Twenty-One & Fabulous

It’s hard to believe that my baby sister turns twenty-one today. In my head, Kelsey is still the little thumb-sucking brat (meant as a term of endearment) who hid her Easter candy in her crib’s bumper pad and went swimming in the toilet to keep cool one particularly hot summer day eons ago now. It doesn’t seem possible that she could be an adult who can order a glass of wine to go with dinner, if she so chooses. She should still be drinking Shirley Temples and requesting extra cherries (I may be guilty of doing that still too…).

But to commemorate Kelsey’s 21st birthday, I offered to make her a special birthday cocktail. She made one request—that it be like the Rory. If you watched Gilmore Girls as religiously as my sister and I did, and still do, you might get the reference. The Gilmores throw their granddaughter, Rory, her 21st birthday during Lorelei and Rory’s falling out period, and the bartenders create a signature cocktail for the occasion—the Rory. It is a very pink drink that Luke Danes, Lorelei’s soulmate, says is like “drinking a My Little Pony.”

While drinking a My Little Pony doesn’t sound appetizing (at least not to me), I caught my sister’s drift. I didn’t have to look far to find a cocktail that fit the description. The Messy Baker’s Raspberry Moscato Sangria did the trick!

Because berries are out of season, I stuck with only raspberries and strawberries to keep the cost down, but other than that the recipe stayed intact. I was happy with how the cocktail turned out, and I think my sister was too. It was very pink and very sweet, which is precisely what she had in mind.

For the full recipe, be sure to check out The Messy Baker!