paaaaaaarty!

Photo fail! I neglected to photograph...anything last night, with the exception of this shot of Sarah finishing off the kiwi/lychee cocktail ('lycheetini'). The pitcher she's emptying out was surprisingly popular, given its less than stunning color. The tartness of the kiwis, though, disguising the surprising punch, is hard to resist.

(recipe given for approx. 3/4 pitcherfull)
in the blender, mix up:
the fruit of 3 kiwis
2 lychee
2 shots of the syrup from the lychee can
10-ish shots of vodka

pour mixture into pitcher, add approx. 1 liter of ginger ale (I busted out the new soda machine)
stir, serve over ice

Additionally, I re-visited the rum cream, made a modified Conquistador with dark rum and bitters instead of bourbon and Fernet Branca (working with what I got on hand, you know), and set out our range of rums of all colors. I ended the night with a couple of light rum, elderflower, club soda mixtures. Feeling pretty awesome this morning.

Failed to make: avocado daiquiris...maybe later in the week.

Rum Cream

Our version.

A sweating plastic cup of Sangster's Rum Cream on our balcony (kind of like the back deck) at the Sunset Beach Resort.

Achy has a tradition of drinking a ‘White Witch’ shot at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant in the Montego Bay airport whenever she goes to Cuba via Jamaica. This trip, my first, we had an additional surprise layover after being turned around midair en route to Havana. (Air Jamaica told us that the Havana airport was closed, the result of a ‘hole in the runway.’) Long story short, we were put up overnight in the Sunset Beach all-inclusive resort and stuck on a flight the next day. Meanwhile, we discovered Sangster’s Rum Cream, which to our surprise and delight/dismay was an identical taste match to the White Witch.

In our desire to make the customs process go as smoothly as possible upon entry in Miami, we didn’t bring any liquor back with us. We did, however, whip up a little batch of homemade stuff when we got home.

[recipe modified from this]

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
1 cup Bacardi Select or other dark rum
1 cup heavy whipping cream
5 Tbsp espresso, freshly brewed
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp coconut cream

Blend ingredients in blender and serve over ice or in coffee.

Note: This recipe is toooooo cinnamony. Next time we’re going for a pinch to 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Otherwise, it’s pretty delicious.