The 10-minute happy hour can be as simple or as sophisticated as you like. For me, the fastest and most delicious way to enjoy happy hour is to use what I have on hand — not to go searching for something I don’t. This week blueberries and lavender were at my fingertips, thus resulting in a gorgeous pitcher perfect for the centerpiece of my weekend party, and a fairly impressive happy hour requiring little effort.

As our wardrobes change from flip flops to socks, fall cocktails typically turn golden brown (just like the leaves!) and pick up some warm spicy notes to keep us toasty. This pretty pitcher drink is a serious sip that captures all of the above. It’s a great choice for any fall gathering and it was a perfect match for the menu we planned for The Kitchn’s Thanksgiving Dinner Outdoors! Sangria and fruity Champagne pours aren’t the only cocktails that can be served in a pitcher!

For lots of us Cinco de Mayo kicks off spring so I felt it’s only proper to toast the warmer weather with another delicious version of the famed Margarita. This one is served on the rocks but would be equally as delicious buzzed up in a blender.Margaritas have morphed over the years from simple citrus, lightly sweetened tequila cocktails into basically any drink with tequila blended or on the rocks.

When the Oscars roll around, my husband and I usually shrug at the noms since we typically haven’t seen any of the movies. This year, though, the mythical gods of “free-time” shone down on us and we were able to squeeze in a few of the films we usually only hear about. So it seems we will have a reason to actually watch the ceremony for more than the red carpet.

This week’s 10-Minute Happy Hour is inspired purely by the long overdue dose of gorgeous weather here in the Northeast. My hubby had been outside shoveling mulch into our much-neglected gardens for about 5 hours now, so off I went in search of finding him the perfect cold drink to toast his hard day’s work. A bright orange box that shouted Perfect Margarita was just too hard to pass up. With all this sunshine there was no way we could hold out until Cinco de Mayo for margaritas.

Over the years I’ve had many close brushes with the famous Julia Child but I never had the pleasure of meeting her face-to-face. I did however get to interview her once via phone, and her words on wine still ring through my ears each time I crack open a wine list. She said, “A restaurant is only as good as its least expensive bottle of wine.” For that bit of wisdom my purse and my husband continually thank her.

IKEA is known for being intuitive to small space design and budget-minded shoppers. Apparently they are also in tune with the intense feeling of anxiety one experiences when approximately a third of the way through their store, thus requiring a stiff drink upon departure. So I was thrilled to find they offer two fun and cheap mixers along with those Swedish meatballs and dollar soft serves at check out. You see, everyone wins at the end of the IKEA maze.

Waxing poetic about what we love about summer has many of us here at The Kitchn raving about one fruit above all others: ripe summer peaches. From easy peach sorbet and peach pie ice cream to sparkling peach punch and white peach sangria, this food love affair is endless. Here’s one more recipe to add to the list! Peaches wrapped in proscuitto and tossed on the grill for a few minutes may be the easiest, most delicious summertime snack ever.

If you’re like me and have friends who celebrate Christmas, friends who celebrate Hanukkah and ambitious friends who celebrate both, this is the perfect cocktail to serve no matter what holiday is on hand. Campari is always a fave of mine in the aperitif category — that’s the before-dinner drinks.

The highly anticipated premiere of Downton Abbey’s third season is so close we can almost taste it. This Sunday night fans from coast to coast will be toasting the return of their favorite characters and a few new additions to boot. At my house we love any reason to have friends over and mix a few drinks, so this occasion suits us just fine. Since almost tasting isn’t good enough we’d like you to actually get a taste of Downton for this week’s 10-Minute Happy Hour.

Every Valentine’s Day, my husband and I celebrate with a bottle of Brachetto d’Acqui, an intoxicating, purply-red sweet sparkling wine from Italy that goes perfectly with a box of chocolates. This year we decided to switch it up and and enjoy our bubbly as an aperitif well before dessert. For that to be a success we needed something on the drier side.

Everybody knows that Brooklyn has made a huge comeback in real estate, restaurants and the cocktail scene. It’s only fitting this old school sip, named after the popular New York borough, is also showing face again. Like a Manhattan, the Brooklyn is a whiskey-based drink — preferably made with spicier rye whiskey. However, that’s where the similarities end.

The point of an aperitif it is to wake up your taste buds, readying them for the meal to come. For me, bubbly aperitifs are always a win. This week’s 10-Minute Happy Hour is a mash up of Spanish pours and a ripe Bosc pear, perfect for a refreshing, fall-inspired aperitif. Licor 43, also known as Cuarenta y Tres, is a sweet liqueur that reminds me of the cans of cream soda we sipped as kids. It’s oozing with vanilla and light citrus notes and a fun pour to keep at your bar.

In the past couple of weeks, thousands of parents packed lunches, stuffed backpacks, combed down cowlicks and put up proud posts on Facebook of smiling little ones headed back to school. For us, this meant our annual back-to-school party to kick off the new year, complete with water ice, tug-of-war, fireworks, and of course, a crowd-pleasing bar set-up —one suitable for both kids and parents.

So many desserts, so little time!  This week I have wanted every sweet that’s been posted from the Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Cake to all the desserts made with ricotta and mascarpone I make a lot of ice cream from scratch, but in a pinch I go for Haagen Dazs. It’s so creamy and the vanilla is a great vehicle for lots of flavors. I’ve added fresh mint or fresh basil and served on plum tarts or apple pie.

Memorial Day weekend is the official summer kick-off. Every year, this weekend marks the calendar with family picnics, backyard BBQs, and pool parties. In our neck of the woods, it inevitably rains, but that never stop us from celebrating like it’s sunny outside! Grab a pitcher and join me in turning summer’s favorite staple — lemonade! — into the perfect cocktail for happy hour.

This week’s 10-Minute Happy Hour was inspired by multiple factors. All the hype for Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee celebration this weekend has me in a royal state of mind. Then my darling friend Belinda, who also happens to be British, decided to have an intimate dinner party. Since I’ve been working mainly on mixed drinks as of late, I offered to bring a cocktail to kick off the evening.

When presented with a bowl, bag or basket sprinkled with jelly beans I’ve always gone straight for the red ones. When shaking up a jelly bean cocktail recipe it seemed appropriate to pay homage to my childhood favorite. This sip is sweet but not cloyingly so and it’s the perfect way to enjoy the nostalgia of an Easter basket in a grown-up glass. Maureen C. Petrosky writes what she knows: food, booze and parties.

For most of us the three, two or even one-martini lunch“Errands to Run” is a list of numbered drinks all named Suppressor, i.e.: Suppressor #1. The Suppressor is a new family of cocktails concocted by a bunch of Atlantan bartending friends, led by Holeman & Finch mixologist Greg Best. Suppressors are a mix of low alcohol spirits, wine, fortified wines or vermouth — essentially sips that are not too boozy.

I mentioned my search for the perfect Earth Day cocktail, and a friend laughingly said, “So basically your profession is just about finding any excuse to drink — an Earth Day cocktail, seriously Maureen?” It’s not an excuse to drink, but holidays and events do make me think about what I’m drinking. Which is basically the point of Earth Day — to think about this great big thing we’re standing on.

After many years waiting tables and working in restaurants my only brush with bitters was as the staff cure all for hangovers. After a late night we’d all belly up to bar for our daily drink of bitters and soda. It cured everything from a headache to indigestion. Then it was only Angostura but now with the cocktail craze comes the bitters boom, and yes a book dedicated solely to this aromatic flavoring agent.

The G & T (gin and tonic) has long been a standing favorite at happy hour. Believe it or not some people just don’t like gin and we’ve even heard of juniper allergies, so we replaced the G with V, added a little kiwi for vitamin C, and voilá we’ve got an equally refreshing sip that may just become a serious summer cocktail contender. This kiwi vodka and tonic is simple to whip up and makes for a gorgeous pitcherfull too.

It’s been over ten years since we lived in Georgia and yet we still miss those ripe sweet peaches. If you’re lucky enough to live where there’s a plethora you have no idea how the rest of us dread the hard little baseballs our grocery stores commonly passed off as peaches. Last year we decided we’d beat the system and plant our very own peach trees!

Five o’clock friends aren’t as much the norm these days as they were perhaps in our parents’ or even grandparents’ time. I think most people remember what their parents or grandparents drank (or still drink), and for food and drink freaks like us, these memories are precious and held dear to our hearts.

The sling, be it a gin, whiskey, rye or other is usually a mix of sweetened spirits and water. These sips pre-date the cocktail with the most famous of slings, the Singapore Sling, credited to Mr. Ngiam Tong Boon of Raffles Hotel in the early 1900s. Like most vintage drinks, it has undergone multiple transformations, often swaying dramatically from the classic. The original version is nostalgic for me. You see my family was passing through Singapore on my mom’s 50th birthday.

Most people are aware that Port wine is from Portugal. But not all are familiar with the fact that northern Portugal, home to all those rich Ports, also produces a slew of spritzy light white wine in the Vinho Verde region, and even fewer know how good this wine tastes when mixed with gin and served cold. Often Vinho Verde tops wine lovers’ lists for best sips of the summer. On a hot day, these light- bodied, crisp, acidic, spritzy whites are a perfect choice of drink.

The idea of using raw eggs in cocktails might freak you out, or maybe you’re more of an adventurous imbiber. It’s a given that eggnog has egg in it but there are whole categories of drinks containing this lovely little protein.Along with the Nogs there’re Fizzs — like the Sloe Gin Fizz, Sours and Flips. Sours and Fizz’s can be made with or without the egg and typically they call for just the egg whites. With Nogs and Flips you get the whole egg.

One bottle of ChartreuseIt didn’t take long to find it sings when mixed with gin and since we’d been on a Negroni kick this was perfect for shaking up our tried and true happy hour go-to. Instead of the Campari in a Negroni, we swapped it out for the emerald Chartreuse and added some orange bitters.Obviously, I was not the first to mix up this crew of spirits. In fact, this dates back to the turn of the century in Harry Johnson’s Bartender’s Manual.

At the close of each summer season there are a few things that comfort me knowing my flip-flops will shortly be replaced by fleece, and one of them is Grand Marnier. I fell for this soul-warming orange liqueur back in my days of baking and pastry classes at The Culinary Institute of America.It worked so well with sweets: we folded it into mousse, whipped it into cream, mixed it into all things chocolate, and yes we sipped it too.

Inevitably twice a year I lose my voice. My husband says it’s partly because of vocal fry, though I refuse to believe I sound like the Kardashians or even more offending, a teenage girl. I swear no vocal fry here. I just lose it. Before it goes for good, that same scratchiness sets in and immediately I turn on the teapot and break out the honey. This go-round, I believe it was two simple ingredients that saved my voice.

There’re so many elements of happy hour, besides the drinks, that I adore; the cocktail couture (you know — all the gorgeous glassware and suave shaker sets) the toasts, and of course the snacks, both on the bar and in the glass! True, Bloody Marys are known for hosting a delicious array of garnishes but I’ve found gin, and in particular this week, a brand spanking new batch from Michigan, to be just as ideal in transporting all sorts of amazing nibbles.

It’s a given that beer goes great with pizza, and if you’re seeking a softer sip you can’t go wrong with an icy fountain soda. Just back from a trip to Ireland, I couldn’t help wonder how well Irish whiskey would work on pizza night. An ice-filled glass, some Jameson Irish Whiskey splashed with ginger ale and I was well on my way to finding out. Jameson and Ginger is a well-loved easygoing mixed drink. My best friend Vanessa has always drank Jameson on the rocks.

Recently I’ve been spatially challenged by the plethora of beautiful bottles on my bar, each with only a smidgen missing. My goal this week was to make some room and use some of these space savers in a more practical and tasty manner. I’ve baked Chambord into cakes, made Midori into sorbet and mixed up more than a few drinks. And my two bottles of elderflower mixers set me to taste-testing as well as seeking a suitable cool weather sip for them.

It’s that time of year again when we get to throw costume parties, eat copious amounts of store-bought snack size candy, and dress inappropriately — all in the name of Halloween. Halloween happy hours can be as serious or sweet as you like them. A few years back, as a guest on NBC’s TODAY show, I had the chance to sip and shake with the authentic George Lucas-endorsed Yoda, Chewbacca and C-3PO, which for sci-fi nerds is about as serious as Halloween can get.

It goes without saying if you regularly read this column you like to mix up drinks for most any occasion, so why not one for election night? Perhaps you waited until the last minute to decide how you’ll cast your ballot and need a sip for pondering, or maybe you just want to toast the fact that the whole thing is finally over. Either way the El Presidente cocktail is the perfect pick for this week’s happy hour.

In my household we firmly believe a hot toddy will make you feel better than any cold or flu medicine you can buy. I’ve experimented with many versions and varieties and this simple soothing concoction always does the trick. It’s also excellent alongside all sorts of holiday treats from cookies to cakes making it your perfect pick me up for this week’s 10-Minute Happy Hour.You may wonder what is Rye Whiskey anyway?

Once a year, usually late December or early January, we receive a case of the sweetest pink grapefruits delivered to our doorstep. At first we love them. For breakfast, in salads, in cake and juiced. Then our citrus enthusiasm slowly begins to wane. There’s no avoiding the mound of softball- sized fruits each time I step into the kitchen. As with anything abundant in our culinary arsenal over to the bar they went. I decided it was time for them to have a go at the shaker.

This past holiday my husband’s co-worker, Janet, gave us a bottle of homemade Amaretto. I was instantly transported back to the memory of my first cocktail. Up to that point in time, the most sophisticated order I called across the bar was for Yuengling…in a bottle. Feeling a little fancy and a bit more mature one night, I strode up to the bar and confidently said, “I’ll have an Amaretto Sour.” I’d seen my mom sipping this once on the deck of cruise ship.

It’s that time of year again for little girls in green sashes to storm your grocery stores and go door to door to sell, sell, sell all sorts of wickedly tempting cookies. I have a ridiculous soft spot for Girl Scout cookies, almost every flavor. I’m not kidding. The first Girl Scout to hit me up, and without hesitation, I place an order.

When it comes to pairing food and drinks, there are three basic elements: complementing, contrasting and bridging. In relationships you could say the same. It’s the contrast, though, that can create the fireworks and often the passion. With the “Hallmark holiday” around the corner I set out to find a sexy cocktail suitable for toasting your sweetheart, but also one perfect for any happy hour in 10-minutes’ time.

A mid-day stop for flights of vodka and a caviar tasting with your mom isn’t a typical day in the life. Well, at least not my life! But on a recent blustery cold New York afternoon, my mom showed me a little sunshine in the romantically lit, over-the-top glamorous dining room of The Russian Tea Room. Considering it was a work day, I wasn’t able to fully partake in the vodka sipping, but I did find something just as indulgent, though less nap-inducing, on the cocktail menu.

All January, we worked through our case of grapefruit, and this month we’ve been tackling cases of Cuties, a.k.a. clementines. They’re the perfect portable snack with a shot of vitamin C for the whole fam. This week, I was tiring of chewing those little segments, so I grabbed the juicer to change things up. This refreshing Clementine Cocktail came shortly after. It’s juicy and refreshing, and perfect for this week’s 10-minute happy hour.

Lucky for me some of my oldest and dearest friends live very close by. Yet for some reason we still can’t seem to get together as often as we’d like. Recently, I was thrilled to pop out for a quick dinner with two of my best high school girlfriends, especially when one presented me with my name in lights. It was a bottle of vodka flashing brightly with, “Happy Birthday Maureen” scrolling across the bottle, and the inspiration for this week’s 10-minute happy hour.

Everyone loves to clink a green drink on St. Patrick’s Day. I enjoy color-coded cocktails and party-themed sips as much as the next gal, but it still has to taste good. To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, you could simply add a little green food coloring to your beer — or you could recognize you are no longer a college co-ed and toast the day with this classic green cocktail instead.

In my quest for the perfect Passover cocktail to share with you for today’s 10-Minute Happy Hour, my first instinct was to phone a friend. Since she converted to Judaism as an adult, I thought she would forgive my ignorance and be able to give me the inside scoop on what a kosher cocktail might look like. Her hard and fast answer was, “We don’t really drink cocktails. We just drink wine and champagne.”  Hmmm, I thought, that’s a start.

These frosty sips have made appearances in past seasons along with Martinis, Manhattans, Old-Fashioneds, and Stingers. Really any cold cocktail will suffice when throwing a Mad Men premier party. Just be sure to put out some Utz potato chips in your chip-and-dip serving set, a few bowls of bar nuts, and for a little added flare, packs of candy cigarettes.Maureen C. Petrosky writes what she knows, food, booze and parties.