GINSANITY Chapter VIII: Southside Cocktail {Guest Blog by Anita from The Hungry Couple}

I'm very excited to say that I have a guest blogger today.... Anita from The Hungry Couple.  {applause, cheers} When Anita accepted my invitation to share their latest Gin Cocktail with my readers I was REALLY excited because you see, The Hungry Couple was one of the original blogs I started following and so it's like inviting "an old friend" over to help you bake.... or in this case to help you mix cocktails.  I originally started following their blog because we are similar.... good food {some healthy/some notsomuch} & of course good drinks.... both at home and out {and not necessarily in that order}.  That's my kind of couple :)

Anyhow, Anita is an awesome blogger and photographer {recent recipient of the FoodBuzz nod, need I say more?} and I hope you will check out their blog BUT enough from ME, I'm honored to introduce to you, Anita and the....

Southside Cocktail

Hello Young Grasshopper fans! First I'd like to thank Heidi very much for inviting me to her blog in sunny Florida for a Gin-sanity guest post. She and I are still getting to know each other as bloggers but anyone who has a separate cocktail section on their site is pretty much OK with me. I'm always impressed by the fact that she has a husband, three children and a career as an attorney but still finds time to cook and blog. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Ours is a peaceful existence with two mature humans, a quiet dog and a well stocked liquor cabinet. Speaking of which, I hope those kids have been sent off to play because we're going to be discussing some hard liquor here today, folks.


We get inspired to invent or recreate drinks in lots of different ways. For example, a while back we were watching an Iron Chef America episode where the secret ingredient was mint and one of the chefs served a minty cocktail. We're big fans of mint drinks and any cocktail containing copious amounts of it is sure to get our attention. The drink in question that day was the Southside Cocktail and research into its history points to it being around since the 1920's but with the exact origin up for debate. Some say it originated among the gangs on the south side of Chicago. Others say it was among the lounge tables at the 21 Club in New York. Most agree its currently the summer sipper of the Hamptons crowd and the beautiful people. Well...we're beautiful, too. Serve it up!

Per Serving:
2 oz. Gin
1/2 oz. Lemon juice
1/2 oz. Simple syrup
Large handful of fresh mint

Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker and muddle the mint with a muddler or the back of a wooden spoon. Add ice cubes and shake well. Pour into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a sprig of mint and/or a wedge of lemon. To make the Southside Fizz version of this drink, simply top it off with 3 to 4 oz. of club soda.

Please check out our blog, Hungry Couple, for lots of other drink and food inspirations. And once again, thank you Heidi for giving me the honor of being here today. Cheers!