Glamour Gal Martini

My sister Susie and I have been friends with Brenda and Melanie Vieux for several years, and we’ve have had a lot of fun times with the Vieux girls, such as trips to Mexico, “sibling” dinners in San Francisco, trips to the beach, and just hanging out. Urban legend has it that their father Don Vieux, a well respected rancher in Alameda County, would make deliveries to our grandparent’s ranch in the Livermore Hills and would spend time chatting with our grandmother Ione. Our grandmother was one of the kindest people you could ever meet and Don assumed the rest of the family followed suit, so he encouraged Brenda and Melanie to forge a friendship with us. Boy, did we have him fooled! 

The Vieux family has lived and ranched in the hills high above Fremont since Brenda and Melanie’s great grandfather Octavien Vieux immigrated to the United States from France in the late 1800s. Brenda and Melanie grew up in the house their grandfather built on the ranch that overlooks the San Francisco Bay and cities of Fremont, Newark, and Union City. Evenings at the Vieux ranch offers a view of beautiful sunsets and the twinkling lights of the cities below. 

Susie and I have been fortunate to attend many events and dinners at the Vieux’s house. The meals are usually prepared by Brenda and Melanie’s mom, Ralene, and complemented with salad, dessert, or cocktails made by Brenda and Melanie. Unfortunately, life has a way of complicating things, so we don’t get together as often as we used to. We recently, however, made plans to get together for a potluck. Those plans then morphed into a dinner that was prepared by Ralene and complemented with dishes and cocktails made by Brenda and Melanie. As usual, the food and company was outstanding.

Melanie made some beautiful cocktails that night and if not metered, they can knock your socks off. I still can’t find the socks I wore that night.  The recipe is below.

Glamour Gal Martini

Ingredients

• 2 oz vodka
• ½ oz fresh lemon juice
• ½ oz fresh lime juice
• ½ oz simple syrup or 1 tsp sugar
• Drop of crème de cassis

Instructions

Rim a martini glass with crème de cassis and sugar.* Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into the martini glass. Finish the cocktail with a drop of crème de cassis on top.

*To rim the martini glass, first dip rim of glass in a shallow dish filled with crème de cassis and immediately place rim in another shallow dish with sugar, rotating the glass to ensure the whole rim is covered.

Note to the Vieux’s:  I’m still working on my thank you card.

~merry~