Rhubarb martinis for New Year

I try to keep New Year's simple, as from experience I know that this one evening of the year has the most potential to go horribly wrong. At least for me anyway, most people seem to think that it's the best night of the year - I think perhaps that's a part of the problem, the pressure to have a good time, people whooping around you everywhere you go, I just can't get that excited and end up feeling tired and grumpy. But luckily for me, I seem to have finally got the knack of it - keep it simple, stay off public transport, don't arrange to meet lots of people and make sure the people you do meet are on the same wavelength as you. Last night we kicked off with Rhubarb Martinis at a friend's house before going out dancing. These were introduced to me by my auntie in Holland, who got the recipe from a German neighbour (they live on the border). Apparently, it's been in her family for years, passed down the generations, so it's a little bit special. You need a good quality, unsweetened rhubarb syrup. We bought this one in Germany, as you can see, but I reckon you may be able to buy a similar one in a health food store, or perhaps online. Make sure you mix the vanilla sugar in really well with the vodka first. Needless to say, the vodka needs to be ice-cold. We used Wyborowa. Then shake vigorously with ice and strain into a martini glass. Or a desert glass if you don't have any. And if you can't find any vanilla sugar then you can replace that with caster sugar and vanilla essence

Rhubarb Martini - serves two

500ml Rhubarb syrup

500ml Vodka

2 Tblsp Vanilla sugar

Happy 2012!