I’m joining The Novel Bakers
for Lavender Week. . .
I’ve had a fragrant and delicious time with The Novel Bakers playing with lavender and searching for recipes!
I found several new beverages~ Lavender Lemonade and Lavender Margaritas, both perfect for summer and made with a lavender syrup or lavender sweet and sour mix.
Quattro Stagioni canning jars were boxed 4 for $5.99 at T.J. Maxx a couple of months ago, so I made a beeline for the check out counter!
The only canning I do is with watering cans, but I loved the bee skep design on the jars~ fun for vases or for sipping lemonade or enjoying a summertime cocktail!
The Bee’s Knees is a classic cocktail made with gin, lemon, and honey or honey syrup. I found a version from Bon Appétit with the addition of lavender added to the honey syrup for a Provençal twist!
I decided to make a Bee’s Knees version of lemonade for easier summertime sipping and just a wee bit of gin to enjoy as botanically inspired garden cocktail.
The Bee’s Knees with a Provençal twist,
courtesy of Bon Appétit
Makes 2 Cocktails
1/4 cup hot water
1 teaspoon dried culinary French lavender buds
1/4 cup honey
6 tablespoons gin
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Mix hot water and dried lavender blossoms in bowl. Let steep 5 minutes. Whisk in 1/4 cup honey. Strain into another bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of the honey syrup, gin, and lemon juice; strain into cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well and strain into 2 chilled Martini glasses.
For Bee’s Knees Lavender Lemonade, add equal parts honey lavender syrup to gin in a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake well and strain into a glass over ice, fill glass with lemonade.
You can make up a batch of honey syrup and store in a jar in the refrigerator up to a week. Once you add water to honey, it will start to ferment. If it sits longer than that, you’re making mead :)
Joining The Novel Bakers
for Lavender Week, July 22nd – July 28th~
a quiet life
Rattlebridge Farm
Once Upon a Plate
I hope you’ll make a beeline over to visit Jain, Michael Lee,
and Mari for more delicious and fragrant fun!
Looks and sounds great.
Mary, loved all your photos today…just beautiful! And I love those canning jars. Wish I might come across them one day as well. :)
How delightful! Love the little bee hive and the recipes look heavenly!
Love the lavender and that sweet bee hive is adorable….
The bumblebee photos were just enchanting. They are busy aren’t they! franki
~Mary~
You are the “Queen Bee” of putting items together! Always Love your pictures, you find the neatest things!!
Have a blessed day,
Paula
In.
Anxious to try the cocktail but with vodka. I enjoy a four o’clock cocktail out by the pool and just enjoying the outdoors. Love the summers in Maine.
Have a great day☀🌴
looks great, sounds great, I am sure it is great. Lavender would make my heart sing in anything!!! xo marlis
How did you get that bee to pose!!? Sign me up for a Bees Knee’s cocktail please~sounds perfectly divine…I can picture a Great Gatsby scene in the background! Love the bee skep, I didn’t even know what that was until I started seeing them about 6 months ago. Lovely Lavender Lemonade sounds really thirst quenching also :)
Jenna
Amazing photos of the BEES!!!! I have a BEE tablescape on right now:) Will be anxious to try this cocktail, but with vodka, not a gin girl:):) Have a GREAT weekend!!!! XO, Pinky
Beautiful!!!! I LOVE the Lavender tablecloth, where did you find it? It’s gorgeous! Every, single element of every table you design is so finished and carefully thought out right down to the finest detail and it shows. You have an amazing gift and eye for detail. thanks for sharing such a beautiful table with us.
Oh so inviting and charming
I love your post today! The jars are the cutest ones I have ever seen…have a bee-utiful day!
Such fabulous photos, Mary! Your lavender posts have been amazing!
Oh Mary, what dreamy, romantic photos you always take. Now I’m ready for one of your cocktails by the lake…..
Love this post today. I have to ask, where did the bee skep and jar come from???
Beautiful photography as usual. You are my favorite blog.
Thanks Diane! The jars are Quattro Stagioni canning jars, they came from T.J.Maxx 4 to a set. The Bee Skeps are from my retail days, I’ve had about 15 years. They are normally in my Potting Shed :)
Beautiful post!
Your tablecloth is divine and I love your bee skep! You are the Queen Bee of the week. You have done a lot of buzzing around preparing this great lavender series.
You are the master at finding the perfect details. You even get honey bees to show up at the photo shoot! With this stunning vignette, one might expect a swarm of bees wanting to join the party. I will look for a set of those jars. How perfect for serving lemonade at a picnic! Love the bee skep too. Where did you find it?
Impressive as always, but more so that you have that beautiful lavender in full bloom. Mine long ago dried up. I think I’ll try lavender in some pots next year. ;-)
Thanks for sharing all this lavender beauty! ~ Sarah
Sarah~ The Bee Skeps are from retail days, I’ve had for many years, the came from a company called Country Originals.
I join the chorus above….love the tablecloth, the jars, the bee skep and that wonderful little bee that keeps showing up in the different photos! I don’t care for gin, but the lemonade sans gin sounds particularly refreshing!
bees and lavender, its about as good as it gets in my book of wonder… those jars, omg i just ordered them, thank you very much! too bad i missed YOUR pricing :-(
your skep is adorable, but i am very smitten with the bees knees! that is one sweet little honey pot of recipe, even more perfect with my lavender honey i bet! i can’t wait to get stung by this :-)
your shots are fabulous, the lavender with the skep behind is classic beauty… you even managed to get the queen bee to come bless your libations. oh this was so delightful, i so love seeing everyone enjoy lavender across our great country, i can’t wait to make my very own version of this, it looks fantastic!
The lavender lemonade sounds wonderful!…and I so love how you placed the bee skep in the planter. The pics of the bee is just perfection. Is there a particular type of lavender that does well in our area?…I just swoon over the tables you create with the beautiful lake in the background!…
Oh yes, please fill one of the those pretty jars for me! (And after this week at work, I mean to-the-brim!!!) Very pretty pics Mary, I didn’t even know there were decorative canning jars out there:@)
Oh boy, another lavender cocktail for me to try!
You’ve taken lemonade to a place I didn’t know it could go. It looks so beautiful and refreshing. Your pictures are so lovely. It seems like this was a great week for your lavender adventures.
Oh, I can happily see my “lavender days” will go far beyond just this week, thanks to all of the fabulous things you have posted this week. I want to sample every one of them! Once again, I love your sense of style Mary,
I’m going to go back and enjoy the images again . . . pure eye candy!
Mary, I feel as if I’m right there with you, celebrating bees and lavender week. You have this wonderful sense of playfulness, blended with an eye for detail. You celebrate life–it just doesn’t get any better than this. xx
Mary, your whole post belongs in a story book! It tells such a sweet summer picture! I’m having a girl’s get together and this cocktail will be such a fun summer drink!!! YOU are the bees knees!
Hello, Mary! I’m reading your delightful posts I’ve missed this past week. I’ve missed a lot!!! This one is the perfect summertime post. Lovely!
My grandchild wanted to use that name for her lemonade stand :(