Ah Tequila, We have drifted apart over the past 20 years. You use to be cute little shots on a raucous Friday evening. Now you are only used in Margaritas. A bottle will last me a year or two. It is time to become reacquainted again. I was eating a bowl of fresh cherries last week and thought. hmmmm..
Cherry Tequila
1/2 cup of silver tequila
20 fresh cherries halved and pitted
2 tsp of sugar.
1 tsp of grated fresh ginger.
Let sit for 3 days in the fridge. Strain tequila into another cup muddle the cherries. Pour tequila back over the muddled cherries.
Ice.
I can’t imagine my world without it. It’s difficult to believe that there was a time when folks didn’t drop frozen chunks of water into their beverages. Before 1806 people didn’t know they needed ice. Frederic Tudor, made his fortune selling ice. He spent years promoting its various uses to restaurants, hospitals, and individuals.
Read the whole article http://mentalfloss.com/article/22407/surprisingly-cool-history-ice
There is no need to sell ice to me. I ask for extra ice at restaurants. I have a favorite ice cube shape. (pellet) I have even put ice in my white wine. (Snobby Gasp heard here). Ice cubes have become everyday items taken for granted items.
What about a flavored gin cube?
One of these little bowls held watermelon marinating in gin. Things I learned since then. Great photo, but a complete flavor failure. Watermelon does not infuse. I can’t waste anything so into the blender with extra watermelon and a few blueberries. I pureed and strained it. It tasted good. Couldn’t use it just then, I already had a watermelon drink for the week. I poured it into an ice cube tray and placed that in the freezer.
Here is the official recipe.
1/3 cup of Gin
5 watermelon pieces
15 blueberries
2 days into the fridge in a glass bowl or jar.
4 cups of watermelon pieces.
Place all of it into blender. Blend it all up. Strain.
Pour liquid into ice cube trays. Put in freezer. Wait until frozen.
I am not Betty Draper. I do not wear an apron over my dress to meet my husband at the door. I am a rebel. I own a black motorcycle jacket with sweater sleeves. I have a pair of shoes with skulls on them. Once I even put on a temporary tattoo. I know, I’m pretty wild.
I have a confession to make. It will destroy my wild woman street cred. I own a punch bowl.
When my husband and I were first married he was shocked I didn’t own one. Horrified in fact.
“What do you make your punch in?” he asked.
” A pitcher.” I replied
“Punch goes in a punch bowl.” he stated matter a factly.
Can you doubt such a passionate statement? I went the very next day and bought a punch bowl, from Walmart. The store he hates the most. I guess I am a little like Betty Draper, a tiny bit passive aggressive. I had lived a rich full life without a punch bowl. Why start now?
The punch bowl has traveled with me to live in 5 states. I have used it 10 times in 12 years. I haven’t used the fancy matching glasses or the hooks that the cups hang off of. ( that’s the rebel in me) Its takes 15 minutes to get the darn thing back in the box. But the look on other womens faces when I pull out my punch bowl makes me feel a little like Martha Stewart. (She’s pretty bad ass. She’s been to prison. )
Who knew a 10 dollar punch bowl could hold so much power?
Punch bowl of power
I do make a mighty good punch. I’ve made this particular punch for girl scouts and for kids parties and the kids love it. Not to brag too much, but a fifth grade girl once introduced me to her mother as “the lady who made the great punch.” The mom pretended to know what her daughter was talking about.
Berry Good Punch
Recipe:
1 can of Old orchard berry punch
1/2 of a container of pineapple sherbet.
2 liter of 7 up ( reg or diet)
24 ounces of water.
4 orange popsicles
handful of berries. ( prevent scurvy ya know)
ICE..
Mix thawed juice with 2 cans of water. Pour into punch bowl. ( feel powerful?) Add tiny spoon size scoops of sherbet into juice. Pour 7 up over items. Chop popsicles off the sticks and add into punch. I sometime use a popsicle on a stick to stir it all up with and then just drop it into the punch. Toss in berries. Add ice and stir. I have learned to buy double of everything. This punch goes really fast.
I rarely drink this myself but If I did I would add Vodka.
I love strawberries. Especially fresh ripe strawberries. These are still growing. I hope I am around to enjoy the ones growing in my garden, so I will make do with store bought ones.
I had another week of being really busy. What happened to my cushy life that included time for a nap???? Soon summer will be here and I will have more time to play. Isn’t that what summer means, playtime and relaxation?
I needed a pitcher of drinks. I am having people over and I am not patient enough to be fussing over martinis. One pitcher of strong drinks that I can cut with seltzer water for those folks who don’t need this as badly as I do.
Here it is.
1 can frozen pink lemonade. (or 1 packet of crystal light lemonade)
Water
1/2 cup Strawberry Basil Vodka
6 Strawberries sliced.
1 Lemon thinly sliced.
1/4 cup of plain Vodka.
1 sprig of Basil
1 sprig of Mint
Slice strawberries and lemons, Place in Pitcher with 1/2 c plain vodka.
Toss in fridge and run around and solve assorted problems. ( there really isn’t a reason to wait)
Come back and pour in strawberry basil vodka
remember this??
Add sprig of Basil and Spring of Mint
Mix lemonade according to directions on package in another container. Pour into pitcher. Add Ice.
Taste. if too potent mix into a single glass 1/2 cup Strawberry basil lemonade and 1/4 c seltzer.
Feels like summer is here. Spring brought us a week of rain . Boom!! Its hot and muggy.
The herbs are happy.
My plants are growing. Last year, I let my strawberry plant get a bit wild. It send out all kinds of shoots and I now have numerous plants. Of course they are growing under my bulbed flowers. Maybe the rabbits won’t notice.
This week I am feeling a summer drink. Something to enjoy sipping while sitting in the backyard enjoying the sun. Or something to drink while dreaming of having the time to sit.
I am making a strawberry basil infusion. Sweet and spicy.
Strawberry Basil Vodka
2 large strawberries
1 spring basil
1/2 cup of vodka.
Let the Strawberries and Basil sit in the dish 24 hours. Pull the Basil out let the strawberries sit another day. YUM!!
Sorry about the delay I was caught in upstate MN without wi fi and a plethora of mosquitos.
Creating this drink was harder than I thought. Who knew watermelon wouldn’t have a strong enough flavor to infuse into liquor. After a few yuck faces and then lots of experimenting, I had flashbacks to getting a term paper in before the deadline. Of course this was about liquor and way more fun but still more pressure and steps than usual.
4 cups of cut watermelon
1/4 of a sliced fresh pineapple
Tequila watermelon from last blog.
3 extra shots of plain tequila
1 tsp Sugar
1 Pinch of salt
Blender.
ICE
Place 4 Cups of watermelon in blender with pinch of salt.
Whip it. Whip it good. ( Sing it, Devo)
Put puree through strainer.
I really need a better strainer,
You will have Watermelon juice. Set aside.
Put pineapple and the watermelon tequila into blender.
Drink one shot of tequila.
Now strain the pineapple watermelon puree.
Blend both types of juices
Taste. Depending on the sweetness of your watermelon and pineapple you may need to add sugar.
Season with sugar as needed. Taste. If you think it needs more tequila add it. I thought It needed the extra 2 shots of tequila. I did have a tough week. 😉
Serve over ice.
Or toss it all back into the blender with ice and serve frappe style.
I did give this drink as payment to a friend who took me to the airport.
She gave it a thumbs up. So I now know who to call to take me to the airport. Thanks C!!!
Most of you haven’t heard the child’s story about a carp in the bathtub. In the 1920’s some Jewish women would buy live carp from the fish store and keep it in the bathtub alive until it was time to make gefilte fish. Horrifying to you gentiles. Yet this one one of the strangely not creepy at the time, picture books of my childhood. I remember the black and white sketch of children playing with the fish and rejoicing about the no bath nights.Then a few flips of the page and there was a sketch of a little woman leaning over the tub with some kind of clubbing device in her hand and a really small bucket. A few years of therapy later, I see a PBS documentary about folks making bathtub gin during prohibition. The little lady with the club and the bucket pop into my head. If only she knew about the bathtub gin. Might have made for some different gefilte fish.
It seems I am a strange blend of the two. I am (for the record )not making or clubbing anything in my tub. . Just making things in ramekins with plastic seal lids. But still fighting with children about bath times.
So this week I am in a time crunch. I have to invent a drink in 49 hours. It is a long drawn out story why have I have no time. So I have to hedge my bets.
I have 2 concoctions in my fridge. All watermelon based.
Gin, Watermelon
Tequila,Watermelon
Yes, I have walked a long, hard road to get my reprieve of 49 hours. My segway out before I jump back in. I feel I need to state I am not serving a jail sentence. Just family commitments. My goal is to not only make a great drink but to figure out how I am going to get it thru TSA and the airport so I can survive the second part of this journey. Sadly I will freeze it and enjoy it over the next few weekends. I am not a moonshiner and I follow all TSA rules.
( I am drinking the finished cocktail 1 hr before I go to the airport. who says I can’t make my drink and have it too.)
Recipe #1
1/4 cup of diced watermelon
1/8 cup of pineapple
1/4 cup Tequila
Combine in glass bowl. let sit 24-36 hrs. ( I was in a time crunch folks)
Enjoy your week.
The Gin Watermelon will be next weeks blog. Just a hint of the future.
It’s Memorial Day Weekend. Looks like the weather will be nice for most of us. Enjoy friends, family, boating, eating and most of all a refreshing beverage. Be safe and have some fun.
1/2 cup of cucumber mint vodka ( we made it last blog)
2 cans of fresca
Handful of blueberries
6 mint leaves.
1 tsp sugar
2 slices of lemon
ICE.
Pour vodka into pitcher. In the bowl that the vodka was in muddle blueberries mint and sugar. Squish them really good. Scrape into pitcher of vodka. Place 1 cup of ice in pitcher. Mix all together with big spoon. Add Fresca. Squeeze the juice out of the 2 lemon slices drop into pitcher. Serve over crushed ice.
I like things quick, easy and simple. One of my pet peeves is all the bottles of different liquor you need to have on hand to make a cocktail. I will see beautiful drinks on Pinterest. I will think .”Ooh that looks great, but I don’t have any of those things in my cupboard.” I hate to buy exclusive, specialty liquors and be stuck with them. I have spent 55 dollars at the store to get the fixings for a Lemon drop martini. It called for Tausca which is a vanilla citrus liquor.
3 yrs later here it is.
3 years later I still have some left.
I get bored quickly. With cocktails, with recipes. On Friday cocktail days, I can’t stick with one drink the whole afternoon. We always mix it up. This is what drinkswithdana is all about. Having a few basic ingredients on hand and being able to make a bunch of yummy drinks. The shrub was a little out of my normal context of things. One thing I can promise is I will never be boring.
So what do you need to have on hand??
#1. Vodka. Don’t go cheap. You don’t need to go too high end. I like Kettle one, Absolute and SKY. Any vodkas of this level are good. I pick which ever one is one sale. I know some people are really nervous with vodka. But we are not making shots. If the drink is too strong add extra seltzer or 7 up.
#2. Gin : Bombay
#3. Tequila: Jose Cuervo
#4. Seltzer, Flavored or plain. I buy one small liter unflavored and a few flavored ones. The grocery store runs them on sale . They will sit in the cabinet until you need them.
#5. 7 up, Ginger ale, Sprite. La Croix. Choose your favorite or whatever is on sale. I buy the 12 pack cans so they don’t go flat. I usually buy diet or no calorie, Again you make your personal sugar or sweetener choice. This is about your happiness,
#6. Wine. In most of my recipes that include wine, we are flavoring it. High quality is a waste. I try to stay in the $6-9 range. Again sale prices determine a lot. I try to have on hand these types of whites: Moscato, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon blanc. Any of these work. You just need to control for sweetness. For Reds usually I use red blends in Sangrias.
#7. Prosecco. I found a some great versions for mixing that are between 5.99 and 9.99 a bottle. I will talk about those in future blogs about prosecco.
#8. Fruit. I try to stay in season. I am too frugal to spend top dollar for crummy fruit.
Odd popsicles, left over sherbert, other odd left over kid desserts. Ice. Lots of ice..
cucumber mint vodka
This weeks infusion. Cucumber Mint Vodka.
1/2 cup of Vodka
1/4 of a large cucumber
5 Mint leaves
Glass bowl or cup.
Wash your cucumber leave skin on, slice thinly, add mint leaves Pour vodka over it. let sit 1-2 days.
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