We all have bloggers we like. We all have bloggers we admire. We all have bloggers we are a little tiny bit jealous of (in a healthy non-competitive sort of way)… So I say let’s raise a glass to them.

Cheers. In this case the glass I am raising contains a very purposefully chosen cocktail. It’s a Sazerac.

Now a Sazerac is a classic cocktail from New Orleans. It’s also a hint at the blogger to whom I am referring here. I am raising my glass to Gisele of Pain Perdu Blog. She’s a talented cook (much better than I’ll ever be…) and kick-ass Los Angeles caterer (Small Pleasure Catering). I am pleased to call her a friend. I am pleased that the blogworld made us friends. I think you’ll be pleased to read her blog and become her friend. I hope you do. ‘Cuz this Sazerac is for her. Her New Orleans roots. And the stories she tells about both.

Now on to the Sazerac. While the origins of many cocktails are lost in a boozy fog, the source of the Sazerac is well-documented. In fact it may be the very first drink to actually coin the word ‘cocktail’. Which seems to have been a mispronunciation of the French word for eggcup– cocquetier.

The Martini! The illustrious Martini. It has a glamorous allure few cocktails can match. It achieves its special brand of alchemy by balancing the sharpness of juniper berries in excellent gin, with the earthy herbal qualities of good vermouth.

The ratios are very important– and much discussed. Though Steve Allen may have famously quipped, ‘Do not allow children to mix drinks, it is unseemly and they always use too much vermouth’. In truth there is some room for personal preference regarding the exact balance of gin to vermouth.

Lately the style has been to make Martinis a bit too dry in my opinion. Many great mixologists recommend swirling the vermouth in the shaker, then discarding it. I personally disagree with this method. A classic Martini has 1/2-ounce vermouth to 2 ounces of gin; a dry martini should have about 1/4-ounce vermouth.

And speaking of shakers, despite what James Bond may have said, a true Martini is never shaken. It is always stirred. A shaken Martini is properly called a Bradford. I have another great quote that I believe puts the shaken or stirred question to rest. It comes from W. Somerset Maugham. He said, ‘Martinis should always be stirred, not shaken, so that the molecules lie sensuously on top of each other’. I sensuously agree!

It’s time for me to pick a signature cocktail of my own to help define the upcoming season.

This is a new tradition for Sup! so I want to choose something that will be just right for all the outdoor activities I have planned. This concept was the brainchild of the girls at LoveFeast Table.

You see they choose a cocktail every summer that sets the tone for the warm weather festivities. They asked me to help them this year and I was happy to oblige them by creating something just for them.

So one week ago today I presented my version of a Long Island Iced Tea. It’s called a Tickled Pink Tropical Island Iced Tea. If you remember it was a pretty girly drink– despite the crazy amount of alcohol in it. So it’s not quite the cocktail that Sup! would feel comfortable grasping in his manly hand night after night, week after week, month after month this whole summer long.

But I will let you in on a secret. It seems that my girly cocktail was a big hit. I don’t just mean with LoveFeast either. It seems you guys really drank my cocktail up in massive quantities! That post got more than twice my usual traffic the day it came out. It has taken an entire week for my numbers to taper back down to normal.

Well I’ll drink to that!

You know here we are having a weeklong tribute the apple, and it's crossed my mind that nobody has even bothered to make a nice toast to the apple in celebration.

So, like your longwinded Uncle Arthur who can't just stand up and say "Good Health",  I'm the guy that makes you sit there with your glass aloft as he tells a story. A long story of questionable relevance!

That's because before we get to the toast I think you need to know how I came to choose the apple for this extravaganza.

You see it all started when I was in Palm Springs a couple weekends ago. The people I was staying with have a (nearly) 5-year kid. Let's call him, Johnny. Well Johnny is developing an interest in cooking. He and I made a mean frittata one morning. It was like a game. He'd pick ingredients out of the fridge and I had to make something with them. Well a frittata is the original "kitchen sink" recipe, so it seemed an easy choice, especially once I clandestinely steered him toward choosing eggs.

And as is the case when that Uncle of yours opens his mouth, you are probably wondering what the heck this has to do with apples and the toast we are making to them! Well I am getting to that...