Sup’s! gettin’ his girl on today! You heard me. I’m in search of that inner-feminine that makes all men real men. Afterall I just spent a weekend with about 75 lovely ladies at CampBlogaway! I almost felt handsome…
So in honor of these powerful women bloggers I am going to slip into something pink and pretty and a little ticklish. If I had a pink boa, I’d wear it for inspiration.
That’s ‘cuz the girls at LoveFeast Table invited me to invent a cocktail to help get them through the Long Hot Summer (does it get hot in Minnesota??)
Now I know these girls. They have regular posts called Fancy Fridays. These include nothing but photos of pretty, flouncy, girly things. So I am going girly with this cocktail. Extremely girly.
Once I had my assignment I began to search out some illumination for my libation. Perhaps some pretty pink inspiration. But the truth is there is not much pink in my house. I have an old polo shirt that’s pink… but girly it ain’t.
So I turned my attention to the yard. Shazam! Look what I found. It is an epiphyllum in full fuchsia flush. This is better than any ole pink boa!
Now epiphyllums are usually found in more tropical climes than Los Angeles. But this one seems to like the California lifestyle just fine. I mean really! Have you ever seen anything like this before? It’s almost obscene. Obviously this plant’s pink profusion is the perfect inspiration for my LoveFeast assignment.
First off, it’s pink. Obviously pink. But it’s the tropical association that really inspired me. So I decided to do a pink tropical interpretation of a classic cocktail. I decided to make it a bit ticklish too. Because summer cocktails should be fun!
I am calling it a Tickled Pink Tropical Island “Iced Tea”. It’s inspired by the classic Long Island Iced Tea, but the addition of guava juice gives my version the pink-hued provenance of more balmy cartography. Perfect for summer. But I also added a big splash of club soda for that tickle I was looking for. Besides, “Iced Teas” of the alcoholic variety can be dangerously potent. The club soda lightens the load in this department and makes this drink a little more party friendly in my opinion. Because there is nothing uglier than a drunken Sup! gettin’ girly!
Now some purists claim that you should never mix gin and vodka. Which seems like sensible advice. But there is nothing sensible about this boozy beverage. This cocktail is all about summer indulgence. So it defies many of these standard taboos. Making it the ultimate warm weather party potion.
Despite the powerful wallop of rum, vodka, gin and tequila– the flavors in this cocktail meld like a mellow August afternoon. The tropical guava juice, as well as the exotic orange flavors of Cointreau, blends well with the citrusy notes of gin and limejuice and that spicy kick of rum.
The funny thing about the original version of this cocktail is that it actually does taste like iced tea. My version tastes more like a glass of guava Snapple than a pitcher of the summer style sweet tea you sipped with your gramma on the front porch. But, I’m sticking with the iced tea moniker anyway.
Although it’s hard to know exactly where this libation got it’s start, it seems likely that this is another one of those prohibition era cocktails. The original version has a big splash of cola. In those days many bartenders added this splash as a disguise. Making whatever potent bootleg spirit they might be serving look like a long cool glass of harmless (and perfectly legal) iced-tea.
So here’s to summer. Here’s to LoveFeast Table. And here’s to Sup!, who doesn’t mind gettin’ his girl on every once in a while! Especially if it’s for CampBlogaway.
Tickled Pink Tropical Island “Iced Tea” serves 1 CLICK here for a printable recipe
- 1 oz Captain Morgan’s spiced rum
- 1 oz gin
- 1 oz vodka
- 1 oz tequila
- 1 oz Cointreau or triple sec
- 1 oz fresh limejuice
- 2 oz guava nectar (such as Kearns)
- 2 oz club soda (or to taste)
- Lime wedges as garnish
Pour all the ingredients into a large, tall 10–14 oz ice-filled Collins or Chimney style glass. Top with the club soda and gently stir. Garnish with as many fresh lime wedges as you like.
Variations:
Long Island Iced Tea: Replace the spiced rum with white rum and the guava juice with orange juice and the club soda with cola.
Miami Iced Tea: Replace the spiced rum with white rum and the guava juice with orange juice and the club soda with cola and the Cointreau with blue curaçao.
New England Iced Tea: Replace the spiced rum with white rum and the guava juice with orange juice and the club soda with cranberry juice.
SERIOUS FUN FOOD
Greg Henry
SippitySup
The beets sold here never have the greens attached. I’ve always wondered why since West Indians are very economical and would probably use it. This reminds me of dasheen ( a local root vegetable I believe you might know it as taro). The entire plant is used and the stems and leaves make a soup that is signature dish of this region, indeed it is even the national dish of my country. Well written post you drew me in immediately and made me laugh
Could you be speaking of a green soup called callaloo? GREG
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post. It is a very rare thing here to find beets with the tops still on, or if they are then they are usually so limp and manky looking you think that even the compost heap might turn its nose up at them!! So I was delighted the other day to find a beautiful bunch of beets with a glorious bunch of perfect leaves still in tact. I immediately turned the beets into a warm salad with lentils, rinsed off the leaves and popped them in a bag in the vegie crisper, knowing they would be perfect to do something with, but having no idea exactly what to do with them. Now I do — thank you so much.
I always avoid the supermarket queue — here in New Zealand we have “self scan”, where if you have less than 15 items you can scan your own items and pay a machine — absolutely no humans involved. No more irritating check out frustrations!
Sue
we have those self check outs too in Los Angeles, but they don’t make as funny a story! Cheers. GREG
in a health food store, we had to find ways of using every piece of edible food to spread the food love. So I made Curried Beet Greens as a side for Maui Maui, and it was a sweet spicy pairing, and one of my most popular sellers!
You do have to soak the greens to get the grit/dirt off, but also it helps revive them if you place them in a cold glass of water until you are ready to cook them, so as not to wilt (works for most greens, and moist towels as well).
I gave up trying to use the greens that were attached to my grocery store or farmer’s markets beets. They were so full of dirt that my soups, and everything else had an unnecessary crunch. So those go into the composter (gasp — I know) but I do use the greens from the beets that come from my garden. No dirt in my dish.
I find if I soak them in a colander for a good long time, agitating once in awhile and changing the water several times, that I can get them clean But of course If I had a garden then I’d do just the same as you! Enjoy your bounty! GREG
I LOVE beet greens along with turnip greens, etc. But have you noticed that the yellow beet greens have a weird flavor? They taste different than red ones. Just wondering if it was the batch I had because now I’m afraid to try them again. Their acrid flavor ruined my risotto!
but I don’t know the answer to the beet green (Yellow vs red) conundrum. GREG
Of course, I’ve never tried them with anchovies! I’m thinking Devon will be making these for me, as soon as our farmer’s market reopens!! Come on spring!
I’m never throwing away the top of the beets again! This is a great idea!
Because the unfortunate truth is that I rarely buy beets! This needs to be remedied immediately.
I am a serious greens lover. This looks delicious to me. I really might like it better than the beets! Beautiful presentation and photography as always. Have a great weekend Greg 🙂
I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. 🙂 Love the anchovies, love the beet greens, love the blog.
I applaud this post, Greg! I’ve been eating beet greens for years . They’re extremely delicious and good for you.
Let’s just say you were in my grocery store and there was a pile of loose beets (no greens) for 69 cents/lb. and then next to that there was a beautiful selection of organic bunched beets with their greens all wet and glistening for $2.69/lb. Damn straight I’m not throwing them away!
…I like the way you see things! GREG
These look delicious and I love your presentation.
I loved your lead-up to this recipe. And you’re right. I am guilty as charged! Next time I won’t be so quick to throw em away. Especially not now that I have this recipe.
Hee,hee,hee! I’ve always wondered what to do with those beautiful greens! I have converted quite a few beet “haters” with my roasted beet and goat cheese stacks. Beets are so very delicious when prepared correctly! Yours seems like a perfect way to eat your greens.
Better get back to the second graders and palmiers!
Greg, this is one of the best written, funniest posts you have written and, strangely enough, it makes your point loud and clear. Yes, you nag me about beets but baby if you served this beet green dish to me — maybe over a tad of pasta? — I just know I’d live it!
Your writing has wonderful sense of human. 😛
Ah, for the beet greens, I don’t normally cook it. Now you have inspired me.
LOL. You known something like that almost happened to me at the grocery. True story! I promise to make an effort to eat beat this year. Just not sure when, but I will. 🙂 Why do they intimidate me so much?
Never heard of such a thing. (It was probably that Mrs. Johnson’s fault for running it over your foot the last time, she broke the cart!)
I just can’t do the anchovies, am I forgiven?
I’ve learned to really appreciate just how delicious a touch of anchovies can make a dish — love the sound of this recipe and as I imagine I am getting a huge batch of beets in my CSA box, I’ll be trying this recipe in the very near future.
is that the grocery store by me doesn’t even sell them attached! The only beets I could find had the tops taken off already :-/
Can’t wait for my CSA to start again.
You crack me up.