Weekend Cooking- In Honor of the Sputnik

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When considering what to write about this weekend, I was moved by current events in making my decision.

First of all, if you listened to the recent State of the Union speech, you may have notice several references to the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth some 50 years ago. Then, there is the fact that most of the USA has been dealing with some very severe winter weather these past weeks. Record snows, blizzard conditions, dangerous ice storms...what to do?

Well, I am here to offer a suggestion.
Oh, you could take the traditional route and make some warming soup or a nice stew. Maybe some hot chocolate. But let us look to a culture that is famed, throughout history, for dealing with some very, very severe winter weather...the Russians! Hey, remember that scene from Dr. Zhivago, with the house with everything coated in ice?
But, you may be asking yourself, didn't we talk about borscht last week? Yes, we did, so it will not be a borscht recipe. Besides, I haven't found those beets yet, so lets go in a slightly different direction.

We don't have any true, authentic Russian restaurants, at least none I know of, here in south Jersey. But there is a restaurant at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City, just a short drive away from CaiteLand, that serves some excellent Russian inspired dishes, like beef stroganoff, and Chicken Kiev and caviar and blinis, a restaurant named the Red Square. And the Red Square...named after a Russian place...has a lovely drink made with that oh so Russian beverage... vodka...and named after that first Russian satellite...The Sputnik!

You will need just a few ingredients.

• Smirnoff Raspberry Vodka
• Triple Sec
• Lime Juice
• A single raspberry
• Ice
• A shaker

Put some ice in the shaker.
Add 3 parts Raspberry Vodka. Now the Bro and Sil have done a study, trying several different brands and say to get the correct flavor, you must use Smirnoff brand.
Add 2 parts Triple Sec
Add 1 part lime juice. Again, after some testing, the Bro uses Rose's Lime Juice, a common drink ingredient. And you may not always have a fresh lime on hand!
Put on the shaker top, give a few good shakes, and pour into a chilled martini glass. Add one raspberry (hint...the bro keeps them in the freezer, so you always have them on hand too)...
The floating raspberry, of course, represents the Sputnik!

If you enjoy a cocktail from time to time, this a really delicious one.
Now how much alcohol is in this drink depends on how large that "part" is, what you use to measure with. All I know is, after drinking one, I just want to grab a pillow and my blankie and lay on the couch for a short nap.

There are worse ways to spend a cold snowy Sunday afternoon....

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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