The Lush Chef

A Los Angeles summer tradition of mine is to gather a group of friends with a huge picnic spread and head out to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for Cinespia's screenings.  There's usually enough wine for everyone to have their own bottle and enough beer for everyone to have their own six-pack.  This time, I decided to class it up and make some cocktails.  We were watching Breakfast at Tiffany's (best cocktail party scene ever—I aspire to throw a party like that), and even though they don't drink French 75s in the film, it just felt so Holly Golightly to me.

This cocktail was first made in 1915 at Harry's New York Bar in Paris, and the combination was said to have such a kick, that it felt like being shelled with a French 75mm howitzer artillery piece.  Lovely what a champagne cocktail can do to a grown man—and you guys thought champagne was girly...

Because of the picnic setting, I combined all the ingredients in a water bottle at home so it would just involve spreading amongst glasses and topping with champagne later on.  I'm ambitious, but not enough to start squeezing lemons on the cemetery lawn.  In honor of the film, I used rosé champagne.  My friend had brought raspberries and we tossed some in as an afterthought.  Classy, delicious and simple.

French 75 - serves 1
Ingredients:

• 2 oz gin
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1 tsp sugar
• 5 oz champagne

- Combine gin, lemon juice, sugar and ice in a shaker and shake well to make sure all that sugar is dissolved.
- Strain into a collins glass (or in our case, a plastic cup) and top with champagne.