Grog Nog

 A pitcher of this makes a great start to any party, but no one needs to drink to have fun. Find the joy in the season.

Grog Nog:

Two 10-oz. (300 mL) cans sweetened condensed milk

5 c. (1.1 L) water

2 c. (500 mL) brandy

1 c. (250 mL) dark rum

4 large egg whites (see Note)

Dash of nutmeg, as garnish

Stir together milk and water in a large bowl. Add brandy and rum; set aside. Beat egg whites to soft peaks in small bowl. Fold into milk mixture and pour into punch bowl or pitchers. Garnish with nutmeg. Yields about thirty 3-oz. punch-cup servings.

Note: Because they’re consumed raw, packaged, pasteurized egg whites are safer for use than raw egg whites in this and similar recipes. You’ll find pre-packaged pasteurized whites in your grocer’s dairy case.

Further Note: Be sure to offer a non-alcoholic alternative at any party! I recommend my super-easy hot Spiced Apple Punch, Mulled Apple Juice, or Pink Lady Punch as non-alcoholic alternatives at any party.  

Long Island Iced Tea

Here’s everyone’s perennial favorite for warm summer days! We’re still on the road - but would never take this drink along for the ride.

Long Island Iced Tea:

1 jigger vodka
1 jigger tequila
1 jigger dark rum
1 jigger gin
1 jigger orange-flavored liqueur such as Triple Sec, Cointreau, or Grand Marnier
1-½ jiggers sweet-and-sour bar mix
1 quick splash Coca Cola (as in “Things go better with …”)

Combine ingredients in a pitcher, stirring in crushed ice. Pour into tall glasses, garnishing with a lemon twist. Serves one idiot or three normal people.

Dark ’n’ Stormy

A few years ago, I lived next door to a glamorous, exotic, talented, and worldly woman who knew a little about a lot of things. One of the things Mairuth knew about was home-made ginger beer - she gave me her recipe, but I have yet to try it. Although ginger beer is commercially available and perfect for the recipe that follows, she used her home-made variety to prepare a drink as exotic as she was: A Dark ’n’ Stormy. She’d enjoyed this drink in places as far-flung as Bermuda and Papua New Guinea. And here’s how to make it!

Dark ’n’ Stormy:

One chilled highball glass 
1-½ oz. dark rum (see Note)
Ice, as desired
Ginger beer, to top off
½ a whole lime per glass

Measure rum into glass, adding ice cubes. Add ginger beer to an inch below top of glass. Halve a whole lime, popping it directly into glass. Add cocktail straw and serve. Yields 1.

Note: The traditional, Bermudian drink is made with Gosling’s Black Seal Rum. No one sells it in the Time Zone and at the Latitude where I live, so I use the darkest rum I can find. As the legend goes, the “storm” doesn’t subside until you finish the drink!

The Best HBR in the Universe!

Stuff happens when you least expect it! On Christmas Day, I caught the flu - big time! We canceled our plans, made polite excuses, and I went to bed. That’s when Ron made me The Best 

HBR: A mug of comfort

HBR in the Universe. I’ve never had a better Hot Buttered Rum. Best of all, you don’t have to be sick to enjoy it!  

The Best HBR in the Universe:

2 tsp. butter (not margarine)

2 tbsp. brown sugar

⅛ tsp. cinnamon

⅛ tsp. nutmeg

Boiling water

2 oz. dark rum
Cinnamon stick, for stirring

Add first four ingredients to a 10-oz. mug. Stir in boiling water until butter melts. Add rum. Top up mug with boiling water. Add cinnamon stick. Sleep soundly.

Ron’s Mojitos

Mojito! The very word sounds exotic: MO-HEE-TO. Summer is upon us, in the Time Zone and at the Latitude Where I Live. The restless rush of hot and sweaty days will too soon end. On such days, I cook less and drink more. Contrary to the many rumors swirling around the Internet, I do not have “man hands.” Those are Ron’s mitts in the photos below. MO-HEE-TO: Here’s how.

Ron’s Mojitos:

Ice, and plenty of it

1 c. (250 mL) light rum

8-to-10 broken mint sprigs

1/4 c. (60 mL) fresh lime juice (about 2-1/2 medium limes)

5 tbsp. (75 mL) granulated sugar

Chilled club soda, for topping drinks

2 whole mint sprigs, as garnish for glass

2 slices of lime, as garnish for glass

To double-frost glasses, freeze two tall and sturdy highball glasses for 15 min. Remove from freezer and splash very quickly with cold water. Water will freeze on contact, thickening the glasses’ sheath of ice. Return to freezer. Pour rum into drink shaker, adding broken mint sprigs. Refrigerate 30 min. to allow flavors to blend. Add lime juice, sugar, and 2 c. ice cubes to shaker. Cover, shaking vigorously until exterior of shaker becomes frosted, about 30 sec. Remove highball glasses from freezer. Strain from shaker, pouring into iced glasses. Top with club soda, a sprig of mint, and lime slice perched on edge of each glass. Pop in a straw and serve immediately. Yields 2.

Assemble what you need.

Don't forget this!

Add some fresh mint to your drink shaker.

Squeeze a few limes.

Pour the juice into the drink shaker.

Add the sugar.

Add the ice. Shake it 'til you make it!

Strain and pour - more, more, more!

For a good time, slice a lime.

And present your refreshing beverage. Bottoms up!

Ron’s Winter Solstice Coffee

In the Time Zone and at the Latitude Where I Live, we’re less than a week away from the shortest day of the year! Happy Almost-Winter-Solstice!

Husband Ron is very naughty. He knows I promised I’d give you a couple of final candy recipes before presenting you with a number of baked treats, several interesting appetizers, and a few main-course holiday suggestions. Yesterday, he took me away from all that, reminding me how important it is for each of us to take the time to relax at this busy time of year. Center yourself, feel grounded, get plenty of sleep, and do only what your time and energy levels allow - no more! 

The recipes I promised will wait until tomorrow. Ron gathered me up and stole me away on a three-hour walk past mountain and marsh, where we spied a patient heron on the look-out for lunch, a pair of bald eagles cozied up on a branch, a small and very dead mole, a woodpecker, and - sunken deeply into the frozen mud along our path - the cloven prints of a heavy, fully grown deer. 

Trudging along, I thought how much most of us have, and what happiness there is in nature’s intricate patterns of what we see as simplicity. When we’d reached the forested outlook that was our destination, Ron pulled out the sandwiches he’d made, along with a large flask of the Winter Solstice Coffee that will see you (children, cover your eyes) through the chilliest day. His recipe follows!

Ron’s Winter Solstice Coffee:

4 c. (1 L) strong, hot coffee

1 oz. (30 mL) brandy

1 oz. (30 mL) Grand Marnier

1-½ oz. (50 mL) dark rum

¼ c. (60 mL) heavy cream, unwhipped

Serve straight from a flask, for your winter picnic. Makes 2 servings. 

Scenes from a winter walk in the Time Zone and at the Latitude Where We Live: Happy Almost-Winter-Solstice! Enlarge the photos by clicking on each.

 

When we arrived home, Ron began playing French love songs on the sound system. After that, I forgot about cooking and everything else.

Fish House Punch

This powerful punch has been a favorite since its invention in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, in 1732.

Alcoholic Fish House Punch:

2 tbsp. basic Simple Syrup (see Note) 

2 tbsp. fresh lime juice (or 3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice)

1 - 26 oz. (750 mL) bottle cognac

1 - 40 oz. (1.14 L) bottle light rum

1 c. peach or apricot brandy

3 - 26 oz. bottles (750 mL) sparkling white or rosé wine 

Ice cubes

Combine and stir all ingredients in large punch bowl. Makes 40 punch-cup size servings. 

Note: To make basic Simple Syrup, boil equal parts of sugar and water together 5 min. before chilling for future use.

Note: This punch packs a wallop! Because of that, your guests may consume less than the standard guide of three punch-cup servings per-person. 

Raising the Monkey Bar: Three Tropical Drinks

I must confess a few truths, Dollinks. I’m normally a light drinker, but on our recent holiday to a warm, faraway place, I allowed myself to enjoy too many tropical drinks as the monkeys screamed in the jungle. And what did they scream, you ask?

“Eeee-eeee-eeee!” Translation: “Don’t eat our bananas!” Animal lover that I am, I paid attention - and drank their bananas instead, downing more than a few banana cocktails during our vacation. Let me tell you, peeling bananas in Paradise is a whole lot more fun than peeling potatoes at home.  

But home, we eventually came. You know the drill - do the laundry, stock the fridge, buy a bunch of - erk! - bananas. I drank them all. In one hour of testing - ever testing - drink recipes for you.

Don’t try this at home! Don’t … drink … three … boozy … banana … cocktails … in a 60-minute span. I felt sick. I was reeling. But on I pressed in the line of duty. I’d cribbed three banana cocktail recipes from bar menus and was determined to relive my vacation experience. I had to stop when I ran out of bananas, too swoozled to make dinner and too stuffed with bananas to care. I will probably never peel another banana. “Eeee-eeee-eeee!” Look who’s a monkey, now! 

Dizzy Monkey:

Three 5-oz. glasses of crushed ice, divided

1 jigger Irish Cream liqueur (or make your own!)

1 jigger coconut liqueur 

½ jigger vodka

1 banana, mashed

Add 2 glasses of crushed ice to martini shaker or blender. Measure in liqueurs, vodka, and banana. Vigorously shake or whirl in blender. Serve over remaining glass of crushed ice in a chilled old-fashioned glass. Decorate with an unpeeled, wide slice of banana, sliced midway up the center and perched at the edge of the glass. Serves one.

Note: If you don’t have an ice crusher, use a rolling pin to pound ice cubes sealed in a Ziploc bag wrapped in a towel. A heavy-duty blender will also crush ice. Don’t peel the banana you slice to decorate your drink; keep the slice generous and it won’t fall apart. Make a small slice halfway through the banana chunk, perching it on the glass. Pop in a straw. 

Pour Irish liqueur over ice in shaker or blender.

Add coconut liqueur or rum with coconut flavoring.

Monkey Juice:

Three 5-oz. (148 mL each) glasses of crushed ice, divided 

1 jigger coconut cream (or ½ jigger coconut milk plus ½ jigger heavy cream)

1 jigger light rum

1 banana

Add two glasses crushed ice to blender. Measure in coconut cream, rum, and banana. Whirl on high speed. Serve over remaining crushed ice in chilled glass. Decorate side of glass as desired, with banana slice, a sliver of star fruit, or a chunk of fresh pineapple. Serves one.

Add coconut cream (or coconut milk and heavy cream).

Together with light rum.

Prepare banana garnish.

Serve and enjoy!

Funky Monkey:

Two 5-oz. 5-oz. (148 mL each) glasses crushed ice

1 jigger almond liqueur

1 jigger gold rum

1 jigger heavy cream

1 small banana

Add two glasses of crushed ice, almond liqueur, gold rum, heavy cream, and banana to blender. Whirl on high speed. Decorate chilled glass as desired, adding a straw. 

Add crushed ice to blender.

Add heavy cream.

Pour into chilled glasses and decorate.

Note: To chill drink glasses fast, fill them with ice cubes. 

No more monkey business! This is a Banana-Free Zone.

Caren McSherry’s Party Punch

This wonderful recipe originates with Canada’s Caren McSherry, owner of The Gourmet Warehouse in Vancouver, which I consider a candy store for cooks. Each time I visit that store, I learn how many things I didn’t know I needed!

Caren McSherry’s Party Punch:

1 - 12-oz. (355 mL) can frozen orange juice concentrate (undiluted)

1 - 12-oz. (355 mL) can frozen grapefruit concentrate (undiluted)

1 - 12-oz. (355 mL) can frozen pink lemonade concentrate (undiluted)

2 - 40-oz. (1.2 L each) bottles cranberry cocktail 

2 - 25 oz. (750 mL each) bottles ginger ale

2 - 25 oz. (750 mL each) bottles soda water

Vodka or rum, to taste (optional; I use about 5 cups, or 1.2 L)

Ice cubes

Whisk the undiluted concentrates together in a large punch bowl or spigot-pour container. Add vodka or rum, if desired. Add ice cubes just before serving. 

Helen Manson’s Party Punch

My dear friend Helen Manson is a gifted cook who lives on Vancouver Island. Her “slushy drink” recipe is suitable for serving smaller groups; I like to serve it in a Margarita glass topped with a straw and a mint sprig. The great thing about this punch recipe is that you can keep it premixed in the freezer. What I like best about this recipe is that I think fondly of Helen when I make it!

Helen Manson’s Party Punch:

48 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice

1 - 12-oz. (355 mL) can frozen lemonade concentrate (undiluted)

1 - 12-oz. (355 mL) can frozen limeade concentrate (undiluted)

2 - 12 oz. (355 mL each) cans 7-Up (non-diet)

20 oz. (600 mL) white rum

Combine all ingredients well. Freeze in a covered ice cream bucket. Mixture will be slushy. Scoop into serving glasses, returning bucket to freezer. Makes 26 punch-cup size servings.

Note: I don’t omit the alcohol from this yummy by-the-glass summer concoction!