Category: Midori

Evita – The Cocktail

Welcome to 2021 people of the internet!  What will this year bring I wonder?  I’m tempted to say that it can only be better than 2020,  However, that seems a bit too much like waving a red flag in front of a particularly vindictive bull that tells me to hold it’s beer even as it is pawing the ground and getting ready to charge. So, let’s swiftly change the subject….hmmm…speaking of alcohol….this is the Evita!

Evita 1

The Evita was my cocktail of choice for NYE and a very good choice it was.  It has the fruity sweet-sour flavour that I love.  And the colours  –  acid lime green with a flash of orange from the garnish are like a neon version of the more traditional deep green and red of Christmas.  Kind of festive edgy if you will. Or 1970’s chic if you won’t.

Evita 2

Evita – The Cocktail

The Evita cocktail contains vodka, melon liqueur, lime and orange juice.  You can find the recipe here.  There is another cocktail called the Eva Peron which has very different ingredients so make sure you get the right one if you want to make it.  Which you should because it is a delightful little tipple!

Evita  – The Woman

Truth be told until I started researching for this cocktail did not know all that much about Eva Peron aka Evita.  This is what I knew:

  • She was the wife of the Argentinian president
  • There was a musical written about her which includes the song Don’t Cry for me Argentina
  • Madonna played her in the film version of the musical
  • She was very glamourous and wore gorgeous clothes
  • I cannot write the name Eva Peron without first writing the name Eva Person and having to correct it.

What I did not know:

  • María Eva Duarte met Colonel Juan Peron in 1944 and married him in 1945. He became President of Argentina in 1946
  • During his presidency, Eva, who became known commonly as Evita worked tirelessly to help the poor people of Argentina and to give women full suffrage.
  • She spoke publicly on labour rights and ran the Ministries for health and labour.
  • She set up a charitable foundation dedicated to social justice and helping sick and poor Argentinians
  • And set up an all-female political party.
  • In 1951 she announced her candidacy for the nomination of Vice President of Argentina, an act that was hugely popular with poor and working-class people.
  • She was forced to withdraw her nomination because of failing health.
  • Eva Peron died of cancer in 1952.  She was 33 years old.

The Inspiration

What an amazing woman and what an absolute inspiration!  Also, what great timing because this is the time of year when I, (and many other people around the world) are setting goals and making resolutions for the New Year.

Learning about this wonderful woman’s life really made me rethink the goals I had started to set – instead of the usual save more, spend less, drink less, exercise more goals maybe this year I will try to live with some of Eva’s grace and devotion to her cause and conviction.  Why not make this the year of being strong, vocal and politically active for the causes I care about.  And if I can also have all the glamour and wear some pretty dresses that is a bonus!

So, my friends, let’s all raise a toast to Eva Peron.  May she inspire us to live our best lives in 2021!

Evita 3

Have a wonderful week and year ahead!

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Tanis Inspired Cocktails #4 – Sex on The Breach

With my love of puns, there was no way I could resist this.  The Sex on the Breach is my Tanis inspired version of a variation of the classic Sex on The Beach. sex-on-the-breach

And now for the PSA. If you are in the PNW and you are contemplating having sex in the breach?

Don’t.

Cease.

Desist.

Stop. It. Now.

At best The Breach contains mutant cuttlefish, psycho squirrels, TARDIS like cabins, strange creatures lurking in the shadows, Eld Fen, and has sent more than person totally loopy….Lord only knows what kind of hellish offspring would result from any sort of hanky panky within those grey pancake walls.

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I found this version of a Sex on the Beach on Drinks Mixer and was really interested to see how the mix of Chambord, Midori and Pineapple juice would turn out.  In my head I wanted it to have a more murky tinge.  In reality, the lovely deep red was a lot more pleasant to the eye than the colour I had in mind!  Also, the original called for Cranberry juice.  I had Pomegranate juice in the house so I made it with that.  Feel free to sub in cranberry juice in your version if that’s how you roll. It is totally delicious too!

Here’s the  recipe:

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Sex on The Breach

Celebrate the Season Finale of Tanis with this super tasty cocktail!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 part vodka
  • 1/2 part Midori® melon liqueur
  • 1/2 part Chambord® raspberry liqueur
  • 2 parts pineapple juice
  • 4 parts pomegranate juice

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients with ice.
  2. Stir gently, strain and serve.

Notes

  • You can substitute cranberry juice for the pomegranate juice

With the Season 2 Finale of Tanis imminent (this week?), why not make one of these to sip on as you listen.  Unless, of course you listen in your car.  In which case, read my PSA above.

There are so many questions that the finale may answer.

  • Will Nic find Tanis?
  • And if he does….then what?
  • Who the fuck is Mike?   Solved.  See below.
  • Will Nic find Sam Reynolds and Morgan Miller?
  • Can Nic trust CameronEllis?  Will anyone ever be able to separate CameronEllis’ first and second names?
  • Should Nic trust Nathaniel Carter and Veronica Pillman?
  • Will they ever stop calling Karla or is it Patrcia Corrie, Marcus Corrie’s widow?  The dude is still alive.  Batshit crazy but alive and incarcerated at Tesla Nova.
  • Did Nic and MK do it in S2E10? (Yes, they totally did).

And the most burning question of all.

@TanisPodcast WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY IMAGINARY INTERNET BOYFRIEND GEOFF VAN SANT?

He better be boozing in a bar somewhere and not have been lured into the breach by someone/ something only to  end up eating his own arm or gouging out his eyes with a spooky Tanis rock like….Oh!  That’s who Mike is.

sex-on-the-breach-3OMG, I can’t wait for the S2 finale….so excited!  And whilst it is sometimes incredibly frustrating to have to wait for the next instalment, I actually kind of love that in a world where everything is on-demand this is something you have to wait for!

I have had a fabulous time doing this series on Tanis and I hope that you have also enjoyed both it and the cocktails!

I don’t think I have said this before but to the makers,writers, actors of Tanis, THANK YOU for making one of the best podcasts, actually the two best most original, creative, well produced podcasts around.  I could not love your work more and I hope you view this tribute as my way of saying thank you for the amazing work you do!   And thanks for the retweets!

Hmmmm…what next I wonder?  Maybe a Black Tapes series?  Who knows?

Stay tuned.

And keep looking.

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History Happy Hour 1983 – The Kiwi

This week in History Happy Hour we are celebrating my home town and the running of the Melbourne Cup with this delicious Kiwi Cocktail.

kiwi cocktail 1First run in 1861, the Melbourne Cup is the richest “two-mile” handicap race in the world, and one of the richest turf races.  It is, in Australia, the race that stops a nation.

It is run on the first Tuesday in November each year and here in Melbourne, we get a day off from work for the Cup.  A sneaky Tuesday off work?  Now that’s worth celebrating!

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The Kiwi Cocktail also specifically celebrates the 1983 winner of the cup, Kiwi.  Why are we celebrating 1983?  Well…you try finding a cocktail called Archer (first winner) or Protectionist (last year’s winner).  And if you do, send them my way!

And kiwi fruit are super delicious.  And very healthy.  So, you get a teeny bit of detoxing even as you are toxing.  And that can’t be a bad thing.

Don’t let the pretty green colour of the Kiwi Cocktail fool you either.  With 75ml of booze in it, The Kiwi has a kick like a prize-winning stallion!  So drink it responsibly…remember the Cup is a race for stayers not sprinters!

PSA over,  this is delicious and perfect for a lovely Spring afternoon as long as you take it easy!

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Happy drinking and good luck if you have a flutter!

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Giddy-Up, It’s a Melbourne Cup Pineapple Double

Those of you who don’t live in Australia may be unaware that the Melbourne Cup is run on the first Tuesday in November.  The Melbourne Cup is our version of the Kentucky Derby  or Ascot or  the <<insert the biggest horse race from your country here>>.

Melbourne Cup Crab and Pineapple Appetizer
Melbourne Cup Crab and Pineapple Appetizer

They call it the race that stops a nation because, come tomorrow  at around 3:00pm, just about everyone in the country will stop what they are doing to watch, or listen to, the running of the Cup.  If you happen to live in Melbourne, you get to stop for a hell of a lot more than that.  We get the WHOLE day off work.  Seriously.  We don’t go to work all day because for about 5 minutes in the afternoon some horses run around a track.  It’s awesome, the most mad and random holiday ever!!!

And because we’re not working, if people aren’t actually going to the races, they have parties and bbq’s or set up parties in the car park at the track, kind of like tail gating but classier.  Every one dresses up and the weather is generally good – it’s party time here!!!    Apart from the hay fever.  That’s still sucking.

Melbourne Cup Crab and Pineapple Appetizer
Melbourne Cup Crab and Pineapple Appetizer

And what better way to celebrate your Cup Day holiday, than this adorable vintage salad from Rosemary Mayne-Wilson’s Salads for All Seasons and the accompanying MC Cocktail which I made up to go along with it?

The unifying element between the two is pineapple.  And can I just say.  Forget Chanel #5.

Pineapple has got to be the best smell in the world.  When I opened that can?  I  just wanted to take a big swim in that glorious scent.  Soooo good. And yes, I used pineapple from a can.  Fresh pineapple is great.  If you happen to live in Cambodia…OMG, the best, sweetest most heaven scented pineapple ever…or you have a couple of spare hours to pfaff about with peeling and coring and taking the eyes out and blah blah blah.  As far as I am concerned, canned pineapple is the way to go.

Melbourne Cup Appetiser 3
Melbourne Cup Appetiser 3

What was not so good was the tinned crab.  It was….fairly bland is a nice way of putting it.  Completely tasteless would be another.  Despite that, the pineapple was sweet and the dressing was surprisingly good.  I think that if you used fresh crab meat this would become super good.

RMW recommends decorating this with crab legs.  Even if I had made this using fresh crab I would find that a bit creepy.  I used some chopped up chives and mint (both can I add, fresh from my garden)!

Alternatively you could forgo piling the crab into and onto the pineapple rings and mix them together and serve in these amazing bits of crabby kitsch!

Crab Salad Bowls
Crab Salad Bowls

I would still use the watercress to line the crab bowls.  That peppery goodness added a real bit of zing to this dish.

But I will tell you something totally weird.  As I was making it, I believed I had spotted a huge flaw in the logic of this salad.  Cos that’s the kind of thing I think about,  The logic of food.  As I may have said a couple of times before, it’s nice to see that Philosophy major isn’t going to waste!

So, here was my concern.  You pile your crab meat onto and into the hole of your pineapple ring.  However, the law of gravity would suggest that when you picked up your pineapple ring that the crab meat in the hole would not, should not lift with the ring….

Weird thing is?  It totally does.  Well nearly totally does.  A smidgeon of crab may remain on the plate but it will lift.  You need to pack it in fairly tight though.

I would definitely make this again.  But I would definitely use fresh crab meat.

MC - Midori and Chartreuse Cocktail
MC – Midori and Chartreuse Cocktail

So, what do you do with the leftover juice from the can of pineapple?  Well, if life gives you pineapple juice, I say make a super refreshing and tasty as hell cocktail.  I also happened to have a bottle of Midori hanging about.  It was given to me as a housewarming present when I moved into my old apartment.  How on earth it managed to survive 13 years I have no idea.  Anyway on that bottle was a tag and on that tag was a recipe for a cocktail called a 24/7 which was Midori, Chartreuse, lime cordial and pineapple juice.  I made this and it was ok.  Then I made a second one where I subbed in some fresh lemon juice for the lime cordial and it was much better.  Then I made a third…(see what I mean about being surprised that bottle hadn’t been drained long ago?)  where I added a splash of ginger beer.  And ladies and gentlemen, we had a winner!

The MC Cocktail
The MC Cocktail

I’m calling my version the MC – Midori and Chartreuse, Melbourne Cup…

Oh, and the left over salad dressing?  Was really good on some oysters the following day! It had that Bloody Mary Shot vibe about it.  Kind of retro in it’s own way!

Oysters with Tomato - Horseradish Dressing
Oysters with Tomato – Horseradish Dressing

I will be spending Cup Day cooking up a Joan Crawford inspired Romantic dinner for two courtesy of Jenny at Silver Screen Suppers…stay tuned, I think it’s going to be awesome!  Whatever you do, I hope it’s fabulous!

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Melbourne Cup Crab & Pineapple Appetizer and MC Cocktail

Ingredients

Scale

For the Appetizer

  • 6 pineapple rings
  • 400grams (14oz) crab meat (preferably fresh)
  • 1 bunch watercress
  • Mint and Chopped Chives to serve (optional)

For The Tomato Horseradish Dressing

  • 1 tsp prepared horseradish
  • 1/2 cup tomato juice
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp worchestershire sauce
  • salt & pepper to taste

For the MC Cocktail

  • 30ml (1 oz) Midori
  • 15 ml (1/2 oz) green chartreuse
  • 15 ml (1/2 oz) lemon juice
  • Pineapple juice
  • Ginger Beer
  • Ice

Instructions

For the Tomato – Horseradish dressing (can be made in advance)

  1. Mix all the ingredients together and chill

For the Melbourne Cup Crab and Pineapple Appetizer

  1. Arrange the watercress on a large plate or six small plates.
  2. Place the pineapple on top of the watercress.
  3. Mix 1-2 tsp of the dressing through the crab -just enough to help it stick together. Pile the crab onto the pineapple rings
  4. Spoon a little bit of the sauce over the crab (a little goes a long way, so go easy) or serve the dressing on the side. Sprinkle with the chives and mint.

For the MC Cocktail

  1. Fill a long glass with ice. Add the Midori, Green Chartreuse and Lemon Juice. Add pineapple juice to about 2 cm below the rim of the glass.
  2. Top with ginger beer.