Betty Blue's Loungerie: Cointreau Rendez-Vous

Last Thursday evening I was lucky enough to go to the Cointreau Rendez-Vous event. I was especially excited to be going as they had promised

"Upon arrival you will be greeted with a complimentary Cointreau drink and whisked into an intimate masterclass in the art of cocktail making. Throughout the evening, top fashion advisers from Wish Want Wear will be on hand to offer style tips and advice, as well as showcasing this seasons must-have designer gowns. For a chic finishing touch, expert nail technicians will be creating bespoke 'Cointreauversial' manicures."

Being a bargain hunter (code for cheapskate) I was especially drawn in by the complimentary drink and goodie bags we would be getting. And they did not let me down. Upon arrival we were given our drinks tokens (to left). I had requested 3 tickets to the event so I took along my fellow business women Ellen, of B Millinary, and Pip, of Pip Jolley. Cointreau were very generous and gave us two tokens each and there was also the cocktail that we made in our masterclass too, so a total of 3 free cocktails each. More than enough to get me sozzled!

On to the cocktail masterclass! We were taught how to make 'MargaDita's', Cointreau's take on the traditional Margarita. This is the man that taught us ---> there was also another man on hand to help if needs be. So what is in a MargaDita? Well here's what:

1 measure of Tequila
1 measure of Cointreau
1 measure of Fresh Lime Juice (not the bottled stuff!)
1 bar spoon of Rose Syrup
A pinch of Chipotle Spice (some sort of chilli powder)

Add ingredients and ice to a cocktail shaker and shake till the shaker is all frosty. Pour and enjoy!

Here you can see Ellen and Pip adding their healthy measure of Cointreau and Myself and Ellen shaking our tail feathers/cocktail shakers. The set up of the room and bar learning area was really proffessionally done with 3 to 4 people per bench and just enough people to make it feel busy but not so many you couldn't hear what was going on. The man teaching us was really easy to follow and the recipe really easy! The only slight nag I have is that the Monin Rose Syrup and Chipotle Spice are quite specialist ingredients and so may take a search on tinternet to find rather than being widly available in supermarkets.

I tweeted this picture to Dita and got a retweet from Mama Von Teese whoop!

The finished result! One perfectly formed MargaDita. The glass that it is in was part of our goodie bag (and it's real glass! Impressed!!!). The goodie bag had everything in it needed to be a host of a cocktail party......well sort of.

We got a rather snazzy paper bag and in it a mini plastic cocktail shaker, full size martini glass, mini bottle of Cointreau and a voucher for money off a full size bottle of the good stuff. Ellen's cocktail shaker was a metalic pink shaker whereas mine and Pip's were plastic. At first we were a little jelous but the plastic one has lines on it for the ingredients to make a Cointreaupolitan so it was just as good as the posh metal one :). The voucher also had another Cointreau cocktail recipe on it so we were given plenty of good ideas of what we can make at home, not just the MargaDita we made. And as our masterclass showed us, it is very easy to create amazing cocktails.

The next activity Cointreau layed on for everyone was a manicure a la Dita Von Teese.

Ellen and I being pampered and a shot of me with my manicure and the cocktail that I made. There was a limited choice of colour for nails, about 4, on the theme of Cointreau colours. The ladies were working really hard and there was a long queue of ladies waiting to have their nails manicured. I chose the traditional orange Cointreau colour for my nails.

The final activity Cointreau had organised was one that was a little dissapointing. A company with a rail of designer dresses were there. The point of their website is for women to hire expensive designer dresses instead of them having to buy them. A brilliant concept as many young people can't afford to buy designer dresses so being able to hire one for a special occassion is great. They had a rail of lovely looking dresses but, and here's the stinger, we weren't allowed to try them on :(. They were however running a competition for people attending to win an opportunity to hire a dress for a night for free.........or something like that, to be honest I was a little tipsey at this point.

The other notable thing and possibly the highlight of my night was the venue itself. It was held at the ninetyeight bar in Shoreditch, London. The decor was fantastically eccentric

I particularly enjoyed the blue plastic dinosaur that had potpourrie in! And the ducks on top of the spirit and liqueur bottles. We bumped into the owner of the bar and she was a lovely welcoming lady. So if you are looking for a fun, quirky and relaxed place to drink cocktails in, in London, go to the ninetyeight bar! Anyway the amazing potpourrie dinosaur was sitting on top of a piano..........so naturally in my drunken little head I had to play it. I have not played the piano in about 10 years, at least! But I had a go anyway and Ellen filmed it.

I thought Ellen was only going to take a picture so that is why I am grinning insanely and staying very still. And I clearly have hearing problems. I decided to play chopsticks because in my drunken mind that was the only thing I remember how to play, and I did a pretty bad job of it haha.

All in all it was a fantastic night with really good company. I'm a Cointreau drinker and cocktail maker at home anyway, but for those of you who aren't I urge you to try it. Making cocktails at home is not as difficult as you may think, and Cointreau have made it even easier for us. Head on over to their website and you can learn about their history and pick up loads of yummy recipes to try out at home. I even met the man of my dreams.