Dec 9, 2015

Still just a few books a way from 100 pre-orders so if any Inkshares member followers who haven't ordered and have credits to spare...!  Just saying.  Anyway, on to cocktails, always a good subject, huh?  Recipes for cocktails, I mean. I mentioned a possible recipe section at the end of the book featuring food and drink from the story. A lot of people think it's a good idea, not that it hasn't been done (see Nora Ephron's "Heartburn", for instance, for probably the best example). But I like the idea of recipes too. In "Women Like Us", the first cocktail to appear shows up in Chapter 1, and it's a daiquiri. Let's talk daiquiris for a second. Although there's certain a place for them, I'm not talking that frozen kind that's more like a slushee laced with booze. I'm talking the original classic daiquiri, which is a simple connection of rum, simple syrup and lime juice, shaken over ice but then strained. Here's a short history of the daiquiri: by all accounts the daiquiri originated in Cuba around the turn of the twentieth century. It eventually made its way from Havana to Washington DC, and if anybody else is a bit Kennedy-obsessed like I am they'd know that John and Jacqueline Kennedy liked to have evening daiquiris before going on to dinner (which is the way we all should be living). So how do you make a classic daiquiri?  Well, here ya go:

Classic Daiquiri (recipe adapted from epicurious.com)

2 ounces light rum

1 ounce, plus one teaspoon fresh squeezed lime juice (don't even think of using that bottled stuff)

1/2 ounce simple syrup (mix equal parts sugar, water, bring to boil to dissolve sugar, let cool)

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine rum, lime juice and simple syrup. Shake vigorously. Strain into cocktail glass and serve. Makes one.

Now go make yourself a daiquiri!  Or order one then next time you're out to dinner, but often you have to tell the bartender how to make the classic so bring this recipe along with you!!