Coping with COVID-19, one cocktail at a time
Not to brag about spending more time over a hot stove or joke about turning to strong drink, but I think I have gone one step further by combining them both.
No, I’m not making homemade gin, but I have developed a scintillating new recipe that I modestly call the Jantini.
In a way I have COVID19 to thank for it. It started when I broke my favourite drink glass and couldn’t go to a thrift store to find a replacement (you can find wonderful glasses at thrift stores).
Case in point, the martini glass that my eyes fell on when forced to shop at home for another glass to suit my exacting requirements; not too big, with an easily grasped base that would not see my warm hand affecting the chill of its contents. A stem glass doesn’t do as it requires too much of a tilt of the head as it empties, so as you can see, my wants are very specific. Enter the stemless martini glass.
(Here’s where I have to confess to misleading you all these years. I do not drink gin and tonic. I drink gin with soda water and just enough orange juice to cloud the elixir.)
I was rather pleased with the visual effect of the martini glass but something was missing; the important detail of the olive, important indeed when you’ve been known to argue that three olives in a martini counts as a vegetable.
An olive just didn’t seem to go here. Then I had my eureka moment. What was needed to tittify this delight was a lovely twist of candied orange peel.
And where would she get that you might well ask, knowing me as you do?
Ha! I made my own. Oh you might say, that’s nothing to brag about considering that all you have to do is cut orange peels into thin strips and boil them, first in plain water, then in sugar water, drain, toss in sugar and let them dry for a couple of days.
Nonetheless, peel saved from Newman’s breakfast orange and candied by my own hands adds a sublime personal touch that warranted a personal name, hence the Jantini was born.
It is proving to be very popular in our house and I have no doubt it will soon be a signature drink at fine dining establishments everywhere. Why I wouldn’t be surprised if it spread as far as Heart’s Content by the summer.
And lest you think I am overreaching, I have another classic drink to my credit. I don’t get the credit mind you, but I was responsible for the famous Chocolate Sam at Marble Mountain.
Here is the story: once upon a time, long, long ago there was a small ski hill in a little place called Steady Brook Newfoundland. At the foot of the hill was a small wooden building. Skiers would pack lunches at home and gather in the little building to eat and sometimes share. Many of the skiers brought thermoses of coffee enhanced with a strong beverage of their choice. One little skier from the neighbouring village of Corner Brook didn’t like coffee and envied the others their yummy hot drinks so she would bring hot chocolate with a splash of the rum that lived in her house, known by all as Old Sam.
As she shared her drink the others liked it, and as the little hut grew into a place where people could buy beverages, hot chocolate and Old Sam began to be a popular request at the bar and so they gave it a name and the people were happy.
The rest, as they say, is history.
No need to thank me; just think of me whenever you sip a Jantini.
Or a Chocolate Sam.