Cranberry Almond Punch

Ease: 5/5     Kid-friendliness: 2/5     Taste: 5/5     Time: 5/5

No party would be complete without a good punch. This is probably my favorite and most frequently used punch recipe, so I pulled it out for my daughter's birthday party. It's super easy to make. I marked it low for kid-friendliness because of the pop (we're holding off on pop for as long as possible), but adults and older kids will enjoy it!

What you'll need:

• 2 L cranberry juice 
• 1/2 L pineapple juice
• 1/2 L ginger ale
• 1 tsp almond extract
• ice
• lemons, sliced (optional)

Over ice, mix the above ingredients well. Garnish with lemon slices, and you have yourself a refreshing summer drink!

Mocha Black Russian

Feeling Chic?

Don't take this quiz.

I'm turning 31 in the not-so-distant future. Since recently informing my boss that I am not returning from maternity leave (because I no longer live in the same city),  I've been doing a lot of motivational reading on careers and making career changes. One of my favorite books on this subject is Lisa Johnson Mandell's Career Comeback: Repackage Yourself to Get the Job You Want. It's largely targeted at women in their forties, but the advice is applicable no matter what your age.

One of Lisa's suggestions for landing that perfect job, is to raise your "chic" quota. To give you an idea of how much work this might take you, she conveniently provides a "How Hip Are You?" quiz. Thinking I would score somewhere in the middle and feel pretty good about how well I'm keeping up on the latest and greatest despite spending my days singing children's songs and watching The Backyardigans, I bombed!

I had no idea what "Hulu", "Seven for All Mankind", or "Wiki" were. Or who Lloyd, Will.i.am or Judd Apatow were (is this because I'm Canadian?). If I wasn't feeling my age before, I'm feeling it now.

To put some icing on this cake, she later tells you that nude panty hose are obsolete. When did this memo go around? In fact, I apparently looked like a "seventy-three-year-old retired school teacher on her way to Sunday school" at my husband's company Christmas party last year. Point taken. The hose are gone.

To raise my spirits, I turned to the liquor cabinet. A couple of these tasty treats had me feeling a little more chic...

What you'll need:

• 1/2 C frozen mochaccino yogurt (chocolate would taste equally well)
• 1 oz hazelnut kahlua
• 1/2 oz amaretto
• handful of ice

Add all ingredients to a blender and mix until smooth and frothy. Poor into a martini glass or large cocktail glass.  Enjoy immediately! SO. GOOD.

A friendly hello to fellow Friday-Follow Me participants!

Strawberry Passion Martini

What are you passionate about? This is one of the things you are supposed to ask yourself when thinking about choosing a vocation. Sounds so simple. Why is it so obvious to some people while the rest of us think anything from dog walker to pharmacist sound like good career options? There are lots of jobs I’d be good at. I know I’d be a kickass receptionist (seriously), and I also think I’d be really good at naming paint colors but I’m not sure either of those would elicit my elusive “passion”.

I officially told my boss that I am not returning to work. I had a lovely government job with great benefits and flexible working hours. Only problem was, it wasn't in the town we now reside in. So for the first time since graduating University I find myself officially unemployed. This drove me to spend an embarrassingly long amount of time on the internet taking career quizzes only to find that I apparently lack passion.

At least I found a worthwhile use for passionfruit...

What you'll need:

• 1 oz light rum
• 1 oz strawberry-passionfruit juice (or any passionfruit juice)
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• ice

Mix ingredients together over ice and strain into glass.

Great to enjoy on the patio with a friend (while simultaneously drowning your career anxieties away).