Thank you for all the tips on how to properly pick up for button bands. I could have sworn I had done it before but amazingly this is the first time I've knit button bands. Which would explain why I thought it would be a snap. Of all the techniques that I had to overcome while knitting Rambling Rose - intarsia, back and forth yoking with intarsia, back and forth yoking with shortrow shaping with intarsia - I really didn't think I'd be stumped by the button bands when all was said and done!

I don't have any more updates as far as that's concerned (it's still banished in a heap in some corner), so now...

...Here is this Tuesday's installment of my Favorite Things:

The Belle de Brillet Sidecar oooooooo

Belle de Brillet is a pear cognac. It is my very good friend. I am not a huge fan of pears nor cognac per se, but together they make a really lovely couple. This stuff is not exactly cheap ($40 a bottle) but really, you get what you pay for. You get some French. You get some class. You get it in a sexy pear-shaped bottle.

The cognac is not pear flavored, but pear infused, so this is about as far from the nasty, sickly sweet fake stuff as you can get. It's delicately pear-y, very floral, very smooth, and even after overindulging on a couple of sidecars (very easy to do), your mornings will remain hangover-free. And you'll think to yourself, Why, what a tasty little drink I had last night! I just might do it again real soon!

So treat yourself to a bottle and try it out. We make these when we have friends over and let me tell you, they're always a huge hit.

For a perfect serving of a Belle de Brillet Sidecar:
1.5 oz Belle de Brillet
1 oz cognac (optional, can substitute with more BdB)
1 oz Grand Marnier (or triple sec)
juice of half a lemon (absolutely no substitutes for the real thing!)
about 1-2 oz simple syrup, to taste (or dissolve 2 tsp of sugar in 1 oz of water)

Shake with plenty of ice, pour, and get ready to FALL IN LOVE.

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Filed Under: Cocktails | Tuesday is for Favorite Things