Inspired by Turning Japanese | The Vapors

French friends, I know you love your wine ! And you should. But let’s be honest it doesn’t really get the party started as our brazilian cocktails do.  My friends are always amazed of how little effort you need to make proper cocktails. The secret is : always have ice cubes (& to befriend the delivery man at adomicileglaçons.fr), some fresh herbs, some citrus & of course a shaker… the rest is just playing around. 

You’ve heard about capirinhas, but perhaps you are new to the concept of sakerinha? The name says it all…it’s not much different from a regular capirinha but saké really changes the game. In São Paulo, due to our huge Japanese community, when it comes to food & drinks it’s is safe to say we are totally turning japanese (by the way, have you seen Kirsten’s little snap out in 2012, not sure what to think of, but it’s cute – not as good as the Vapor’s 80’s – we love some 80’s!) as you can have saké based drinks almost everywhere – read : cool bar in a big city. They are commonly known as the ‘girls drink’ as they are usually a bit lighter and quite delicate to taste. To keep up, just drink +2 on your friends counting and you should be in the same page at the end of the night!

| Ingredients |

_ a bunch of strawberries

_ 5 cl of your favorite saké (don’t go crazy, as it will be mixed)

_ 1 cl of sugar syrup

_ fresh basil leaves

_ ice cubes

| Method |

This is super fast, simple and easy. Wash the strawberries and basil leaves and get ready to be finished within 3 minutes! Start by chopping the strawberries in smaller bites. Then pick a couple of basil leaves and crush them together along with the sugar syrup.

Crush it well, add the saké and ice cubes to taste (they don’t necessarily need to be crushed) & shake it with a strong will. Serve it on a chilled glass & you are done.

Please don’t use this recipe to get your girlfriends & feeble male friends voluntarily drunk !

♫ I’m turning japanese / I really think so…