Everyone might be feeling pretty fed up with the coronavirus quarantine. “Barefoot Contessa” host Ina Garten on Wednesday offered one amusing solution.
In a cheeky video Garten posted to Instagram, the Food Network star promised to walk viewers through her favorite cocktail recipe as a balm for “these stressful times.”
“You probably already have the ingredients right in your house,” Garten said, before launching into her recipe for a Cosmopolitan.
The first step, Garten said, was to haul out a big pitcher — "to make a lot of cosmos. You never know who’s going to stop by.
“Wait a minute,” she added. “Nobody’s stopping by.”
She then instructs viewers to add two cups of vodka — “good vodka,” she emphasizes, as she dumped a bottle of Grey Goose into the pitcher — and a cup of Cointreau, Triple Sec, or any other orange liqueur, as well as a cup of cranberry juice.
“I mean, how easy is this?” she says, as she pours some Ocean Spray in.
The final ingredient: A half-cup of freshly-squeezed lime juice.
“It has to be freshly squeezed. Very important,” she said. (Yes. . . because that’s what everyone has on hand in their kitchen right now.)
She then hauled out a cocktail shaker — “a big one” — half-filled with ice, and poured the contents of the pitcher in.
“Put the lid on and just shake it up,” she said, going to town with her own shaker. “Shake it for 30 seconds. You have lots of time, it’s not a problem.”
She paused to add, “During a crisis, you know, cocktail hour can be almost any hour.”
She finished the video with an important last detail: a “really good” martini glass.
“I’m going to show you the one I like,” Garten said, flourishing a comically oversized martini glass and filling it up with the shaker’s contents.
“Doesn’t that look fabulous? Nice and cold. And lots of it!” she said.
Garten ended by telling her viewers, “Stay safe, have a very good time, and don’t forget the cocktails,” before taking a big, refreshing sip.
The video elicited positive reactions from Katie Couric (“This. Is. Iconic”) and Reese Witherspoon, who commented with three tears of joy emojis.
Jaclyn Reiss can be reached at jaclyn.reiss@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter: @JaclynReiss