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...

Holiday Food Recap

 

Yes, it was a pink disco ball Christmas tree. Even I was shocked! But there you have it.

There was a lot of holiday cooking. There was even more holiday dish washing. I did not keep an accurate count, but I believe I washed every dish in the house at least 4 times...and I have a lot of dishes. My favorite, mismatched Le Creuset pan was often washed 4 time a day itself! I washed so many dishes, I didn't always take the requisit photos, but here goes.

There was fruitcake and...

and more fruitcake.

 

 

Beer bread and honey butter.

A turkey smoked in the Ugly Drum Smoker we built this summer.

One of my favorite gifts from last year was a subscription to Julibox. Frankly, we have had more fun with the Julibox than one can imagine. We are always finding new cool spirits to try. Of course, it takes me a while to try them as I must have the box sent to another state because, West Virginia wants to protect me from mail order booze, though I can have OxyContin sent to my door, but I digress...

One of my fave drinks was Laird's Applejack and proseco. So when I got big bottle of applejack, I planned ahead. I had a tray of apples I couldn't get around to eating or cooking, so I juiced them and made big ol' ice cubes out of them. The apple juice ice cubes made these Cocktails At The Burn Pit, cool and fruity!

There was a standing rib roast with Yorkshire Pudding. Now I love shopping at discount, dollar store kind of places. Truth is, most of the time one would be hard pressed to find anything worth a dollar, which is why one must be persistent. I popped into one looking for nothing in particular, always on the lookout for cooking gear. I looked down and saw a pair of popover pans. They listed for $28 a piece, but were marked a mere $5. Score!

 

I made a Christmas Tree Pavlova.

Tired of leftovers, I made mozzarella-stuffed meatballs and spaghetti and some bread.

My friend, Catherine, sent me a huge bag of Black Twig Apples, that went into a pie.

 

Holiday food means a trip to the big box store. I know that Chefy types will be appalled, but I love to buy a huge bag of peeled garlic cloves. Truth be told, if you are not running a restaurant, there is no need for a huge bag of peeled garlic. But here in the woods, keeping fresh garlic is often a bit hard. So I plan for a garlic rub on the rib roast, 40 clove chicken, meat sauce, and on and on. Then, I confit the remaining cloves and freeze little containers of soft, oily garlic. When I need a spread for bread, or garlic in a stew, I just pull out a little frozen cube, and I am good to go.

 

All the unused citrus was turned into Marmelade. I made a mixed citrus with lemons, limes, oranges, and three different grapefruits. I used a fine chop on the mixed peel. I had two huge pomelos that made a pomelo mamelade. The fruit was very pink and the peel was a bright green, so it made a very preppy marmelade.

 

For the pomelo, I left the peel in very long, thin strips. I think the long strips make for an elegant marmelade.

The new year meant collards,

 

black-eyed peas,

 

And a lovely pig-head cornbread.

Only 350-some days till Christmas. I'm off to the kitchen.