Friday Cocktail: The Crazy Daisy

It's been a bit of a week. The patience of my entire household and I has been tested to the limit by a certain fluffy, golden, butter-wouldn't-melt puppy of ours. Daisy.

Ah, Daisy. She was so cute when we first got her:

But then she grew and grew, and six months down the line she's a big, bulky, boisterous tornado of a dog, and you wouldn't believe the things she gets up to. When the clock struck midnight and we saw in the first day of 2014, she took advantage of the kissing, hugging and Auld Lang Syne singing and snuck upstairs to eat an entire box of flumps I'd got for Christmas. They then colourfully reappeared the next day.

And this week, she's discovered The Kitchen Bin and all its many wonders - from 4-day-old eclairs (and the box and plastic it comes in), to envelopes, to CD cases AND THE C.D INSIDE IT - all of which have ended up in hundreds of tiny pieces scattered around the entire house. Not to mention the muddy paw prints on the stairs, on the walls, ON MY BED, and the barking every time an animal appears on TV.

She's tested us to the point of distraction this week, so I decided we needed a big, boozy cocktail, and who better to name it after than the one that made our need for it so pressing?

A 'brandy daisy' cocktail has existed in various forms for decades, so I've created my own little version especially for our own (unhinged) Daisy. It's somewhat bittersweet, rather like owning Daisy is, and is best served ice cold (scroll down for the recipe.) Refreshing, zingy and moreish (she can be most of those things too, I suppose.)

As you can see, Daisy appeared to approve:

Two crazy daisies.

The Crazy Daisy cocktail recipe (serves one)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 shots French brandy
• 1 shot rum
• 1 shot freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1.5 tsp grenadine
• Soda water, to top up
• One cherry, to garnish

Shake it!

1. Pour the brandy, rum, lemon juice and grenadine into a cocktail shaker filled with ice, and shake it like a dog's tail at dinner time for around 7 seconds.
2. Strain into a champagne coupe or old-fashioned glass.
3. Top up with soda water and pop in the cherry.

Happy weekending!