Lemon mimosas

French 75 from Commander's Palace, aka: the *real* motivation behind last weekend's party.

The Husband and I were so lucky to be able to enjoy brunch at Commander's Palace when we visited New Orleans last month. It was there that I discovered this delish little drink. So delish, in fact, that I then and there declared my drink for the rest of the summer. The French 75. Champagne + lemon simple syrup + gin = perfection. Who knew?

When we planned our little Splash, Sip & See! party (are you tired of hearing about it yet? No? Good. lol.), I wanted to have this drink and figured that we could also serve regular boring mimosas, too.

However. We are not gin drinkers. Amongst the rum, vodka, scotch, wines, bourbon and lord knows what else, there's a serious gin deficiency in our liquor cabinent.

So, I attempted a French 76, which is the vodka version, and so very not the same.

And thus, the lemon mimosa was born. I'm sure it has a real name. Alas, I do not know it.

Lemon Mimosa
One regular, run of the mill ice cube of lemon simple syrup
One glass of champagne/sparkling wine

1. Pour one flute of champagne/sparkling wine, leave a little room at the top
2. Add cube of lemon simple syrup, wait for it to melt (don't worry, your wine will still stay cold)
3. Enjoy!

Lemon Simple Syrup
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
1 1/4 cups lemon juice (about 7 large lemons)

1. In a medium saucepan, heat and stir water and sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; cool 20 minutes.
2. Add citrus peel and juice to sugar mixture. Pour into a jar; cover and chill up to 3 days. Or, pour into ice cube trays (one batch will fill about 2.5 trays) and freeze. Pop cubes into ziplocs and enjoy single serve lemonade or lemon mimosas whenever you like!

**** Wanna make a whole pitcher of lemon mimosas? Just up the number of cubes to about 8 per bottle of champagne/sparkling wine. ****