Singleton Cosmo for Food ‘n Flix

I devoured the novel Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding upon its release in 1996.   It made the rounds among the girlfriends. We could all relate because we were singletons and thirty-somethings.   We all loved Colin Firth and we all were looking for Mr. Right.  We all suffered from body image angst.  (As a qualifier, I was dating Mr. Right at the time who later became The Hubs, but I did experience that “thirty-second year of being single.”)

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I know we went to see the film when it came out, but I truly didn’t remember any of the cinematic details, let alone food references, so I was thrilled to see Evelyne hosting this film for January’s Food ‘n Flix.

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I was surprised by the food inspiration I found in the film including Mother Jones’ infamous turkey curry and baby gherkins speared with toothpicks.  But the real stand out has to be Bridget’s birthday dinner of blue leek soup, omelettes, caperberry gravy and orange pudding (or parfaits—it was never really clear to me).   And that blue soup, looking like some sort of Willy Wonkaesque creation, stuck with me.

blue soup

I wanted to do some sort of a riff on this blue theme, but what to do—what to do….

Vodka also made many appearances in the film.   Hmmmm.

I thought a blue martini would fit the bill nicely.   But, when I was buying supplies at the local liquor store (including some Hpnotiq liqueur just in case all things went awry), the kindly clerk asked why all the blue stuff.   As I described this super creative Food ‘n Flix club to him, that we had just all watched Bridget Jones’ Diary, and that I wanted to make a blue cocktail instead of blue soup, he offered the following suggestion:  “Why don’t you make a blue Cosmo with white cranberry juice and swap out the Countreau for blue curacao?”

“You are a genius,” I responded.

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The rest is history.

Bridget Jones’ Singleton Cosmo

1 1/2 oz. vodka
1 oz. blue curacao
1 oz. white cranberry juice
splash of lemon juice

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in vodka, curacao, white cranberry juice, and lemon juice. Shake then strain into a martini glass.

Sip slowly while listening to some funk—as Bridget says, “I choose Vodka. And Chaka Khan.”

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Total irrelevant aside and please don’t think I’m a braggart:

In 1997, I appeared on two episodes of Jeopardy!  I won one game (enough $ just to pay for the trip to California) and barely scored the next round.   I was forced to focus on my buzzer quickness and was intent on just beating the other two opponents.  I was not so focused on being confident about my answering ability.   I will always remember one particular misstep.    All I heard Alex say was something about “a British author” and “a diary.”   I immediately rang in and answered “Pepys” because is there any more famous British diarist? (Remember, I’m an old English teacher.)  As soon as I said, “Who is Pepys?” I swear that Alex looked at me with a mixture of scorn and pity.   The correct response was “Who is Helen Fielding?”   I was appalled and embarrassed, especially since I had only recently read the novel and it was a favorite. Thus began my demise…that and the Final Jeopardy question that involved Yuban Coffee, a brand I had never heard of.

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Serve with some speared baby gherkins.

Totally irrelevant rhetorical question:  How many times was the “f” word used in this film?

This has to be a record for a chick flix.

Thanks again, Evelyne, for hosting.  Enjoy the cocktail and please join Food ‘n Flix in February as the featured film is the classic Lady and the Tramp (hosted by The Lawyer’s Cookbook).

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