Simplicity may be overrated
My favorite drinks are simple, unfussy and don't have more than four ingredients. Like this: Gin, vermouth, olive juice.
Or gin, tonic.
Or just gin.
So I was nervous about ordering the Bada Bing at Bing Crosby's Restaurant in Rancho Mirage.
The list of ingredients was long and rambling, including blueberry vodka, prosecco, pomegranate juice, Hpnotiq fruit liqueur, a blueberry sugar rim and the kitchen sink.
But there's something seductive about the atmosphere inside the vintage piano lounge, which is filled with achingly dark wood and glamorous black and white photos. It just made me want to put on a slinky dress and hold a frou-frou cocktail in my hand. Something girly, something fun, something topped with blueberry sugar that sparkles in the candlelight.
Valley cafe is flush with natural slush
Love sweet and cool slushies? But hate the sugars, chemicals and god-knows- what that's inside of them?
Make friends with the fruit slushies at Palm Greens Cafe.
They're made from nothing but fresh juice and ice, sweetened with agave nectar — which means they're all natural and all delicious. No dyes, no fillers, nothing you can't pronounce.
The watermelon lime is nothing short of amazing. I can't seem to pull myself away from it long enough to try the orange ginger slushie.
Each glass of summertime goodness is $3.95.
Palm Greens Cafe is located in the Desert Sun Center, 611 South Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs.
Tell yourself it's good for you
Vitamins and antioxidants are important, so I make an effort to consume some fruit every day.
Like a ginger mango martini, for instance.
Now, I'm not claiming that this luscious libation at Dink's in Palm Springs is a health food ... but since it's made with fresh fruit, muddled with ginger, there's got to be something good for you in that glass.
The $12 drink also contains Malibu mango rum and champagne, making this my very favorite kind of fruit cocktail.
