LittleJoe

New drink: Guava Lime Fizz

Hurricane (or Tropical Storm) Fay ...or maybe just some rain ...may be coming our way. It's tradition to have a drink during a hurricane. Or so they say. I think someone says that. Anyway, WE will have a drink if Fay comes through. Or if it doesn't. So to prepare for the possible storm, I was experimenting with our on-hand ingredients and came up with this drink that those in this house all agree is rather refreshing and enjoyable.

Guava Lime Fizz (in honor of the storm or hurricane named Fay that may or may not greet us):
Ingredients:

• Guava juice
• Limes
• Light rum
• Club soda
• Simple syrup (heat equal parts sugar and water until sugar is dissolved)
• Ice

Instructions:

1. Wash a lime and slice off the ends. Discard the ends.
2. Slice the lime thinly, and place the slices in the bottom of a tall glass
3. Add a healthy splash of sugar syrup
4. Muddle the lime slices and sugar (use a wooden spoon or other blunt instrument if you don't have a muddler) ...just squish it all up :)
5. Add a shot and a half of rum
6. Add about 1/4 cup of guava juice
7. Add 9 ice cubes (for good feng shui :)
8. Top with club soda and stir

Mmmmm....

Long Island Iced Tea

There are, I am certain, stronger versions of this drink. But one of our requirements for any drink is that it has to taste good, not necessarily dump you on your backside. So this version is not even 2 shots of booze, but tastes great and if you're not driving or working, a couple of these can gitchya.

Long Island Tea:

• 1/3 shot gin
• 1/3 shot light rum
• 1/3 shot vodka
• 1/3 shot Cointreau
• 1/3 shot tequila
• 2/3 shot lime juice

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake to chill the mix. Pour over fresh ice and top the glass off with cola. Enjoy :)

Mango Drag Queen

Hmmm... it will be interesting to see what searches bring folks to THIS post. Oh well :)

We live next to a very small area called Mango Florida. Our friends from Mango were visiting a couple of weeks ago, and we were - of course - hanging out on the lanai out back by the pool and the bar. Michelle mentioned a drink she'd been experimenting with, based loosely on a drink called a Dragon. With a little taste-testing, we all decided that the recipe here is a winner. As for the name, "Mango" is partly because our friends are from Mango. The "Drag Queen" part is because a drag queen can sometimes fool you. In this case, the drink has 2 1/2 shots in it, but tastes really good, so you don't necessarily realize how strong the drink is ...and there's no mango in the drink at all. Try a Mango Drag Queen tonight ;-)

Mango Drag Queen:

• 1 shot Coconut Rum
• 1 shot Light Rum
• 1/4 shot Vodka
• 1/4 shot Peach Schnapps (this is the secret ingredient)
• 1/4 shot simple syrup
• 6 oz pineapple juice

Combine all ingredients except the pineapple juice in a shaker with several ice cubes. Shake to chill the drink, then strain over fresh ice and top off with the pineapple juice. Mmmmmm....

Strawberry Daiquiri

Continuing our selfless quest to refine and perfect recipes for tropical libations, we experimented a bit this weekend with Strawberry Daiquiris. I typically am more a fan of drinks on the rocks, rather than blended. But this turned out pretty nice :)

After a few modifications last night and this afternoon, here's our recipe for a frozen Strawberry Daiquiri:

• 1 1/2 shots rum (or round it up to 2 ;-) ...we've tried dark and light rum and like them both
• 8 big strawberries
• 1/2 shot sugar syrup (to make sugar syrup, just heat equal parts sugar and water until the sugar is dissolved ...we always keep a couple of cups of sugar syrup in the fridge)
• juice of 1/4 lime (or 1/2 lime if it's a little one)
• 6 ice cubes

Toss it all in a blender and let 'er rip. When it's turned to slush (or the blender can't spin anymore), then it's time to pour / spoon the strawberry rummy goodness into a glass, add a fat straw or two, maybe a mint sprig for garnish, and enjoy.

Litton Zombie

Continuing our selfless quest to derive recipes for flavorful tropical libations, we did some experimentation this evening, and happily present a recipe for our version of a Zombie. Enjoy :)

1 shot dark rum 1 shot almond liqueur (we like Disaronno) 1/2 shot Cointreau Juice of 1 lemon Juice of 1 lime 1/4 cup pineapple chunks w/ juice 1 shot sugar syrup (to make sugar syrup, heat equal parts sugar and water stirring often until sugar is dissolved) 1/2 shot Grenadine 1 cup club soda Blend ingredients and pour into tall glass with ice. Best if enjoyed poolside or at the beach.

Top Shelf Mai Tai

I've posted a couple of Mai Tai recipes in the past. Continuing the selfless and relentless pursuit of recipes for the tastiest of tropical libations, I've modified the recipe slightly this weekend. Going back to the pineapple juice base that I'd first used after trying Mai Tais in Hawaii a few years ago, I also decided to up the quality a little. In the past I'd typically used Triple Sec or orange Curacao for the orange flavor, and regular almond syrup for the almond flavor. Well, we enjoy Top Shelf Margaritas, which include Cointreau in the mix, and I decided to try Cointreau instead of Triple Sec or orange Curacao. And for some time now I've been using Disaronno for almond flavor. So the new, revised recipe involves 3 ounces of liquor per drink. Definitely packs a punch. If you prefer to have a couple of drinks and still be able to walk, this drink is quite tasty even if you cut the rum in half and only use 1 shot per drink (8/19/2005 I've modified the recipe to skip the sugar syrup and cut back to just one shot of rum). OK, enough rambling. The new Litton favorite ...the "Top Shelf Mai Tai":

• 1 shot dark rum
• 1/2 shot Cointreau
• 1/2 shot Disaronno
• splash grenadine
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 6 ounces pineapple juice

Put all ingredients except for the grenadine into a shaker with a handful of ice. Shake to mix and cool the ingredients. Pour the mix through a strainer into a glass with fresh ice, add a splash of grenadine for the final touch and enjoy!

Hurricane Jeanne - Jalmond drink

Hurricane Jeanne has been giving Florida a nice little "howdy" today. Here in Tampa, however, we were again spared the worst of it. All we've really see is some tropical storm winds - no winds over 60 mph (it's not really a hurricane unless it hits at least 74mph). The oak tree in this pic is normally vertical, so you can see it's getting a bit of a breeze. Several hours later...Well we lost power a number of times and cable access was gone and the phone line was dead, so I couldn't even post via dialup...how primitive! (We are such a ridiculously spoiled lot!).

OK, so what does one do during a hurricane or tropical storm? For the Littons, one of the first things is to brew some espresso before the power goes out (Shirley did that early this morning; the power's been going off and on all day). The next thing is to experiment with the emergency supplies in the liquor cabinet. This pic shows Shirley and I enjoying what I am calling a "Jalmond" - a drink comprised of coffee, milk, rum, and almond liqueur. I decided on this name because it starts with the "Ja" of "java", which is of course both a slang term for coffee and a fun programming language. "Jalmond" sounds sort of like "Jammin'" - a great reggae tune from Bob Marley, and so gives a nice Jamaican sound to the name ...and ties in nicely with the dark rum. And "almond" for the amaretto (almond liqueur). The recipe is:

• 1/4 cup latte (espresso and steamed milk)
• 1/2 ounce dark rum
• 1 ounce almond liqueur (we like Disaronno)

Measure the ingredients together and then pour over ice and watch the hurricane :-)

Hurricane drink

We've been to Pat O'Brien's in Orlando a couple of times now, each time meeting other bloggers for a great evening of food, drink, and general debauchery. Well Pat O'Brien's serves a very tasty drink called a Hurricane. And when you buy a Hurricane or Margarita (and probably other drinks), you get to keep the glass (and even with the glass, the drink price is about the same as most places). So the pic at the bottom of this post shows our Hurricanes in Pat O'Brien's Margarita glasses (we have one or two Hurricane glasses, but they're probably in storage or something while our house is being built).

OK, I'm not going to claim that this recipe is the same as the Pat O'Brien's recipe (in fact, I know it's not, since their recipe calls for four ounces of rum and four ounces of the mix that you can buy there). This recipe uses "only" 2 ounces of rum per drink, yielding a very tasty drink that still packs a little kick, and does not use a mix (using a mix is against our religion!)

Enough idle chatter. Continuing our selfless quest to derive recipes for wonderful adult beverages - without using store-bought mixes - we offer the Litton version of a Hurricane:

These ingredients yield 2 Hurricanes:

• 4 ounces dark rum
• 8 ounces passion fruit juice (this may be hard to find, so you could probably substitute juiced mango or papaya)
• 1/2 ounce sugar syrup (to make sugar syrup, heat equal parts sugar and water stirring often until sugar is dissolved)
• 1 teaspoon Grenadine
• Juice of 1 lime

Put all ingredients into a shaker with some ice cubes and shake for a bit to mix and cool ingredients. Strain into glasses, add ice - and maybe an orange slice for a garnish - and kick back! Dedicated to our friends Matt and Jess (pic), who introduced us to Pat O'Brien's. Cheers!

Margarita

Margarita - a drink for the gods! As our selfless gift to humanity, we continue our research to perfect recipes for refreshing adult beverages. In the past we've posted recipes for Mojito and Mai Tai. Well, one of our favorite drinks is a plain Margarita. The problem is that most recipes call for using storebought mix (yuck! ...why do they have to add coloring and all those chemicals?). Today my wife took some time out from less important tasks, and experimented to come up with this simple recipe that yields great-tasting Margaritas ...without any store-bought mix:

• Juice of 2 limes
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 4 Tablespoons sugar syrup (to make syrup, warm equal parts sugar and water until the sugar is disolved)
• 3/4 cup water
• 4 ounces Tequila
• 1/2 ounce Cointreau
• 1 1/4 cup ice

Make the syrup if you don't have any. Toss everything into a blender, mix it up, pour into 2 glasses, and enjoy!

By the way, for those curious about the picture (click on the image to see it full-size), the statue on the left is the Hawaiian god of peace and love (purchased on Maui, July 2004), and the statue on the right is Tangaroa, the Polynesian god of fertility (purchased on Rarotonga, Cook Islands, November 2000).

Mai Tai

Continuing our research to perfect recipes for tropical adult beverages, we have, I believe, arrived at the optimal Mai Tai recipe. After first tasting a Mai Tai a few years ago when visiting the Hawaiian island of Kauai, we set forth on a selfless mission to develop a Mai Tai formula to endure the test of time. Here's a shot of the ingredients for these 2 recipes:

For the past few years, I'd been using a recipe based on pineapple juice. Here's a pic:

We did a little more research this weekend, and my new fave is slightly modified from the original Trader Vic recipe. Here's a pic of the new winner:

So...Here are the recipes for Mai Tai. The background picture one I took from the bridge over the Aitutaki lagoon when we visited the Cook Islands a few years ago. As mentioned above, my favorite Mai Tai recipe is the 2nd one listed on the web page - the modified Trader Vic recipe. But either drink is quite tasty and refreshing.

Cheers :-)