Happy Hour! We still love lychee...

Yum!  Lychee!   Many thought that the lychee would be a flash-in-the-pan when it came to cocktail staples, but it has proven the critics wrong!  Whereas, the lychee martini may not be served as the newest, hippest thing around anymore, there are still plenty of new and innovative lychee drinks out there.  We love serving lychee cocktails.  They are tasty, interesting to look at and very few people do not like lychee.  It's sweet without being too sweet, and we could go on for hours. 

Try this yummy cocktail, either tonight for Happy Hour or serve it at your next party.

Lovely Lychee Martini Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup drained canned lychees (15 to 20, from a 16- to 20-oz can)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 6 oz (3/4 cup) vodka (preferably Grey Goose)
• 1 1/2 oz (3 tablespoons) Cointreau or other orange-flavored liqueur

• Special equipment: a cocktail shaker

Heat sugar and water in a 1-quart saucepan over high heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved, then pour into a heatproof bowl set in a large bowl of ice and cold water. Let stand, stirring occasionally, until syrup is cold, about 3 minutes.

Purée lychees with sugar syrup and lemon juice in a blender until smooth, then force through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on solids and then discarding them. Fill cocktail shaker halfway with ice cubes and add lychee purée, vodka, and Cointreau. Shake 15 seconds and strain into Martini glasses.

This is a little time intensive, but definitely worth it. 

Here is a little info about the delicious little lychee: 

The lychee (pronounced LEE-CHEE), a fruit indigenous Southern China, has been a symbol of love and romance for more than 2,000 years. According to legend, back in the eighth century in the T’ang dynasty, Lady Yang Kuei Fei, the imperial concubine of Emperor Hsuan Tsung, had a passion for lychees. The emperor arranged for guards on fast horses to ferry lychees 600 miles to his palace, so they could arrive still fresh for his lady-love.

The heart-shaped fruit, often erroneously called a lychee nut, has a thin, brittle red skin that peels easily. The flesh is a viscous white and surrounds a large, inedible brown pit that does look like a nut. Today, the fruit is grown around the world: through southeast Asia, the West Indies, South Africa, Madagascar, France and England. In the U.S., they’re grown in Hawaii, Florida and California.