Boozy Banana Bread

I find myself in a wonderful temporary situation where I have been laid off, but because of a severance package I'm getting paid until sometime in late spring. I'd go into more detail, but I fear angering the corporate gods and losing this windfall.

So now is the time I should be doing all sorts of things I've always wanted to do if only I didn't have to work. I'd like to bake. I'd like to drink in the mornings. I'd like to visit friends for "coffee."

This morning's Boozy Banana Bread project will allow me to do all three of those things. This Roast Banana-Pumpkin Breakfast Bread recipe from 101 Cookbooks has always been my favorite banana bread recipe. Probably because of the rum raisins. You can go to her site for the recipe, but I have a few thoughts after the ingredient picture on how to make this Glass Half Full style:

Let's start with the bananas: Banana bread is a perfect recipe for people like me because it makes use of bananas that are past their prime. Letting the bananas get overly ripe is actually a good thing for banana bread. I had four bananas and the other two are going in the freezer for when I make this bread again. It's really gross how black they turn in the freezer, but it makes good banana bread. It also means you can have the ingredients on hand so you can make this on days you don't want to leave the house. Now that I don't have to work, I find I can go days without leaving the house.

Coconut Milk: Not much to say about this except when you open the can you'll find some thick white stuff and some watery stuff in there. I try to get a mixture of both in my half cup.

Pumpkin Seeds: I have made this without pumpkin seeds and it tasted pretty much the same. I had pumpkin seeds on hand, so I used them. I toasted them in the toaster oven for two minutes while the bananas were baking.

Raisins: The recipe calls for golden raisins. I'm sure brown would work, but it might look like you have little black things floating around in your bread. The golden raisins look really pretty in the finished product. And you're going to all this trouble, so do it right.

Rum: This being a blog dedicated to drinking, I have a lot to say about the rum. I use Myers's Original Dark Rum for all my rum baking needs. I also like to drink it with tonic water and lime on hot days, but that's a post for another time. This recipe tells you to boil the raisins in a half cup of rum and then let them soak for an hour. I usually use a little more rum. I'm always tempted to cut the soaking time short, but I don't do it because an hour is about how long it takes for the raisins to soak up all that rum. It also smells really good.

The recipe says to discard the rum that's left when you strain the raisins--not going to happen. I drink that rum or save it to pour over my bread if I accidently over cook it. Sometimes the day after I've made this bread, I'll use the leftover bread and make French toast with it. The leftover rum works well mixed in with the maple syrup. Have I made my point yet? Don't pour out the raisin rum.

The picture below shows my finished product. One to take to a friend and one to use for French toast tomorrow.

Before I go I'd like to say a little bit about the fact that this friend has children and I'm heading over there with rum-loaded banana bread. What if the children ask for a piece of the banana bread? You could reason that there probably isn't any alcohol left in the raisins because they were boiled and baked. Being a little tipsy from drinking my leftover raisin-soaked rum, I tend to disagree.

I like children to like me. Therefore, I don't want to be known as "Mommy's creepy friend who smells funny and tries to make me eat icky fruit bread." I'm stopping at a shop on the way over and picking them up some candy bars.

Happy New Year!

During the holiday season I like to drink Southern Comfort Punch. It is actually called "Holiday Punch" in the Southern Comfort pamphlet I have from 1974 (real date of pamphlet may not be 1974, but it has a 1974 feel to it and me and my family have been drinking this for a long time, so you get the idea).

I made it at least three times in December for various events I held in my home. Some of those events were as simple as me decorating the Christmas tree. My family drank it on Christmas Eve, like we do every year. I think drinking this mixture at other times of the year would ruin the special holiday magic it holds for me.

So, since the new year is fast approaching, get started mixing up your batch now or wait until after Thanksgiving 2011. Directions after ingredient picture below:

1. Get punch bowl.
2. Add one container of frozen orange juice (any brand will do). It can still be slightly frozen because I think that makes the punch colder and it will thaw eventually.
3. Add one container of Minute Maid Limeade. I always use Minute Maid Limeade because it just tastes better.
4. Add some Cranberry Juice Cocktail--classic Ocean Spray works best. Don't use real cranberry juice. This is no time to try to be healthy. I like the punch to have a pinkish orange color, so I add enough cranberry juice to achieve that look.
5. Add Southern Comfort. Use your judgement here. No matter how much you add, it will pretty much taste the same. So you decide how drunk you want people to end up and how much of your precious alcohol you want to use. Southern Comfort is relatively cheap and I like people to have a good time, so I add a lot.
6. Add a bunch of ice or an ice ring. You've made this pretty strong and the juices are pretty sweet, so it can handle a lot of melting ice without losing any of the flavor.
7. Add a can or two of 7-Up before serving. The fizz makes it good, that's why I add it as close to guest arrival time as possible.

They say what you are doing on the first day of the new year will pretty much predict how that year will go for you. So what better symbolism for the year to come than the abundance of a bowl of punch shared with people you love. Wishing you joy and abundance in 2011!

The Small Glass Approach

Saturdays have a way of slipping away too quickly or should I say "sipping" away? I probably shouldn't say "sipping away" because that's just the sort of stupid pun-ridden writing that would make someone like me stop reading this blog, and I want people like me to read this blog. So, forgive me for that and stick with this a bit longer.

I woke up at 7:30 this morning to go sit in my favorite chair surrounded by coffee, books, magazines, laptop, iTunes and big plans.

One hour in, on an innocent trip to the refrigerator to get a glass of juice, I noticed I had a bottle of Lindeman's Kriek (cherry) Lambic.

I was ready to take the bottle back to the little area of heaven I'd carved out for myself in the front room, when I realized it was a defining moment in my day. If I took the whole bottle with me, I'd sit there and drink the whole bottle. Then I'd be kind of lit up and the productive day I had planned would instead be a day spent indulging my basest drunken whims. Just so you know, I'm not against indulging my basest drunken whims, it's just that none of my basest drunken whims have ever resulted in a clean house.

Anyway, I decided to try the Small Glass Approach. The Small Glass Approach, or SGA, is an approach developed by me, in my kitchen, about two hours ago. The thought is that if I fill a small glass with cherry lambic goodness and take it to the living room with me, I will at least need to get up to get more, at which time I can reassess my situation. Do I really want to drink more? Do I really want to sit down again or is it time to get going?

To find the answer to those questions, please see picture of empty bottle of kriek lambic above sitting next to the smallish glass. I went to the Lindamen's web site to learn a little more about this stuff:

• It also comes in pomme (apple), framboise (raspberry), cassis (black currents), and peche (peach).
• I've tried them all and kriek (cherry) is my favorite.
• I served it in a smallish glass but it should typically be served in a tall pretty glass.
• It's got a pretty low alcohol content.

So, maybe I'll be able to get this house cleaned up after all. . . or, I could go buy another bottle and then hire a housekeeper on a drunken whim. Have a great Saturday.

Alpine Swag

Today was a foggy dreary day. I decided to stop in at the Alpine Tap Room after work for a drink or five.

I was drinking Old Style from a can and talking about the Cubs with Gunner, Larry and Dean when the Coors Light truck arrived. Dean asked Matt the beer guy if he had anything for us. And young Matt came through big.

He brought us three bottles of the new flavors of Mike's Hard Lemonade. The new margarita line includes peach, classic margarita, and raspberry flavors. He also brought us Miller High Life koozies, Miller Light rings that light up, and Coors Light/bottle opener key chains. It was like getting a swag bag as a presenter at the Alcoholic Academy Awards.

We taste tested the Mike's. I felt the peach flavor had a body odor aftertaste. Dean dumped the peach out. Larry hated it, so he drank it first to get it out of the way.

We liked the margarita flavor just fine, but the raspberry was our favorite. It reminded Larry of Sun Country Wine Coolers. I thought it tasted like Zotz candy. Other than the fact that it was free, the best part of drinking sugary malt liquor drinks in the afternoon was it made me feel like spring is finally here.

To summarize, stopping for drinks after work is always a good idea; asking the beer guy for free stuff is always a good idea. Oh, and I'm back.

Punch Drunk Love

My husband and I are celebrating our five-year wedding anniversary this week. Anniversaries are a great excuse to buy champagne and drink out of fancy glasses. 

Since we were camping on our actual anniversary, I didn't serve our Sofia Blanc de Blancs out of the awesome Waterford toasting glasses my friend Amy bought us as a wedding gift, but rather we had it in IKEA champagne flutes with our breakfast of campfire-cooked eggs and bacon. 

We toasted and drank our first sip straight and then added some orange juice and drank the rest as mimosas. My husband is a gentleman who let me have most of the champagne. Later that morning when his drunk bride fell in the lake after stepping into the canoe like it was the most stable conveyance ever, he made sure he asked if I was okay before he burst out laughing.

Now that we are back home I decided to mix up a batch of the punch I created for our wedding reception. I think weddings and celebrations of any sort are a good reason to create a signature drink that in some way captures the essence of the event. Our wedding color was green like Midori Liqueur. Therefore, I used Midori to create this punch:

Midori Wedding Punch:

• 1 can Minute Maid Frozen Limeade
  
• 3 of the limeade can of water
  
• 1 can Dole Pineapple Juice
  
• 1/2 liter of 7-up
  
• Enough Midori Melon Liqueur to give it a great green color
  
• Frozen honeydew melon balls and or ice ring made with limeade

Hoisting a Brownie with the Driscolls

Ever since I posted about liquor sales so far this year in Iowa, I've been curious about who in Iowa is drinking all the Black Velvet and Dr. Mcgillicuddy's Cherry Schnapps. Well, on a trip to my husband's hometown for his class reunion last weekend, I found out, and the answer surprised me.

My husband grew up in what, to me, seems like the ideal small town. The kind where the neighbors are good friends he's known all his life. I arrive in town and notice Bob and Linda Driscoll are hanging out on their porch. I've heard that their summer drink of choice is a drink they call the Brownie. I headed across the street to catch up and find out just what this drink was all about. 

They have new comfy patio furniture and a plaque on their patio with a picture of a margarita on it and the inscription "Hoist--The Driscolls."  "Hoist" is what the Driscolls say when it's time for a drink. When I told them I wanted to try a Brownie, Bob headed inside to freshen Linda's drink and make one for me. 

Bob came back with a mug of Black Velvet Whiskey mixed with unsweetened iced tea. It was very refreshing and very strong. I was feeling tipsy and talkative after just one glass, so of course I asked for another. This isn't my favorite iced tea-themed drink of the season, but I liked it, and I liked the company.

However, it was getting late. It was time for me to walk down to the town's bar, The Sundown, where my husband's band was playing. After a few songs and a few beers, I was feeling pretty good. I asked the bartender for a round of his most popular shot for me and the band. He made Cherry Bombs. Turns out Cherry Bombs are a tasty mixture of Red Bull and, you guessed it, Dr. Mcgillicuddy's Cherry Schnapps. 

When I woke the next morning with a terrible headache, I realized that, at least for that weekend, the person in Iowa drinking all the Black Velvet and cherry schnapps was me. Headache aside, I recommend both of these concoctions. As the Driscolls would say, "Hoist!"

Betty's Bar Guide

It was my mom Betty's birthday last week. So much of what I've shared with you and want to share with you I've learned from her. But since she's no longer with us, and all my attempts to share fun mom stories seem to come across as morbid to other people, I've held back. 

However, her birthday reminded me of a great gift she gave me one year. She found the Bar Guide in this picture at a junk store. Before the Bar Guide gift I'd often been disappointed with gifts from mom. But I was thrilled beyond words with this Bar Guide and just kept spinning the knob and reading off the recipes for crazy old-timey drink after crazy old-timey drink. There are 80 in all. My mom said, "I finally figured out that I can just buy you alcohol and old junk for gifts and you'll be happy." So true.

From time-to-time I will share a recipe from the Bar Guide with you. But be warned, they almost all involve raw eggs, and you need to know about things like jiggers. The definition I found for jigger is a measure of one drink of liquor.  Since most drinks call for two jiggers, a jigger glass is like the metal one shown above with the smaller side measuring one jigger and the larger measuring two jiggers. You could always just use a shot glass because it's pretty much the same thing.

Since Gin and Tonic was my mother's little helper of choice, I dialed in number 39 on the Bar Guide. Here's what it says: Place 3 ice cubes into tall highball glass. Add 2 jiggers Gin. Crush 1/2 slice lemon. Fill with Tonic Water. My mom used lime instead of lemon. I think she also used more than two jiggers of gin, but you can't blame her when she was stuck with a kid like me.