Tag: cheer

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4 food and culture events to add that festive cheer to the week ahead

4 food and culture events to add that festive cheer to the week ahead

From new festive menus to an exhibition of luminious sculptures, these events promise to infuse the week ahead with warmth and joy



Christmas cheer

Sly Granny has launched a holiday menu to suit the festive mood. This limited edition selection, spanning small plates, mains, desserts and cocktails, brings the best of Christmas goodies from across the world. You can choose from innovative dishes such as the smoked duck chhundo, goat cheese crostini and roast turkey porchettas, or opt for comforting creations like the butternut squash mac and cheese, chives and sour cream mash. To accompany the food, Sly Granny has also launched cocktails like the Sunset Dazzle, made with gin infused with raw turmeric, Hot Buttered Bourbon, which features bourbon, unsalted butter, demerara sugar and winter spices. Or you could opt for the good ol’ Granny’s mulled wine. This limited edition menu is available at Sly Granny outlets in New Delhi, Dehradun, Bengaluru and Goa till 5 January 2023

‘Handle With Care’, at Method Kalaghoda

‘Handle With Care’, at Method Kalaghoda

Into the light

A new exhibition, ‘Handle With Care’, at Method Kalaghoda is presenting a series of light sculptures, grills and furniture made using industrial and metal glass. The works by Yaazd Contractor present a contrasting relationship of materials within each object: cinder and glass, mass-produced prefabricated steel parts and the nearly-extinct art of cold cathode neon, and more. “Method invites the viewer to approach the show not with the perspective of an outsider looking in, doing their best to extract and impose some foreign meaning to the show, but to take on the challenge of looking at the exhibition precisely as the show title suggests: with care,” states the curatorial note. ‘Handle With Care’ can be viewed at Method Kalaghoda, Mumbai, till 3 January 2023, 11 am to 6 pm, (closed on Monday)

Also read: Govinda Naam Mera: A Vicky Kaushal show all the way

Jolly Gift Box at Le15

A jolly festive box

This Christmas, you can indulge in Chef Pooja Dhingra’s limited edition peppermint hot chocolate. It’s perfect to add warmth to the chilly weather and pairs well with Le15’s plum cake. Why should Christmas be all sweet? Le15 is bringing back its gourmet kharis in buttery cinnamon and garlic-chives flavours. There is also a Home Alone gift box with all that you need to pamper yourself and it includes a box of crunchy toffee cookies, and more. There is also a Jolly Gift Box on offer. Available at Le15 stores in Mumbai and online as well.

Chocolate rummy balls, spiced caramel bon bons and Nana's coconut ice at the Bombay Sweet Shop

Chocolate rummy balls, spiced caramel bon bons and Nana’s coconut ice at the Bombay Sweet Shop

Magical treats

Bombay Sweet Shop is bringing the magic of mithai this festive season. Its limited edition collection features sweets such as chocolate rummy balls, spiced caramel bon bons and Nana’s coconut ice that evoke the nostalgia of childhood. All of the offerings are 100{d2b09b03d44633acb673e8080360919f91e60962656af8ade0305d5d8b7e4889} vegetarian. These come in various gift bags and hampers such as the Cookie & Cheer Box, Magic of Christmas Bag, Secret Santa Hamper, Chocolatey Christmas Hamper, and more. These are available for dine-in and pick-up at the Bombay Sweet Shop, Byculla, Mumbai. Select products are also available online.

Also read: Serendipity Arts Festival turns Goa into site for experimentation

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Non alcoholic cocktails to give you holiday cheer without the buzz

Non alcoholic cocktails to give you holiday cheer without the buzz

The holiday season comes with plenty of festivities every year — many of which involve alcohol.

“I think during the holidays, there are so many parties and dinners and gatherings for friends and family so obviously alcohol is everywhere,” says Hilary Sheinbaum, author of “The Dry Challenge: How to Lose the Booze for Dry January, Sober October, and Any Other Alcohol-Free Month.”

For whatever reason you or your friends choose not to consume alcohol (and, really, whose business is it anyway?), it’s nice to have drink options other than soda at holiday get togethers. 

So, if you’re not drinking, looking to cut back or just don’t feel like having alcohol there are plenty of cocktails that can satisfy the festive-cup-quota without the buzz. 

USA TODAY has gathered a few fun, holiday-themed NA cocktails that you can add to your holiday spread.

How sober are these ‘sober’ drinks? And why are they so popular?

Forget ‘Dry January’:Alcohol-free beer, wine, cocktails are available year round and are gaining popularity

Holiday gone sour

Non alcoholic cocktails to give you holiday cheer without the buzz

Sheinbaum has a few cocktails of her own up her sleeve this holiday season. One includes sparkling water sweetened with simple syrup, lime juice and rosemary that sounds oh-so-refreshing for holiday functions.

Ingredients:

  • 12 ounces water or sparkling water
  • .5 ounces simple syrup
  • 2 ounces lime juice
  • Ice
  • Rosemary sprigs (for garnish)

Instructions:

  1. Pour simple syrup into water, stir.
  2. Pour lime juice into the simple syrup water mixture, stir.
  3. Pour contents into a rocks glass over ice.
  4. Garnish with rosemary sprigs.
  5. Enjoy! 

Makes: 1 NA cocktail.

Sweater-weather sangria 

Sweater-weather sangria

This recipe is fruity and fun and makes a few drinks.

Ingredients:

  • 16 ounces sparkling white grape juice
  • 16 ounces ginger beer
  • Ice
  • Choice of garnishes, including: 
    • 1/4 pineapple, peeled, cut into wedges
    • 1/2 small orange, cut into wedges
    • 1 passionfruit, quartered
    • 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
    • Pomegranate seeds
    • Strawberries, sliced 
    • Red and White grapes
    • Apple slices

Instructions:

  1. Pour equal amounts of juice and ginger beer in a pitcher.
  2. Stir.
  3. Serve over ice in festive glassware (or in a wine glass).
  4. Top with your choice of garnishes.
  5. Stir again and enjoy! 

Makes: 4 NA cocktails.

Lyre’s Apertif  

Lyre's Apertif

Mixer brand Fever Tree shared this NA cocktail recipe with USA TODAY from its Fever-Tree Easy Mixing Recipe Book.

Ingredients:

  • 2 ounces Lyre’s Apéritif Dry ​
  • 6.8 ounces Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic Water​
  • 3 lemon wedges​
  • Thyme sprig, to garnish​

​Instructions:

  1. Pour the Lyre’s Apéritif Dry into a highball glass filled with ice cubes.
  2. Squeeze over and then drop in the lemon wedges.
  3. Top off with the tonic water.
  4. Garnish with a thyme sprig.

Makes: 1 NA cocktail.

Hot Non-Ginger Toddy  

Hot Non-Ginger Toddy

Fever Tree shared a hot cocktail to warm party-attendees featuring hot apple cider, honey and ginger beer.

Ingredients:

  • 4 ounces hot apple cider
  • .5 ounce honey
  • 1 ounce fresh lemon juice
  • Top with Fever-Tree ginger beer (or ginger beer of your choice)
  • Garnish with dusted apple slices and cinnamon stick

Instructions:

  1. Combine Hot cider, lemon juice and honey syrup in the mug.
  2. Top with Fever-Tree Ginger Beer.
  3. Garnish with an apple fan & cinnamon stick.

Makes: 1 NA cocktail.

The Lyre & The Blood Orange

The Lyre & The Blood Orange

Fever-Tree shared another recipe for “The Lyre & The Blood Orange” crafted by Rhett Hornberger of La Cuevita in Los Angeles. 

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 ounces Lyre’s A.M. Whisky
  • .75 ounces lemon juice
  • .75 ounces Liquid Alchemist Blood Orange Syrup
  • Fever-Tree’s Blood Orange Ginger Beer

Instructions:

  1. Shake ingredients in shaker.
  2. Pour over ice in a Collins glass.  
  3. Top with Fever-Tree’s Blood Orange Ginger Beer. 
  4. Garnish with a blood orange half wheel. 

Makes: 1 NA cocktail.

Mulled Jukes 6

Mulled Jukes 6

Jukes Cordialities, which sells apple cider-vinegar based non-alcoholic beverages that are meant to taste similar to wine, provided a cocktail made with Jukes 6, to USA TODAY.

Jukes 6 has a blackcurrant and blackberry base combined with layers of other red fruits including strawberries, plums and raspberries. When mixed with hot water and orange, the beverage is meant to sip like a mulled wine.

Ingredients:

  • .5 ounces of Jukes 6, approximately half the bottle
  • 8 ounces of hot water
  • 1 slice of fresh or dried orange, for garnish

Instructions:

  1. Pour half a bottle of Jukes 6 – The Dark Red – into your favorite mug.
  2. Top with hot water.
  3. Garnish with a slice of fresh or dried orange and enjoy!

Makes: 1 NA cocktail.

Check out these recipes to up your kitchen game: