I have a soft spot in my heart for animals and pets, especially felines. At home, my fiancé and I have a 5 year-old cat named Chloe and 2 red-eared slider turtles, but when I saw the news on September 7th about a kitten being rescued from a storm drain, I had a feeling we might have to make room for one more house mate.
I saw the story first surface on Local 10 ABC News in Miami. The news crew had shined their camera lens down a long, dark and filthy storm drain littered with empty bottles and trash, and amidst all of the debris was a baby kitten. She was shaking and smothered with mud. My heart broke for a moment. Luckily, a local team of Miami firefighters was able to retrieve her out of the drain and rinse her off. They also kept her for a bit until she could find a home, but with a worsening eye infection, they had to take her to Knowles Animal Clinic for treatment. If you are in the Miami area, they have many more rescue kittens who need homes!
After a couple of weeks of communication with the clinic, one of the supervisors chose me to take home Storm (out of a long waiting list of hopeful adopters), and I freaked out with happiness and excitement! I booked my flight the next day and flew to Miami to pick up little Storm and bring her back to Los Angeles with me. Crazily enough, the same news station that covered the original story came by to interview me and check in on Storm. You can read more about my adventure here. Anyway, Storm is now home safe in L.A. and adjusting to her big sister cat, Chloe.
Tomorrow, coincidently, I will be attending the Peacock Foundation’s 11th annual charity event in Studio City, California. One of the Peacock Foundation’s purposes is engaging youth through animals to create connections. It’s a great cause for animals and children, and I’m excited to be a participant. In honor of Storm and her story and the event itself, I created a new cocktail that attendees can taste on Saturday called The Purr-fect Storm!
The drink will be a great cool-down cocktail for a warm outdoor day and it’s packed with antioxidants and vitamin C. So, if you’re in Los Angeles and you’d like to participate for a great cause and have fun, then make sure to come to CBS Studios in Studio City tomorrow and stop by our table to try our Purr-fect Storm cocktail! We may even have the special guest herself there, but I can’t make any promises. Check out our recipe below if you want to make if for yourself and cheers!
Place all of your ingredients in a shaker tin.
*Lavender Syrup:
Since this drink already has a natural sweetness from the pink lemondade, our simple syrup will be a little less sweet. To make, boil 3/4 cup of sugar and 1 1/4 cup of water, with a tablespoon of culinary lavender, until sugar becomes dissolved. Let simple syrup cool, then strain through a wire mesh strainer to remove lavender. Store in the refridgerator for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container. This amount should make 10-12 cocktails.
