Cocktails At The Burn Pit -- Sharknado 2

Why did they decide to premiere Sharknado 2 on a Wednesday night.  Everyone knows that watching Sharknado 2 required copious amounts of alcohol.  Yes, perhaps a Wednesday would have been a good night for Sharktopus 2, but Sharknado... come on.  If you are like most people, you taped it to watch this weekend after several drinks.

We though about  frozen, blue drinks but none were around.  If you have someplace with blue Icees, do grab a couple.  In lieu of that we though of a nice, fruity, sparkling drink that would work with, or without the Sharknado swizzle stick.

Blackbarb Fizz

1 ounce Art in the Age Rhuby Rhubarb Tea
4 drops orange bitters
Izze Sparkling Blackberry

Add the Rhuby and bitters to a tall glass of ice.  Fill to the top with Izze Blackberry.  Stir with a Sharknado Swizzle stick.  Or a plain swizzle stick.

I promise that the Sharknado swizzle stick is very cool on the initial spin.  With each additional spin, the gummy sharks get a bit limp, much like the plot of Sharknado 2.  To make one, all you need are some gummy sharks, several pieces of wire at varying lengths. (We found unfolded paper clips were just sturdy enough.) A bamboo skewer and a bit of tape.  Cut the bamboo to a height just above your glass.  Then tape on the wires, skew the gummy sharks.  Give it a spin.  In retrospect, we would freeze the gummy sharks first to make them easier to work with.  Go ahead give it a try.

Cocktails At The Burn Pit -- Rehoboth Edition

No, I am not at Rehoboth.  But this shark was. 

My friend, Catherine, has a big old house in Rehoboth and I am always getting photos of soft-shell crabs, shrimp, and beach drinks.  Last time I was there, Catherine's mother, who is a tad bit older than I,  took me on a walk.  I kid you not, Celia walked me practically to New Jersey.  I was pretty sure I saw Chris Christie.  Then I had to walk back.  Seriously, I couldn't let her walk back alone and then send a car for me because I had collapsed!

Recently, on that very beach, a shark came ashore.  A live, moving shark.  I told them to be careful out there walking on that shark infested beach.  Catherine said it would make a good Cocktail At The Burn Pit.  She was right.

Our cocktail is a variation of Sex On The Beach, a drink generally containing vodka, orange juice, cranberry juice, and peach schnapps.  Peach schnapps -- I don't think so.

Here is our version.

Shark On The Beach

2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce Cointreau
2 ounces orange juice
2 ounces cranberry juice

Add all the ingredients to an ice filled shaker. Shake, then strain into a highball glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with an orange slice.

Remember, if Celia asks you to go on a "little" walk, offer to stay home and bartend, instead!

Cocktails At The Burn Pit -- By the Light of the Honey Moon

Yes, tonight is the Honey Moon, the first full moon in June.  Some call it the Strawberry Moon, a sign to pick early strawberries.  It is called the Honey Moon because of its position which is low in the sky giving the moon a honey tint. It is also a rare full moon falling on Friday the 13th.

In 1909, Michael Renzi, Gus Edwards, and Edward Madden wrote "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" that featured the line:

"Honey moon, keep a-shinin' in June"

It was popularized in the early 1950's by Doris Day and given a bluesy twist by Etta James.

By the Light of the Silvery Moon

By the light of the silvery moon
I want to spoon
To my honey, I'll croon love's tune
Honey moon, keep a-shinin' in June
Your silvery beams will bring love's dreams
We'll be cuddlin' soon
By the silvery moon

Place, park, scene, dark
Silvery moon is shining through the trees
Cast, two, me, you
Summer kisses floating on the breeze
Act one, be done
Dialog, where would ya like to spoon?
My cue, with you
Underneath the silvery moon

By the light of the silvery moon
I wanna spoon
To my honey, I'll croon love's tune
Honey moon, keep a-shinin' in June
Your silvery beams will bring love's dreams
We'll be cuddlin' soon
By the silvery moon

Act two, Scene new
Roses blooming all around the place
Cast three, You me
Preacher with a solemn-looking face
Choir sings, bell rings
Preacher, you are wed forever more
Act two, all though
Every night the same encore

By the light, not the dark but the light
Of the silvery moon, not the sun but the moon
I wanna spoon, not croon, but spoon
To my honey, I'll croon love's tune
Honeymoon, honeymoon, honeymoon
Keep a-shinin' in June
Your silvery beams will bring love's dreams
We'll be cuddlin' soon
By the silvery moon
The silvery moon

So tonight, we recommend the following midnight cocktail, actually, a simple liqueur. 

Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey

Grab a small yet substantial glass.  Fill it with a double shot of Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey.  Sit in the porch swing.  Sip.  In between sips, croon love's tune.  And look longingly into the Honey Moon.

For those of you keeping score, the next full moon on a Friday the 13 is in August 2049.

Cocktails at the Burn Pit

Allergies have got us down. 

We are just too tired to blog. 

We are not too tired to drink. 

Head over to Cookbook Of The Day to find a nice recipe for Punch. 

Cocktails At the Burn Pit -- Birthday Edition

Yes, it was Pisces birthday week and it so cold we definitely needed a burn pit.

Let us step back to the end of February (still in Pisces mode) when it was cold and dreary.  We bought several bags of Meyer lemons and made marmalade and jelly. Sweet and tart and the perfect curative for that pesky scurvy.

Now fast forward to birthday which needed the perfect libation with a minimum of work.  The second the Meyer Lemon Jelly was in the jar, we knew it would be the most awesome cocktail ingredient.  Our drink of choice is a gin based French 75. We uncorked the richly botanical Botanist Gin (thanks for the recommendation Pigtown Design), added the jelly and topped off with prosecco.  The perfect French 75 with no work.

French 75

1 teaspoon Meyer Lemon Jelly
1 ounce Botanist Gin
Prosecco

In a champagne flute (about six ounces) add the jelly and gin.  Give a quick stir.  Top off with prosecco.

Happy Birthday to Me! 


Besides having a cocktail, the plan was to bake a cake. A chocolate cake. Then, at the Post Office, Postmistress Nelda delivered a cake with the mail. We have the best Post Office here in Shirley (or perhaps the best postmistress.)

And they want to close the Post Office. Shame on them.

Cocktails At The Burn Pit

We do love a good cocktail.  Recently there has been much talk, trash talk, scholarly discourse about that elemental addition to cocktails -- namely, ice. Well, we are not big on ice.  There is a great scene in the old movie, The Year of Living Dangerously, when the British ambassador is served a gin and tonic in a ice-filled glass.  He states in a prefunctory manner, "If I had wanted gin and tonic and ice, I would have ordered it."

Don't get us wrong, we would love to have one of those Japanese, brass ice ball makers, but at $1200 we simply haven't hit the Powerball.  We do however, have a vast array of ice makers, 2 inch balls, 2 inch squares, 1/2 inch squares, ice shooter glasses, even an ice Titanic and companion berg!  Now it seems that bartenders want larger and larger ice cubes to fill their glasses. 

Really, one doesn't need extra equipment, simply fill your glass with water and freeze.  You will have the biggest ice cube your glass can hold.

Now we come to our new favorite cocktail.  We call it, Smoke on the Water.  It is basically whiskey on a big old piece of ice.  But not just any whiskey.  We use Corsair's Small Batch Triple Smoke. 

We love it.  It is rich and smokey, triple smokey!  Now we have seen many cocktails that use Triple Smoke, but frankly, we just haven't been able to mix it with anything.  It is superb straight.  Since we drink it straight and we wanted a big, gigantic piece of ice, we improvised and the rest is history...

Smoke on the Water

1 large thick walled glass

Fill the glass about 3/4 full of water and freeze.

Remove glass from freezer and immediately pour a large shot, hell pour a double shot of Corsair's Triple Smoke on top.

Drink at your leisure.

Cocktails At The Burn Pit

 

Not to sound like a big old broken record, but it is cold. It is snowy and miserable. Working outside is out of the question. If we ever needed a burn pit it is now. So, let's have some cocktails.

 

We are, however, advocating virtuous drinking. Yes, there is alcohol, but there is juice too.

 

So, one day, while juicing carrots, I realized there was an excellent opportunity for a cocktail. When I bought the juicer I had healthy reasons. The second I cranked up the juicer, I realized its profound use as a cocktail agent. I feel the same thing when canning. Yes, jams and jellies are great on toast, but they are even better after a toast.

Put them all together, and you have a cocktail.

The Bunny Mary

4 carrots
1 orange, peeled
1 small knob of ginger
1 teaspoon marmalade
2 ounces grapefriut vodka

Juice the carrots, orange, and ginger. Mix in the marmalade and stir, then add the vodka and give it a final stir. Garnish with a bit of orange peel.

The Bunny Mary, breakfast of champions! And lunch of champions.

 

A New Home Bar

A new home bar? Will and Lucy Lowe set up a home distillery. They now have the smallest distillery in Britian. While it might not be bathtub gin, it is living room gin and orders are pouring in from all over the world. Check out this report from ITV.

 

Cocktails At The Burnpit- The Last Hurrah

Until last night, I had refused to give up Summer.  It was still warm, there were still tomatoes and blackberries in the garden and even though the leaves were falling in all around me, I was holding firm.  I had company during the government shutdown and drinks were in order.  I pulled out all the  Summer stops and created this Last Hurrah.

The Last Hurrah

1 ounce blueberry vodka
1 ounce blueberry shrub
Sparkling water
Ice

In a tall glass, mix the vodka and shrub.  Fill the glass with ice, then fill with sparkling water.  Give it a stir.

OK, I used bulbous, stemless wine glasses.  Not to mention I failed to garnish the drink at all.   While it might look sad, it was ever so tasty.

Which brings me to a slight problem.  I often think about a blog post and then swear I have actually posted it, only to find I did no such thing.  Such was my blueberry post from this summer.  Clearly there was no blueberry post.  Here is an abbreviated version:  I got a box of 10 pounds of blueberries.  I made a blueberry/lavender butter and I did indeed write about that.   I also make a blueberry summer pudding, blueberry/basil sorbet. blueberry vodka and blueberry shrub.  The Last Hurrah is made from that vodka and shrub.

I used a somewhat different approach to making my shrub.  I used a cold-process, meaning I didn't boil the fruit or the sugar and vinegar.   I simple added all the ingredients and let nature take its course.

Blueberry Shrub

1 1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 cups blueberries.

Wash the blueberries and place them in a sterilized 1/2 gallon jar.  Add the sugar and vinegar.  Close tightly and give the jar a shake to mix the sugar.  Let the jar sit out for 2-3  days, shaking 2-3 times a day.  Place the mixture in the refrigerator and let sit.  When ready to use, strain the mixture into a clean, sterilised container.  

Mine sat for several weeks before I strained out the fruit.


The cold air has arrived and alas, summer is officially over.  We will soon be moving on to ciders and pumpkins, but we think back fondly on summer.

Cocktails At The Burn Pit -- 4th of July Edition

You know how there are some blogs you follow because your friends follow them, or Elle Decor says you should follow them, or they once wrote something you liked and haven't really cared since then but you hate to unfollow them... and then there are those blogs who are always fun and you have been known not to read them for a while so that in the event of a really crappy day you will have a post to lift your spirits?  My favorite blog for hording and savoring is Rowley's Whiskey Forge. The Rowley is one Matthew Rowley who is always erudite, funny and authoritative and, when you remind him of this, he is always humble. 

Matthew quite literally wrote the book on moonshine entitled, Moonshine!.  He may be one of the only people this side of the Schlesinger Library with more cookbooks than I.  In recent days he has discussed mid century glass making, George Orwell's essay on picking hops, and he previewed his talk for the 13th annual Tiki Oasis celebration; a talk entitled, Squirrel Whiskey, Monkey Rum, and Sweet Spirit of Cats a'Fighting: The Taming of American Moonshine.   

His last post was on cobblers, of the liquid variety; specifically, a Blood Orange Cobbler with Lillet.  The drink is a winner.  First there is blood orange liqueur.  Then there is Lillet.  Finally there is marmalade.  As a big preserve maker, I look for every chance to add a bit of jam to my drinks.

That being said, for the Fourth of July, I needed a big jug of something to quench the crowd while I cooked (and washed dishes, and set up the fireworks!)  I was margaritaed out!  While I was preparing for the arrival of guests, I ran across a large bottle of Italian Blood Orange soda that had been moved to the back of the larder, so I set it out.  One of my guests had traveled with an orange that landed on the counter.   Last summer at the beach, I had picked up a bottle of Dogfish Head's blood orange vodka.   Of course there was a big bottle of blood orange bitters, so the drink made itself.  I was looking for a zippy name, but I just told the crowd it was a blood orange punch -- hey it packed a punch!

Blood Orange Punch

1 bottle of Italian Blood Orange soda
2 cups blood orange vodka
10 to 12 shakes of blood orange bitters

Mix and pour over a big block of ice and sliced oranges.

It is insufferably hot here so we have made the air-conditioner the official summer burn pit.  Grab a drink and settle in.  In the meantime, check out Rowley's Whiskey Forge.  Matthew Rowley is definitely someone you want around your burn pit.

Party Time

Southerner love to throw a party.   We can turn virtually anything into a a gigantic celebration.   We have many a homegrown holiday to celebrate, like Decoration Day and Mardi Gras.   Take a look at the Kentucky Derby for example.   The actual running of the Derby is over in roughly three minutes. Secretariat ran the fastest Kentucky Derby at 1:59.40.  In that case, the whole thing is over in under two minutes!  Now ask yourself how long is the party for the Kentucky Derby?   Louisville starts parting a full two weeks before the race.  That equals a week of parties for each minute of the actual race.   That sounds about right.

Gone With the Wind would have been a much shorter book and movie if the law of diminishing party returns had been fully explained to Scarlett.

Scene:  The Picnic at Twelve Oaks.  Scarlett and Melanie sit talking.

SCARLETT

Of course we will win the war.  Our uniforms are prettier.

MELANIE

But Mr. Butler says we have no canon forges.

SCARLETT

Fiddle Dee Dee.

MELANIE

 But if all the men go to war, who will we dance with at the cotillion?  It will just be us at the barbecue. You and me at the tea dance.   No debutant balls, no....

SCARLETT

Mammy!

MAMMY

Yes, Miss Scarlett.

SCARLETT

 Gather all the slaves.

Scene:  Scarlett and Melanie got to the upstairs balcony and look out at the gathered slaves below.

SCARLETT

 Y'all all free.   Pick up your checks on Friday.  Now get back to work.

MELANIE

We should have a party!

SCARLETT

 We should have two weeks of parties.

THE END

When Yankees arrived at Fort Sumpter, they would have been in time for the big Emancipation Dinner Dance.


And what of today's festivities?   Yes boys and girls, today is:

National Bourbon Day

And you foolishly went to work!   Leave now, there is ice to crush, lemons to peel, bitters to buy.

Generally, as big Jack Daniels drinkers, we favor the Tennessee whiskey to the Kentucky Bourbon, but today is Bourbon Day, so we are breaking out the Woodford.  And maybe the Maker's Mark or that old school Elijah Craig.

While all bourbons are whiskey, not all whiskey is bourbon.   Here are some fun facts to impress your friends for National Bourbon Day.

Elijah Craig is sometimes credited with being the originator of Kentucky bourbon, but probably not.  P.S. Craig was a Baptist minister, who'd a thunk it.

In 1964 President Lyndon  Johnson signed an Act of Congress that designated bourbon as “The Official Spirit of America.”  And you thought it was Diet Coke!

There is no such thing as "French " bourbon.  Bourbon must be made in America with Kentucky being the bourbon epicenter.

Bourbon is made from a mash which is mostly corn, giving it its nickname "corn whiskey."   The ratio of corn must be at least 51% but no more than 79%.

Bourbon is aged in American White Oak barrels that have been charred inside.  

Bourbon must be aged two years.


So now you know pretty much everything you need to know for National Bourbon Day.


We suggest two things  --  Bourbon and ice.

Fine! If you insist on complicating the whole thing try a Boulevardier.  Its basically a bourbon Negroni.

Boulevardier

1 1/2 ounces Bourbon
3/4 ounce Campari
3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
a cherry for garnish

Put the liquors in a shaker of ice.  Stir, strain and serve with the cherry on top.

Go forth and drink.

But do not drive!!!

Full Disclosure:  We took the photo from Saveur and believe it might be some sort of Manhattan, but it resembled a Boulevardier, and we are writing before our actual drinking begins.

Mint Julep

                          

                                       

    

  Yes, there is a whole lot of cocktails going on.   Not the traditional silver julep cup, but then not your traditional julep.  We headed over to Todd Thrasher's new foodie emporium, Society Fair.  We left a big jug of Mint Syrup.  Yes, we could have made our own but this was just so easy.

                                                    

                                         

       

So, just grab some ice, a sprig of mint, your favorite bourbon, and the mint syrup and a drink is just around the burn pit.                                                               

               

            

             

Cocktails At The Burn Pit --Honeysuckle Vodka

It was a great weekend for cooking out and company.  I requested a bottle of Cathead Honeysuckle Vodka from the ABC store in Virginia, as I knew they carried it.  It seems that my bottle was the very first bottle that they had ever sold.  Cathead, a distillery in Mississippi, has a wonderful vodka that gets distilled six times which makes for a really smooth taste on the palate.  In an era of flavored vodkas, their honeysuckle is one of a kind.  At 70 proof it is a bit less potent than the plain vodka, and some people feel the alcohol is a bit harsh, compared to the plain Cathead, but I thought it was fine.

A favorite cocktail for the Honeysuckle is a Cathead Lemonade.  Several bars offer it up with freshly squeezed lemons, simple syrups, fancy syrups, and this and that.  Don't get me wrong, I love homemade-- there is always something steeping, fermenting, and distilling at my house.  But company and cooking and washing dishes and and and....

Sometimes a girl needs a quick pick-me-up.  Taking a cue from last year's hit cocktail, the Ann's We Don't Have Electricity But We Have Tequila Margarita,  the new summer drink of choice is a vodka version.  All you need is some Simply Lemonade, or homemade lemonade of your choice and a bottle of Cathead Honeysuckle Vodka... and a glass.

Cathead Honeysuckle Lemonade.

2 ounces  Cathead Honeysuckle Vodka
6 ounces lemonade

 Pour in a ice filled glass and garnish with a lemon, or not.

This is great.  It is refreshing.  If you have chores to do later in the afternoon, only drink one.  If you have someone else to cook and clean-up have a couple!  Enjoy.

Cocktails At The Burn Pit -- Holiday Recap

 

We were so busy drinking that we failed to post any cocktails!  Well, the big winner this season included pumpkin puree and Rum Chata.  Rum Chata is a creamy rum liquor.  In and of itself, it sounds pretty gross, but in this drink it is a hit. This type of drink seemed to be everywhere, in fact there were several pumpkiney vodkas out there.  Most of the time they were called Pumpkin Pie Martinis, though they are a little off the martini mark, unless you like your martini for dessert.  Around the Bun Pit we will take our drinks for any course.

Pumpkin Dessert Martini

2 tablespoon pumpkin puree
2 ounces vodka
3 ounces Rum Chata

dollop of whipped cream

cookie crumb rim


Crumble some graham crackers or a nice ginger cookie and rim your glass.

To an ice filled shaker add the pumpkin puree, vodka and Rum Chata.  Shake and strain into the rimmed glass.  Add a dollop of whipped cream.  (We prefer the dollop stirred in at the last second.)

Drinking dessert is a wonderful thing!

Since pumpkin cake is a favorite here and since there is always a bit of puree leftover from cake baking, this drink proves to be the saving grace of leftover pumpkin puree.  There is the problem of finding and making new and cutting edge drinks.   Many a pumpkin martini recipe called for Rum Chata and some called for pumpkin or vanilla vodka.   So if one wanted to try their hand at a Pumpkin Pie Martini they looking at probably $50  worth of booze they might never use again.    And what happens of you don't like the drink?

This brings us to another holiday item -- the "of the month club" subscription.  Fill in the fruit or meat of your choice.   These are tricky yet tempting and one usually has to pony up the entire years cost for such an endeavor. At $300 to $500  "fruit" you have never laid eyes on is a bit daunting.

What if there was a "club" that let you pay as you go?  What if this club was not fruit nor beast but nifty new cocktails?  Cocktails you could try BEFORE you invested $$$ in some new flavor of vodka you might never want to drink?

Rejoice.  We have found the answer to cutting edged cocktail without breaking the bank.   Enter Julibox.
Julibox is a monthly curated cocktail.  Each month a box arrives with cocktail fixins' for two different drinks.   The design and execution of the box are flawless.

There are cards with the recipe.

And liquor and mixes for each cocktail.

You will need some ice and maybe a lemon.

When we first laid eyes on this new venture, we were skeptical.  So we tried out the service by ordering their October 2011 Breast Cancer box.  We loved it so much we signed up!  Now here is the good part -- you get billed monthly so you are not out of pocket $$$$ from the start.  You can run a tab, just like in a real bar!  The boxes run about $40, about the price of a round of cocktails.  

The founder, Courtne Jones says she,  "grew up with a dusty bottle of Galliano on her dad's back bar. 25 years later, he still has it."  We all know that story!

So now we are hanging out at the Burn Pit awaiting the arrival of our January Julibox and wondering what to do with half a bottle of Rum Chata?  Perhaps a boozy glaze for our next pumpkin cake...

Cocktails At The Burn Pit -- Rehoboth Beach

"Old Rehoboth Beach" by Paul McGehee

We ventured off to old Rehoboth, actually to new Rehoboth, where a friend has just completed building a house.  As you know, each new adventure requires a new cocktail.   After scouting the various liquor stores of Rehoboth and surrounding areas...(Hmmmm, that sounds like it might just be a great job ... a tour of the great liquor stores of Delaware...but I digress.)

What was I telling you, gentle readers...oh yes, we gathered up, in addition to the Dog Fish Punk Ale and a couple of cases of wine, a bottle of Square One Cucumber Vodka. 

We added a bottle of Thatcher's Elderflower Liqueur, which some drink snobs favor over the more sweetened St. Germain.

Cocktails ensued!

I Just Built a New House and I Need a Drink Cocktail

1 ounce Thatcher's Elderflower Liqueur
2 ounces Square One Cucumber Vodka
Lemonade

Pull a glass from the empty, glass front, cherry wood cabinets that you haven't had time to fill.

Fill the glass with ice which comes from the new refrigerator, equipped with an automatic ice-maker, that came with your new house.

Add the liqueur and the vodka acquired on the Lucindaville Tour of the Liquor Stores of Delaware.

Top off with your favorite brand of lemonade, housed in the new refrigerator. 

Stir with an ink pen or leftover chop stick, as the furnishings are sparse.

Sit down on the new sofa in front of the new fireplace and enjoy.

Cocktails At The Burn Pit

 

Where have we been??  The summer has been a bummer here in Lucindaville.  Most of July was spent without electricity or telephone service.  A surge in the electricity fried the stove.   There was a plumbing problem.  My phone was out so much my phone bill was just under $3.  The phone company wanted ANOTHER phone number to reach me.  Seriously, if I had another phone that worked, I wouldn't be calling frantically.  If I had cell phone service I wouldn't need this crappy land line.

We are spending 720 million dollars a DAY in Iraq and Afghanistan, countries most people in Congress couldn't find on a blank map!  Maybe if we had a weeks worth of that funding we could get reliable phone service and electricity to WEST VIRGINA!   But I digress...



 During these travails, my friend Ann, who had to postpone her trip to visit, merely delayed it and decided that misery would love company.  She ventured out not knowing what she might find or NOT find, but she came prepared with tequila which needs neither a stove nor electricity.

By the time she arrived, the refrigerator was working and she stocked it Simply Limeade and the cocktail making ensued.  Ann developed a classic down and dirty margarita.  She was aided by glasses that had been in my family for a hundred years.  I checked and they hold 10 ounces.   So the next time your electricity goes off, of you lose phone service, of your stove blows, or frankly, you just need a drink without much thought, give this margarita a try.  Our  orange liquor of choice is Grand Gala.  It is inexpensive and had a bite.  It often gets criticised for its bite, but I love that in a margarita.

Ann's We Don't Have Electricity But We Have Tequila Margarita

2 ounces of tequila
1 ounce orange liquor
Simply Limeade


Measure 2 ounces of tequila and 1 ounce of orange liquor in a 10 ounce glass.  Fill with cold Simply Limeade.

It makes me happy just thinking about it...

Cocktails at the Burn Pit -- Juicer Edition

Let me just thank everyone who encouraged me to stay on the straight and narrow path to healthy living. Wait, none of you did that. You just want more evil and delicious ways to use my juicer. Bless you hearts.

Of course my ass is as big a house now. At this rate I will be adding a portico. Still...

Here is the recipe for the Greeny Lucinda. Since that tired old Bloody Mary is garnished with celery, we thought it only fitting and proper to garnish our Greeny Lucinda with tomatoes.

Greeny Lucinda

4 stalks of celery
2 small green apples
a handful of spinach
10 drops of green Tabasco sauce
5 drops celery bitters
1 ounce vodka (OK 2 ounces!)
tiny tomatoes for garnish

Juice the celery, apples and spinach. Pour into a glass. Add the bitters and Tabasco. Garnish.

Did I mention I am using a nice vegetable juice to make ice cream? Please, don't encourage me... maybe just a little encouragement...

Cocktails at the Burn Pit -- Sweet Potato Not-Nog

Everybody loves egg nog. I love a homemade egg nog, but one must break a lot of eggs and many people are leery of raw egg consumption. There a a few good commercial egg nogs, but nothing beats homemade. What to do?

Recently I was in an Asian market and found a bag of candied sweet potato strips. I just love candied fruit and I am always on the lookout for a new addition to moist, chewy fruit cakes. The sweet potato wedges were a delight eaten out of the package as a snack, but I kept thinking of what I could do with them. (I have no idea how they are used in Asian cooking or if they are simply a kids snack, so if anyone knows or has recipes, do share.)



I began to think the sweet potato sticks would make a fine swizzle sticks and cocktails came to mind. I thought I would make a sweet potato nog. Traditionally a nog has an egg base, but I didn't want the addition of eggs so I made a sweet potato not-nog. Not a single egg was broken in the making of this drink.

I used roasted sweet potatoes that were mashed and then strained, to give them a silky texture. I like it a bit on the warm side, so I used the sweet potatoes while warm and warmed the milk, slightly. I used the traditional whipped cream topper, but if you want a more "sweet potato casserole" version, try adding a large toasted marshmallow or making a swizzle stick out of tiny toasted marshmallows. I tend to err on the less sweet side, so adjust the sweetening to your own taste. Finally, as a caveat, I made this a drink at a time so I have not experimented with a gigantic punch bowl full of sweet potato not-nog.

Sweet Potato Not-Nog

4 ounces mashed and strained sweet potato
1 ounce simple syrup, or more to sweeten
3/4 ounce brandy
3/4 ounce bourbon
1/4 ounce orange liquor
1 ounce milk
dash of orange bitters

1 ounce whipped cream or a toasted marshmallow
1 slice candied sweet potato, optional

In a blender, mix the sweet potato, syrup, liquors and milk until smooth. Pour into a glass. Top with some whipped cream.

Cocktails at the Burn Pit -- Blueberry Vodka Tonic

This installment of Cocktails at the Burn Pit comes to you from the sunny shores of Delaware. At the beach, the only thing that gets burned is one's soft and white underbelly. (I did use that SPF stuff and a shirt, but I just felt I wasn't getting enough sun and then...but I digress.)



So there was no burn pit but as always there were cocktails. The house drink, where I was a guest, was the ever popular G&T. But when I arrived, the G&T got a little twist.

This summer, I was inundated with blueberries, a very great thing to be inundate with, so I made jam and pies and ice cram and salads. I froze bags of blueberries, so in the darkness of winter, I could make more jam and think of summer and still, I had blueberries. The last few handfuls that I thought might get all gunky before I could deal with them, got dealt with. I dropped them into a partially full bottle of vodka and set out to make blueberry vodka.

Blueberry Vodka

1 partially consumed bottle of vodka
2-3 cups of blueberries

Drop the blueberries into the vodka. Shake on occasion. Wait a month or so. Strain.

I took my blueberry vodka to the beach where it received a less than enthusiastic reception. Finally, it rose to the head of the cocktail list and got the opportunity to shine. I took a few blueberries from the house and dipped them in an egg white wash and rolled them in sugar for a garnish. And then...

Blueberry Vodka Tonics

1 ounce blueberry vodka
4 ounces tonic

Fill a glass with ice. Pour in one ounce blueberry vodka. Fill with tonic. Give it a quick stir. Garnish with blueberries.

Beach, burn pit, breakfast nook, it really doesn't matter. This one is a keeper. And to think I wasted all those blueberries on pie when I could have made vodka!

Words To Drink In Excess By

As you know, we love words here at Lucindaville.

There is that old joke about Eskimos having 100's of words for snow. That is just a myth. Most linguists will tell you that this is not true. It probably comes for the multitude of Inuit/Innu dialects which have about as many words for snow as English does. Spread those words over multiple dialects and there are quite a few.

If there are not thousands of words for snow, then what word, you might just ask yourself, has the most synonyms. (Yes, this is the kind of subject that occupies our mind.) And the winner is...

DRUNK

There are, according to Paul Dickson, who wrote the book, or perhaps the dictionary, on Drunk...

2,964

synonyms for drunk. Counting synonyms is a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Here are 26 that we just love...

Alight
Bazooka'd
Caked
Dipped
Etched
Fluffy
Gatted
Heroic
Inked
Joplined
Kippered
Lordy
Mawlin
Nished
Oscillated
Pied
Quilted
Ratty
Scoobied
Temulent
Unsensed
Vulcanized
Whipcat
X Filed
Yoimashita
Zippin

Let's go get fluffy.