Antibes

Dearest Joe,

So, we picked Bénédictine for this month's liquor. I think, because it had one foot in winter and one foot in spring. We both picked cocktails, though, that bring out its springtime-ish notes.

I'm glad I didn't try to make up some crazy new cocktail using Bénédictine - it may have come out even worse than our experiments with Creme de Cassis. Instead, I went for a tried and true recipe that used things that I already had on hand. It's called the Antibes, and it's delicious.

So, Antibes is a seaside town in France that looks like a lovely place to visit:

Antibes, from tripadvisor.com

And, apparently, we should go. The town looks absolutely gorgeous and there are beaches all over its coast. It also has two fascinating looking museums. There's the Picasso Museum, which is housed in a beautiful restored castle, originally built in the 1700s. Picasso came to visit a painter friend in Antibes and ended up staying for six months painting, sculpting, and making tapestries, many of which he donated to the town when he left. They formed the core collection of the museum.

There's also an Absinthe Museum which, unfortunately, has very little information available online. But it looks like there's a kick-ass bar in the basement:

Image from seeantinbes.com

But until we can book that ticket, we can drink this delicious cocktail named after this lovely place.

It's a mixture of Bénédictine, grapefruit juice, and gin. Simple. That's it! The grapefruit juice - mine was fresh-squeezed, of course - compliments the sweet notes of the Bénédictine and the slightly sour, Christmas tree-like taste of the gin.

You combine 1 1/2 oz, gin, 1/2 oz. Bénédictine, and 2 oz. grapefruit juice in a shaker, shake and strain. If you have an orange you can garnish it.

Then you sip it and imagine you're on a beach in Antibes. Preferably, of course, with me, dear.

Love,

Dave