spruce up your champagne toast!

I'm a sucker for champagne.

(Especially on New Years Eve!)

However, on this low-key New Year's night I will have to pass on the bubbly, with a bun-in-the-oven, after all. Yup, I am sticking to Pellegrino...but that doesn't mean our guests have to!

I'd like to share a cute way to make your champagne toast a little more fun and festive. First of all, let me say that one of my favorite holiday purchases this year was this rosemary "tree." I'm sure you noticed them at the grocery store: cute little shrub, looks like a pint-sized Christmas tree, smells like hhhhhheaven? Yeah, I bought one of those little lovelies. I set him on a small plate {to catch drainage} wrapped his base with some festive garland, and delighted in the fact that his black plastic pot acted as a fun little chalkboard:

Cute, right?

Back to the carbonated loveliness that is champagne. I found this garnish idea on a sweetener ad last holiday season, and finally am able to do it! {I am a firm believer of ripping pictures out of magazines and shamelessly using the ideas. Admit it. You do it, too!} Plus, this gave me an excuse to use my favorite stocking stuffer from hubby -- my herb mincer! Ain't she a beaut?

You'll need:

fresh rosemary (1/4 cup finely chopped and 1 small sprig for each champagne glass)

1 tsp lemon zest

1/4 cup water

several packets of all-natural sweetener

To make:

1. Combine chopped rosemary, lemon zest, water, and 1 packet sweetener in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Empty shaken concoction into a glass.

2. Take a sprig of rosemary, dip in mixture, allow excess to drip off.

3. Sprinkle the sprig with sweetener until a layer of "snow" covers it.

4. Set sprig on rim of champagne glass, fill with champagne -- or in my case, Pellegrino! -- and serve. Enjoy the Christmasy aroma with every sip!

PS: For some extra zip, pour a little of the mixture into the glass with the champagne!

Happy New Years Eve, my friends, old and new!

G