Thirtsy Thursday en Francais

BIG night tonight. My friend Ashley and I are having sushi at Sakura and going to the Bryan Adams concert! First of all, Sakura is without a doubt the best place to eat sushi in Memphis. And that is a scientific fact. It’s actually located in Germantown, about half an hour away from the city center. The most endearing part about dining at Sakura is that the décor is a traditional Japanese steak house. It’s not a trendy sushi restaurant that has plush lounge seating, dim lights and chic cocktails. You would not even know that sushi is their specialty judging from the looks alone.  

I’ll admit that I used to turn my nose up at the word sushi. Raw fish couldn’t possibly be appetizing. Wrong! I love it. And when you have a craving for sushi, nothing else satisfies the need. If you’ve never had sushi or are convinced that you wouldn’t like it, take baby steps. Start out with a California roll. It’s just raw vegetables, no fish. From there try the shrimp tempura roll because it is fried. As you start to acquire the taste for it, try maki sushi with the spicy tuna roll. It’s raw; but I think the spicy tuna roll is one of the easier ones to help make the transition into being a sushi aficionado.

After Sakura we will travel around the corner to the Germantown Performing Arts Center where Mr. Bryan Adams will entertain us with acoustic renditions of his classics like “Summer of 69” and “Forgiveness”. I can’t wait. Whether you’re a Bryan Adams fan or not, nothing beats the experience of live music. It separates the singers from the artists and the posers from the true entertainers. Can you believe it was sold out?

On another note, it’s Thirsty Thursday! Which means it’s a good opportunity to feature some of my favorite French cocktail recipes. If you’re having a nice quiet evening home, perhaps you’d like to shake up a French martini to accompany your coffee table coaster. Or if you’re headed out to ring in the weekend, try a French 75; I love anything with champagne.

French 75 - makes one serving
Ingredients:
1 oz gin
1 oz Cointreau
Squeeze of lime
1 sugar cube
Champagne, chilled
Preparation: Place the sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne glass. Strain in the gin, Cointreau, and lime, and then top the cocktail with champagne.

French Martini - makes one serving
Ingredients:
2 oz dry gin
1/4 oz raspberry liqueur
1 oz pineapple juice

Preparation:
Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes.
Shake well.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Kir Royal - makes one serving
Cassis (1-2 tablespoons or 15-30 ml)

Champagne (about 6 ounces or 150 ml)
Flute or Champagne Glass

When I think of French cocktails, I think of Pink Martini. The group is from Portland, Oregon, and they cross different genres of music to cover sounds from all over the world: French, Italian, Spanish, etc. Funny enough I had their album “Sympathique” when I was in high school but had forgotten about them until now. Looks like I might have found my next album to play on repeat. This video for "Je ne veux pas travailler" is hilarious. Being proficient in French, I actually like how the video gives you definitions to some of the words in the song; so you can understand the concept behind the lyrics. Basically, the singer doesn't want to work. She doesn't want to have lunch. She only wants to forget, and so she smokes.



This Thursday kicks off my weekend extravaganza because tomorrow I’m headed to Dallas, TX! I'm visiting one of my best friends and old college roommate. So be sure to check in tomorrow when I’ll post photos from the concert and close ups of some seriously amazing sushi rolls from Sakura.