Tuesday, December 21, 2010

A Cocktail a Day

Aunty Daphne and Jonathan spent most of last week here with the family.


On Thursday evening, the day before they returned home, she made her special Parmesan Chicken for us.

Every night of the week she was here, I made a cocktail. In some ways, this sustained the momentum built during the LAB Tour (more on that to come!) of the previous weekend.


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Tuesday: Bacardi Buck


A tall drink made by building.

2 measures Bacardi white
1/2 measure triple sec
Juice of 1/2 lemon
4 measures ginger ale
Spent shell of 1/2 lemon to garnish


Add lemon juice to highball with ice. Drop in spent shell and add the rest of the ingredients.


Wednesday: Lemon Margarita


The traditional Margarita was named after the actress Marjorie King, who was a guest at Danny Herrera's Rancho La Gloria in Tijuana in 1948, where he discovered that she was allergic to every spirit except tequila.

I made a variation on the usual lime version by using lemon instead.

2 measures tequila
1 1/4 measures triple sec
3/4 measures lemon juice
lemon wedge


Rim the glass with salt. Shake the lime juice, triple sec and tequila, and strain. Garnish with a wedge of lemon.


Thursday: Gin Rickey


First made circa 1893 in Shoemakers Restaurant in Washington, D.C., for Joe 'Colonel Jim' Rickey, a Congressional lobbyist from Kentucky.

A Rickey can be made using any spirit as its base.

2 measures gin
Juice of 1 lime
4 measures soda water


Squeeze the juice of the lime into a highball and drop the spent lime shell in. Add gin and stir, then top up with soda water.


Friday: Madras


A drink that evokes the bright textiles of Madras.

Because I inadvertently fell asleep early on Thursday night, I made this as a breakfast cocktail shortly before Aunty Daphne's departure on Friday.

1 measure vodka
2 measures cranberry juice
2 measures orange juice


Pour orange juice, cranberry juice and vodka into highball, and stir.


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All cocktail recipes and descriptions from Maria Costantino's The Cocktail Handbook, with minor variations to suit taste. Photographs original.

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