations, we know that weather and time will be factors. I love the long days of summer where I can be outdoors late in the day before it gets dark. It is all serene until heat takes its toll. These 2 products from Spice of Life make great gifts Dad can use and for the Traveler on your gift lists.

speaker light

When the long days end and you need to relax, nothing beats a good playlist and an engaging book. The Hands Free Buddy Beat Speaker Light with bluetooth connectivity puts “Me-Time” in your hands (or around your neck). The LED lights are bright up front as well as the LED light with the glow-in-the-dark logo in the back. For safety, you can be seen coming and going in the dark. The arms are flexible so you can adjust the light in different angles according to the direction needed.

book light

Use the bluetooth speaker to listen to music, podcasts or take calls. Your hands are free to tidy up at the end of the evening outside or read a book as the day ends. They come in 4 colors – black, ivory, lime green, and camouflage color.

neck fan

Another must-have summer gadget from Spice of Life is the Portable Neck Fan. Just as it sounds – it is a fan you wear around your neck. The material is so soft and comfortable (just like the light speaker I mention above) and is not heavy at all.

It has 5 blades in each fan head to produce maximum airflow with minimal noise. It is flexible so that you can adjust to your height and wind direction. Choose from 3 speeds and your fingers are safe from the blades. Also, there are 10 color choices. You can stay cool and keep your hands free!

stay breezy fan

Spice of Life has many useful gadgets like these that make great gifts and also help make your summer more enjoyable. Visit Spice of Life online and on Amazon.

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The Lamp Angel is your reliable emergency backup lighting

Erin Sluka

Not just an ordinary lamp! The Lamp Angel by inPOWERED Lights is your emergency backup lighting in a power outage. There are more features to this modern lamp as well like a remote, a free app for even more control, color-changing features, USB port and more. Our oldest just bought his first home and being young and on his own, this lamp was a perfect give for him if there is an outage and he needs extra light and what young man can’t use an extra charging port by the bed?!

The LED lighting is bright and the color-change effect gives a fun glow. His lamp is set to a purple at night giving just enough reading light. Our son set it up with his curtains closed to show off the glow. We have the Angel Lamp with white shade but it also comes in a black or blue shade. The lights remain cool and the base is a high quality acrylic to stand up to use in a kids room as well.

The smartphone integration and free app gives you access to lighting features with hundreds of color combos. In an outage, the lamp will stay lit for 16-24 hours. Keep in mind, when you set up your lamp there is an extra switch you must keep on when plugged in for regular use so it keeps that back up function charged. You’ll want to keep that switch on so you are always prepared.

This has the right balance between bright lamp light and night light or reading light depending on your color and feature choices, so you can customize a few options to get the exact lighting you need for different times of the day. The Lamp Angel is great for every family because everyone needs that back up light. Visit InPOWERED Lights to learn more and order today. At $79.99 this is a great value for all it offers.