The first time I tried one of these absolutely dreamy concoctions was at Blue in Omaha, NE. I think they taste best when the olives are freshly stuffed, but even with the ready-made blue cheese stuffed olives, they are so delicious. I made this guy to sip as I watched and LiveBlog-ed during the Real Housewives of New Jersey on Tuesday. 

Instructions…

First either stick your martini glass in the freezer, or fill with ice and water to chill the glass while you are playing Tom Cruise (pre-scientology/creepy Katie Holmes phase) in Cocktail. Remove pimentos from olives and stuff with blue cheese crumbles. These can be soaked in vermouth. I prefer not to so I can eat the extras. And yes, I ate all of these, plus some in one sitting.

Add vodka, olive juice, and ice to a shaker and do the obvious for about 10 seconds. Then I empty the chilling martini glass or grab it from the freezer. Throw a splash of vermouth in there and swirl around. I dump most of it out, but use your judgment depending on how dry you like yours. Next, strain your vodka/olive juice mixture into the martini glass and add as many of the these babies (above) as you’d like. Sip slowly as one or two will usually do the trick. These are so delicious that it can become a bit dangerous. You should just take my word on that one. But they truly are delightful. 

Instructions…

Mix together rum and sugar in pitcher until sugar is mostly dissolved. Add fruit, cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. You can let it sit overnight.

Add orange juice and wine and serve over ice. Very potent (huge plus, no?!)! Serves about 4 (depending on how many lushes will be in attendance).

And though it looks and tastes divine, it is ok to use cheap red wine and rum in here. Your guests will never even have an inkling…until they wake up the next morning with a horrible hangover. But they can’t really blame you at that point now, can they? This recipe is quick to make (minus the time it is marinating it’s fruity goodness in the frig when you can be doing other things), looks pretty fancy in a glass pitcher, and is pretty inexpensive, even if you do use decent or even good wine and rum. But trust me, they’ll never know the difference. And don’t forget to eat the tasty booze-soaked fruit slices when you are done. That is where the magic is!