A Toast to Health, Happiness and Prosperity

As many of you know, this blog started as a way to share my recipes with my daughter as she headed off for college.  Six years later, my daughter has graduated and working as an event coordinator; more specifically, wedding planning.  She immerses herself in every detail of planning, discovering unique ideas and concepts to make dreams become reality.  She is following her passion and I so love that for her.

Wedding chat between us is obviously fairly frequent.  And more so, is her desiring to plan my wedding.  Mind you, there are currently no prospects in my life.  Which makes this all the more a fun, fantasy dream.

So, you can imagine my delight, when I was contacted by Carolyn, Community Manager at Lover.ly to share a cocktail to toast with at a fall wedding or afternoon affair!    Lover.ly is a one-stop-shop for wedding planning where brides and grooms find ideas, people to hire and things to buy.  It is a site my daughter knows very well and can easily spend hours browsing through!  Even if you are not planning a wedding, the creatively beautiful themes and displayed food shots are so inspirational for cocktail or dinner parties.

It didn’t take me but a second to know the drink I would choose. It’s not a cocktail recipe I crafted; nor does it involve the mixing and mingling of various spirits.  It’s simple, to the point, Italian tradition.  A toast of Sambuca, served neat (without ice) with three coffee beans floating on top.

The odd numbered, three coffee beans, represent three blessings of Health, Happiness and Prosperity.  Exactly what I would love to be blessed with at my romantic Tuscany inspired wedding!

The aroma of Sambuca is well known for its anise/liquorice spices but also has hints of mint and elderflowers.  As an herb based liquor, it is known to be a digestive, perfectly fitting to toast to the bride and groom following an Italian Feast, right before the finale dolce course of cutting the wedding cake!  And does not Amore translate to Love 🙂