Jamaica Mon Coffee Rum & Tonic

Imagine your favorite iced coffee and an ice cold Coke had a baby...a Caribbean baby, baby! There's no doubt my Jamaica Mon Coffee Rum & Tonic was partially inspired by Hidden Harbor's new icy, slushy, frozen coffee/banana/rum and spice delight, the Oka Kope Kooler...it's my current tiki crush at Squirrel Hill's hot spot. 

Hidden Harbor's Oka Kope Kooler 

Then, too, Alton Brown recently posted a recipe for his cola syrup; I whipped up a batch of AB's syrup and got down to some serious testing.

What resulted was a tall, crisp, little-bit-sparkly summertime refresher with a good buzz of caffeine (via the coffee and cola), and a light kiss of chocolate courtesy of the bitters. Notes of cola spices, a wee touch of coconut, a little tartness of lime and a finish of summery not-just-for-gin tonic might lift your weary spirit from the shores of the Mon to the soothing turquoise waters and white sands of a beach somewhere in faraway Jamaica. 

Why Jamaica Mon? Because Jamaican rum. And Pittsburgh's own MON-ongahela!

Jamaica Mon Coffee Rum & Tonic

• 2 oz Appleton Estate Reserve Blended rum
• 1 oz St. George NOLA Coffee Liqueur (this isn't easy to find, so feel free to use your favorite coffee liqueur)
• 3/4 oz Mexican Coca Cola syrup (see recipe below)
• 1 barspoon cream of coconut - or 1/2 t.
• 7 drops Fee Brothers Aztec Chocolate bitters
• Fever Tree Lite Tonic
• lime wedge
• lime peel garnish
• a grating of nutmeg

In a cocktail shaker, combine rum, coffee liqueur, coca cola syrup and cream of coconut. Dry shake. Add ice and shake again until tin is frosted. Strain into an ice filled glass, add the bitters, stir gently, then top with tonic and a squeeze of lime. Stir gently again.

Garnish with lime peel and a grating of nutmeg.

Alton Brown's Cola Syrup

• 12 oz bottle Mexican Coca Cola - find it at Reyna's in the Strip District
• 1 C demerara sugar - believe it or not, Giant Eagle carries it

In a small saucepan, bring the Coke to a boil. Add the demerara sugar and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. 

Cool and store in a covered container (I use a Mason jar) in the fridge.

Paw Paw Ice Cream or Concord Grape Sorbet...One Difficult Decision

This week's Millie's Homemade ice cream CSA presented we fortunate subscribers with a choice: a pint of native Western PA paw paw ice cream or harvest fresh concord grape sorbet? Tough decision, right? I love choices where there are no wrong answers. I chose paw paw. 

Why? Because I've been dying to try paw paws for many years. From the time we moved into our house in the North Hills 28 years ago, all those fruit tree catalogs tempted me with descriptions of the exotic sounding fruit tree. The fruits look like a large mango with a flavor description of a banana crossed with citrus. Described as having a custardy texture, I SO wanted to try them. 

The trees themselves were unlike any local tree I'd ever seen...so cool and tropical looking! Somehow I never got around to ordering a pair. Yet another gardening regret in hindsight as paw paws have become the darling of the fall fresh and local scene. Blew that one!



I was tickled to see the last Cure'ated dinner (at Cure in Lawrenceville with Chef Brian Voltaggio of Volt in Frederick, MD (and of Top Chef fame)) used paw paws in every course. (I was first on the waiting list for this dinner if someone cancelled. They didn't. Damn.) And now, I was being offered paw paw ice cream delivered directly to my door? Yes, please.

Now that I had a pint of my dream paw paw ice cream in my hot little hands, would I be disappointed after years of imagining the exotic, yet local, fruit's flavor? Not on your life. It was everything I'd imagined and more! Just a hint of banana with a subtle melon nuance and a smidge of pineapple in the forefront delighted my tastebuds. THIS is ice cream to savor!

And you know what? When Lauren delivered my pint to the door, I was lucky enough to be gifted a bonus pint of Concord Grape sorbet, too. I hit the ice cream lottery! 

One taste of this intensely grape-y sorbet had me imagining a tall glass of gin and tonic with a big scoop - or TWO - of this gorgeous deep purple grape sorbet bobbing in a bubbly tall glass. So that's exactly what we enjoyed last evening. Ahhhhhhhh...a perfect purple-y adult float. Cheers to Millie! And her homemade chilly delights.

Millie's Concord Grape Gin & Tonic Float

Serves 1

• 1 1/2 oz.  Bluecoat gin
• 2 nice big scoops of Millie's Homemade Concord Grape Sorbet (or another brand if you can't get your hands on Millie's - I bet blackberry would be pretty amazing, too!)
• Fever Tree Naturally Light Indian Tonic Water (or regular, not light) - enough to fill the glass

In a nice tall glass, add the gin and a little tonic. Mix. Add hefty scoops of sorbet and pour enough tonic to fill the glass. Gently stir and serve with a straw. (I love my metal spoon straws...dual purpose!)

Girlfriends, Girls' Night IN And One Sweet, Hot B*tch (Surprise...That's a Cocktail!)

Girls' Night with great friends is exactly what the doctor orders sometimes. Last Saturday night the physician writing orders wasn't quite the regular General Practitioner sort of doctor you might normally visit, but more of the kind who heals your spirit and soul.

While perusing the bottles of liquor on the shelves for our evening's indulgences, we began with impromptu tastings of Zaya rum followed by Patron XO Cafe in tiny stemmed glasses. Tres chic (not)! Judy and Stacey (mom and daughter, too, like Kimber and me) and my dear friend Marti (all three of them in from Maryland), lounged in our estrogen-charged living room swapping stories, catching up on all the latest happy, sad and mundane goings on in our lives and sharing both sweet and bittersweet memories we'd been blessed to have with Mark.

Chicken, beef and pork soft tacos (yay Verde Mexican Kitchen & Cantina (their catering menu is muy bueno)!!!!) and gluten-free Chipotle Brownies (yay Marti!!!!) provided sustenance as Kimber kept us happy with delicious and creative cocktails. Bourbon on the rocks for Marti, a cucumber and jalapeno gin & tonic for me and rum and Cokes for Judy and Stacey. Hmmmm...there maybe have been some experimental picklebacks mixed in there somewhere, as well.

For herself, Kimber came out of the kitchen carrying a martini glass with 2 pickle slices perched prettily on its rim. That little riff on a pickle-tini turned out to be everyone's favorite! (You know we were all sampling each cocktail that magically seemed to appear...quality control and all that.)

Zesty Bread and Butter pickle juice (with just a little muddled cucumber and jalapeno for zip) created a perfect combo of sweet and salty, hot and sour to cap off a "Girls' Night IN" to remember. (No drinking and driving here!) Somehow the name transformed from "pickle-tini" to "One Sweet Hot B*tch." (I can't imagine what could have influenced such irreverence. *wink*) And the cocktail shall forever remain named just that.

Here's the recipe so you can create a night of your own to treasure with your very BEST girlfriends, no matter how old you are. Remember, great girlfriends can get you through just about anything while holding your hand, simultaneously making you laugh...and sometimes shedding tears of their own right along with yours. Cheers, my friends!

One Sweet, Hot B*tch

• 2 cucumber wheels - save 1 for garnish
• 2 fresh jalapeno wheels - save 1 for garnish
• 3 oz. Bluecoat Gin (made right here in Pennsylvania!)
• 2 oz. Zesty Bread & Butter pickle juice (Vlasic!)
• splash of tonic (I use Fever Tree)
• ice
• 1 pickle slice for garnish, too

In a cocktail tin, muddle the cucumber wheel and jalapeno wheel. Add gin and pickle juice, then fill the tin 3/4 of the way with ice. Shake vigorously until the tin frosts and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with the cucumber, pickle and jalapeno wheels. Enjoy!

 

Plum Good Gin & Tonic!

Just as September straddles the edges of summer and fall, so  the Plum Good Gin & Tonic combines the refreshment of summer's favorite G&T  with the first flush of fall plums. 

What else would you do with a few plums that didn't go into that (recent) delicious Plum Smoked Duck? Around here, you know we simply used them in a cocktail.

To emphasize the plum-i-ness even more, we used some plum wine left in the bottle from the smoked duck, a little gin, a smidgen of Jack Rudy tonic syrup, lime, a splash of soda and there you have one mighty fine cocktail. Well, almost anyway. A few drops of Bittermen's Burlesque bitters took it right over the top. Cheers!

Plum Good Gin & Tonic

• 1 prune plum, pitted and cut in half
• 2 oz. gin (I used Bluecoat - made here in Pennsylvania!)
• 1/2 oz. Jack Rudy Tonic Syrup (check online to order!)
• 1 fresh lime, juiced (about 1 oz.)
• 1/2 oz. Japanese Plum Wine - also known as Gekkeikan
• 9 drops Bittermen's Burlesque bitters (optional)
• splash seltzer or soda water

In a tin, muddle the plum, lime juice and tonic syrup until well mashed to release all the color and flavor. Add gin and plum wine. 

Fill the tin 3/4's of the way up with ice and cap tightly. Shake well and double strain into a coupe or other glass. Garnish with a piece of plum or lime wheel and serve.

Cucumber Blood Orange Gin & Tonic

It's Monday. There's still grass to mow and yard work leftover from the weekend that needs to be done. You've worked all day, you've taken care of the stuff that didn't get done on Saturday or Sunday. You deserve a refreshing break. I know I do!

Here's one quick cocktail to refresh your thirst AND your spirit. Cool cucumber, tart blood orange, a floral tonic syrup, a little gin and a splash of soda. Sit back and relax...before you do it all over again tomorrow. 

Cucumber Blood Orange Gin & Tonic

Makes 1

• 1/4 cup English cucumber, cut into 1/2" pieces - skin on
• 1/2 orange, blood orange, juiced
• 2 ounces gin, Blue Coat or other less juniper-y gin
• 3/4 ounce Jack Rudy Small Batch Tonic syrup (if you can't find it or want your cocktail NOW - who can blame you - just use a little more than a splash of tonic water instead of the Jack Rudy and soda water...no problem!)
• soda water

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the cucumber pieces and the juice well. Add gin & tonic syrup, add ice 3/4 of the way up the tin, cap tightly and shake briefly. Strain into an ice filled glass of your choice.
 
Remove a strip of orange peel from a blood orange with a wide swivel blade veggie peeler. Remove a strip of cucumber with a knife. Rub the flesh side of the cucumber around the rim of the glass and insert decoratively into the edge of the glass. 

Twist the orange strip skin side toward the cocktail over the liquid, letting the orange oil fall into the glass. Rub the skin side of the orange peel around the rim of the glass and insert it into the glass alongside the cucumber strip. Add a splash of soda water to the top, stir gently and enjoy.


NOTE: I first had Jack Rudy tonic syrup at Bad Decisions in Baltimore...where else?! I bought mine through Fab.com, but you can get it through Amazon, too. You can definitely buy it at Jack Rudy Cocktail Company! Probably through other places as well. No blood oranges? Pfffttt! Use regular oranges or even tangerines. Hmmmm...that sounds great!