Raspberry and Peach Bellinis

I have a soft spot in my heart for juices and the bubbly. My love for the two developed while I was in college up in northern California. Background: Now, some may say my school is a "party school," but after visiting many friends that were scattered across America throughout those four years, I'd say it blended perfectly well with every other university. What the students of our school benefited from though (and how we probably got that "party school" image) was that it's in an extremely walkable college town with drink specials seven days a week (not kidding, the local newspaper mapped out which bars offered $1 specials Sunday-Saturday, which my roomies and I had taped to our fridge). I'm talking about living within a four block radius from all of your best friends, bars, restaurants, the gym, and, of course, school. So, driving wasn't always (like, never) an issue.

Okay, back to my love of the bubbly. There is a place called the Breakfast Buzz in my good ol' college town. The Buzz for short. And it was my absolute favorite place, ever. Why? Because they offer $6 bottomless mimosas Thursday-Sunday and was three blocks from my house, that's why. Try finding a price like that in LA (and call me if you do!). Sure, it was usually a cheap bottle of Andres and some boxed orange juice but it did the job, and by job I mean got us {fun} drunk.  It was a very easy sell to get people to go to the Buzz too, so it was always a good time. And, maybe that's the root for my love (lets get psychological, now) of the perfect combination of champagne and juice, because I knew it was guaranteed to have brunch (also my favorite meal of the day), good friends and great laughs. OH, and drinking during the day was always a plus too; no heels, no problem.

After the best four years of my life were up, it was time to say goodbye to living within walking distance to everything I had learned to love, including the Buzz and cheap champagne. I knew I wasn't going to find a place like it in LA. Or Orange County. Or San Francisco. Or anywhere. And that did not make me happy. I immediately started a fancy internship in Beverly Hills after graduating and was always getting taken to just as fancy restaurants. (My college town had one nice restaurant (I'm sure there were more) so getting wined and dined in "no jean" environments had kind of become foreign to me.) There was one restaurant that I liked in particular, and always suggested it whenever the dreaded "Where should we go?" question came about. That restaurant was Mr. C's.

Mr. C's had just opened when I moved to LA. It is actually a hotel with a restaurant in it and owned by the brilliant minds of Cipriani in New York and Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy (aka the people who created the Bellini). It's a true Italian restaurant. Seriously, everything is little like in Italy; the chairs, the table, the drinks...I sometimes felt like I was in a chic toy house. Back to the story. Mr. C's is when I got introduced to the "Bellini." The first sip I took of this {tiny and cute, but tiny and $25} peach puree + prosecco mixture was pure heaven. It was just the right amount of sweet and the perfect amount of bubbly. It was me saying goodbye to my $6 bottomless mimosa self, and hello to the new, grown-up, college-graduated $25 per Bellini me. As silly as it may sound, it was a very imperative moment in my life. I drank to drink, and not to get drunk. Aka, maturity. Now my go-to drink (during the day) are Bellinis. And I love them very much. And I bet you will too.

So, in order to save my wallet (and yours) from $25 per Bellinis, I have come up with my own. And I must say, it's pretty darn delicious.

Twist: Raspberry and Peach Bellinis 




Raspberry and Peach Bellinis
Time: 30 Minutes / Puree Makes: 15-20 Bellinis

Ingredients:

• 1 12 Oz. Bag of Frozen Raspberries
• 1 10 Oz. Bag of Frozen Peach Slices
• 1-1 1/2 Cup Water (you can make a simple syrup for this step if you'd like, I've done both and both are great)
• Prosecco, Chilled
• Frozen Raspberries for Garnish

Directions:

In a blender, puree the frozen raspberries and frozen peach slices, adding water continuously and until nice and smooth. 

Pour mixture through a sieve and into a bowl. This part will take some time because of how thick it is. Use a spoon to keep on pressing through the sieve (this part is important to get the right consistency and get rid of all the little raspberry seeds). 

Refrigerate the mixture for at least 15 minutes. 

When ready, take mixture out and place 1 - 1 1/2 inch of mixture on the bottom of a champagne flute. Top off with prosecco. Garnish with frozen raspberry and serve!

Hope you all feel fancy and fabulous drinking these!