I wish I had come up with the name for this pretty, refreshing, and perfect summer cocktail. Unfortunately, I didn’t and it is easily found all over social media.

Since I love rosé wine and it’s hotter than blue blazes, I had to put my spin on the Frosé sensation. I should have tried it sooner though, back when Rainier cherries were in season. Instead, I bought regular cherries and strawberries and made simple syrups from each fruit.

The cherry style was far too tart, so I went with the strawberries. Next summer, I’ll get on the ball earlier and make it with Rainiers. Already looking forward to that!

It’s recommended to use a darker shade of rosé since the wine will lose some of its colors and be diluted due to the blending, freezing, and the addition of other ingredients.

If you would like to make two batches (since only half of the strawberry simple syrup is used in this recipe) the instructions to do so are at the bottom of the recipe.

My “do as I say, not as I do” recommendation for today is to place the sheet pan in the freezer first and then add the wine to it. I poured the wine into the pan and tried to transfer it to the freezer. Way more difficult than it seems like it should be!

One last note before the recipe. Above are nine of the ten stacks of cookbooks for the blogiversary winners. I didn’t bother to package the tenth stack since it’s for my daughter, Marissa. She’ll pick hers up when she visits over Labor Day weekend.

I delivered six of the packages on Saturday. I’m waiting for the other three winners to be home. Those lucky ladies are out-of-town, enjoying some cooler weather. Yes, I’m jealous!

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Happy Memorial Day! I hope you and your loved ones are spending a relaxing and reflective weekend together.

Aw, finally! The day has arrived, I am posting the last recipe from my Friday the 13th Dinner Party. I’m just happy I was able to squeak it in before the first of June! The lucky element in this final recipe is the coconut.

The tradition/superstition is that eating any round fruit on New Year’s brings luck and good fortune. In the Philippines, 13 is considered a lucky number so the custom calls for eating 13 round fruits. Whereas, in Europe and the States, we eat 12, which represents the months in a year. In both cases, their coin-like shape and their sweetness are what bring luck.

This is similar to the earlier mentioned belief that when you eat 12 grapes at midnight of New Year, it will bring you wealth and more luck for the next 12 months of the coming year.

A few pointers before we get to the recipe:

To hull the strawberries, you can use a paring knife, a strawberry huller (similar to little tweezers), or a straw. I’m all about the straw method. It’s quick and fun.

I bought the mold for the ice pops HERE on Amazon.

The sticks tend to float up when the molds are filled. I fixed that by placing the empty box the mold came in on top while the pops were in the freezer. Problem solved.

To store the frozen pops; lay down or stand up in a tight-sealing container with pieces of parchment paper in-between each pop.

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I have one last recipe to share from the Friday the 13th Dinner Party, but it will have to wait until next week. I’ll post that and the party wrap-up on Monday along with the full menu and recipe links.

The reason it is put on hold is that I must share the recipe for the most beautiful pie in the world – in time for you to make it for the long Memorial Day Weekend.

Just in case you’re new here, you should know that I don’t enjoy baking. I’m not very good at baking. I have had and continue to have more than my fair share of baking disappointments and disasters. So much so in fact, that a while back I was contemplating changing the name of this blog to “Cooking Triumphs and Baking Failures.”  Not anymore, not after my spectacular and unexpected triumph in baking the most beautiful pie ever!

Are you ready to be blown away?  OK then, here we go…

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I may have mentioned once or twice before that Connor does not like berries. Not raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, or blackberries. He won’t eat berries or anything berry flavored.  It blows my mind!

To add insult to injury, Dave doesn’t like citrus! He won’t eat an orange, a grapefruit or even the sweet candy-like clementines. The saving grace is that he will eat foods and dishes with citrus in them.

I know, they are strange men!

For Sunday supper, I made pork chops with strawberry salsa. Being the thoughtful mom that I am, taking Connor’s tastes into account, I also made chimichurri sauce to accompany the chops.

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It’s finally time for the cupcake recipes from Megan’s “Cocktails & Cupcakes” bridal shower!

Actually, time for the cupcake recipe. Only one cupcake is new to this blog. Links to the remaining cupcakes from the shower area at the end of this post.

I found the recipe for these Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes through Pinterest and I had some trouble with it. The problem was with the frosting. It’s similar to the frosting for Toffee Crunch Mini Cupcakes (which works perfectly) but this one still gave me fits.

The frosting was a nice consistency until it was time to add in the strawberry purée and the other liquids, then it became a runny mess, and the only way I could fix it was to add cups (so very many cups) of powdered sugar. The result was an overly sweet – basically pure sugar – frosting. I’ve corrected the recipe, but please still take extra care when adding the strawberry purée, add a little at a time and keep an eye on the consistency. If you do this, you should not have to add any powdered sugar!

Also, when looking at the photos, please keep in mind that I made a double the batch so that I could make regular and mini cupcakes. So when you see 4 eggs instead of the 2 called for – don’t be concerned.

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