When one thing leads to another:Dessert to drinks

The other night I made this dessert, Cornmeal Pound Cake with Rosemary Syrup Poached Pears and Candied Rosemary, for my book group from a recipe on Epicurious.com that was brought to my attention ages ago by one of my first blogger friends, Libby, who used to blog here but now blogs over here. Still with me? I think it's important to give credit where credit is due and keep this all straight.

From epicurious.com

Anywhoo, I was also inspired by the fact that it's the beginning of pear season and by these beautiful little Forelle pears I found at my produce market.

And it doesn't hurt either that I have an enormous rosemary plant in front of my house (it's one of the few things deer won't eat). Making this made my house smell really good.

You not only get this wonderful candied stalks (good for munching and then picking your teeth), but you also get rosemary syrup.

The dessert was lovely and the flavors a nice combination, but I had quite a bit of candied rosemary and rosemary syrup left over. What to do with these? I put the question to readers on my Facebook page and received a truly inspired answer:

Rosemary Pear Martinis

From Urban Girl's Almanac at www.urbanalmanac.blogspot.com

I had some Pear Absolut vodka left over and couldn't swallow the price of the pear brandy that most recipes I found called for. Here's what I did to make a batch for kicking off Sunday dinner with the MIL:

4 oz. pear vodka

4 oz. regular vodka

juice of one Meyer lemon

a few tablespoons of rosemary syrup, to taste

candied rosemary for garnish

You know what to do: Shake on ice and pour. The MIL loved it and thought it gave her a good excuse for cheating at dominoes before dinner.