Category: Rum

History Happy Hour – April 15, 1912 – Punch Romaine

“Everyone knows what rockets at sea mean,” said the portly Boston Harbor pilot.

“They mean distress…It means, please come to me because I am  in trouble.  Simple as that.”

“But you see, that’s just my problem. If it is that simple, I’m trying to understand why the ship that The Titanic saw did not come….Is there any reason why the captain would not go to the aid of the distressed ship?”

“No, if he saw them, he must go.  It’s the oldest tradition of the sea.”

The Californian was the closest ship to The Titanic on the night it sank, possibly only 8 miles away.  It was close enough for crew members to see the lights on the sinking ship and the eight distress rockets sent up by The Titanic.  They alerted the Captain.  And, yet, they did not go to help.

This is the story of The Midnight Watch.

Punch Romaine2

The Midnight Watch is a super read. I loved it and I’m sure it is going to rank high in my books of the year. Even though, it is also soooooo frustrating.  Right from the start you know that The Californian did not go to help The Titanic.  And of course, you want to know why.  And at times you want to reach into the book and shake one of the people and yell “Why?  Why didn’t you do something?” WHY?”   Or, as one of the reporters in the book says to Captain Lord of The Californian

“If you’re the only one who can speak, then you must speak more!”

First Class Food on the Titanic
Chocolate Eclairs were served to the First Class Passengers on The Titanic.

The writing is beautiful.  From tales of heroism and gallantry to cowardice and inaction, The Midnight Watch covers the best and worst of human behaviour both in the face of, and following momentous events:

“Because by now we knew the numbers.  Fifty-eight first-class men has found their way into the lifeboats but fifty-three third-class children had not.  It was an almost perfect correlation.  For almost every rich man who lived a poor child had died”

American IceCream
American Ice Cream was on the menu for Second Class Passengers on The Titanic. Passengers in First Class were served French Ice Cream

“What Franklin (Head of The White Star Line) thought of the Captain I couldn’t know, but I did know that if he, Franklin, had been accused of abandoning so many people, the weight of shame would have broken him.  And yet, Lord’s head was upright, he seemed to bear no weight at all”

So, so good.  The Midnight Watch not only brought the story of The Californian but the entire period  to life.  This is the kind of historical fiction that I love; writing that truly transports you to another time and place.  Oh and, if you wiki Captain Lord, he looks EXACTLY how I imagined he would!

When I read I  see the words as a movie in my head and I think that this would make a fabulous film.  The journalist searching for justice, the proud, flinty Captain; the second officer torn between loyalty and a desire to tell the truth.  It would be amazing.

Titanic Third Class Food
Third Class passengers on The Titanic were fed hearty, no frills fare. Fresh bread and butter, cold meat, cheese and pickles were part of their menu.

I was initially disappointed with the “answer”  posited by David Dunn as to why Lord and The Californian did not go to the aid of The Titanic.  Although perfectly plausible, It felt to me like an anti-climax; such a little reason for such an appalling consequence.  But then I realised – pretty much any answer would have been disappointing.  Because the only acceptable answer to the question of “Why didn’t you save the 1500 people who died that night?”  would have been “Because we were too busy saving 1501 people elsewhere”.

Nonetheless a totally brilliant read.

Punch Romaine3Punch Romaine was served To First Class passengers on The Titanic as a palate cleanser between the first and second courses on the fateful night of April 14th.  It is a white wine, rum and champagne cocktail served over…wait for it…. a mound of crushed ice.  Which is surely worth it’s own line in Alanis Morisette’s Ironic.  Don’tcha think?

On a total tangent, Romaine was one of the names my parents had picked out for me before I was born.  Can you imagine a more foodie name than Romaine Fryer?  Then again, Taryn was bad enough growing up, can you imagine going through life with the same name as a lettuce?

You know what else is a lettuce?

Iceberg.

Which brings us back to…..doh, oh, oh, oh….or Punch Romaine.

Punch Romaine

Print

Punch Romaine

A white wine, rum and champagne cocktail that was served to First Class Passengers on the Titanic on the night it sank.

  • Yield: 1 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 oz. white rum
  • 1 oz. white wine
  • 1⁄2 oz. simple syrup
  • 1⁄2 oz. lemon juice
  • 1 oz. fresh orange juice
  • 2 oz. Champagne or sparkling wine
  • Twist of orange peel, for garnish

Instructions

  1. In an ice-filled cocktail shaker, combine egg white, rum, wine, simple syrup, lemon and orange juice.
  2. Shake vigorously until well mixed and frothy.
  3. Mound crushed ice in a large coupe glass, and pour drink around it.
  4. Top with champagne, and garnish with orange peel.
  5. Enjoy

Have a wonderful week!

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Raising the (Salad) Bar Part 1: Cuban Aguacate Salad and Dressing

One of the reasons I love old cookbooks is sometimes you get a little insight in to the lives of the people who owned them previously.  My latest favourite vintage find, Salads For All Seasons is no exception.

S4AS CoverThere is an inscription on the front inner cover that reads “To Ann, Happy Christmas 1985. Love Aunty Ev & Uncle Bill.

S4AS Inscription

Thing is…the book was published in 1971.  I don’t want to judge but I dunno….unless it’s an absolute classic, giving someone a 14 year old cookbook makes me think that some regifting may have been at play here.

I suspect Ann may not have been the favourite niece.

Avocado and Aguacate Dressing
Avocado and Aguacate Dressing

In the foreward Elizabeth Durack Clancy O.B.E. says:

“I commend this book because it is so useful and practical.  “The wilful extravagant maid” can learn some fresh devilment from these pages but the “housewife that’s thrifty” is equally catered for.”

Hmmm…I’m thinking Aunty Ev may have been one of those “thrifty housewives”. And good old Ann, a maid of will and extravagance.  It’s all starting to come together….it certainly explains the parsimony of the Christmas present. And the lack of a term of endearment in the greeting.

Next up, the introduction where author Rosemary Mayne-Wilson tells us:

“Salad used to something served on Sunday evenings.  It consisted of neatly shredded lettuce, tomato wedges, hard boiled eggs and a slice of cheese.  It was served with the sliced leftovers of the Sunday roast.  Generally it was put straight on the plate, but when there were visitors it was served in a crystal salad bowl.  To make it daring, a blob of mayonnaise was added, but this ‘extra’ was confined to adults”

Personally, I’d be quite happy eating that salad.  But more importantly, who knew mayo was a rite of passage?

Wasabi Leaves
Wasabi Leaves

Then again, have you heard of those Menarche Parties that people are throwing their daughters these days?  I swear, if my parents had ever done anything like that to me, I would still be locked in the bathroom, listening to The Smiths on repeat and  sobbing “You hate me don’t you? You really fucking hate me.”

You can view the full horror by clicking on the link below but just to whet your appetite, included in the party pack provided by…

wait for it…

Menarche Parties R Us.com ((2021 Update – sadly this site no longer exists))

(I swear you couldn’t make this shit up if you tried)

…are 2 games.  One of these is called “Pin the Ovaries”  and the other is called the   “Puberty Marshmallow Game”.

(2021 Update – sadly this site no longer exists)

Pinning ovaries sounds like something a serial killer would do.  And I never want to know what a puberty marshmallow game entails.

For the love of God, bring back the dob of mayo on the Sunday Night Salad. “You’re a woman now Ann, have some Hellman’s”.

“Gee thanks Aunty Ev.  Any chance of some tips on frugality?”

Wow,that was a spectacular digression.  Where we we?  Salad.  Yes.  Right. Ok. Sorry, I’m still  being gobsmacked by the puberty marshmallow game.

Salad.  We’re here to talk about salad.

Cuban Aguacate Salad 2
Cuban Aguacate Salad 2

Back to the Introduction of Salads For All Seasons – after dropping in the comment about the mayo, in a lovely piece of randomness, Rosemary Mayne-Wilson tells us:

“Of course this has all changed and now nearly everyone owns a wooden salad bowl”

Bear with me while I nip across to Ebay because I am one of the few who own nothing of the sort.  And now I desperately want one.  I really want one that looks like this:

Super 1970's Salad Bowl

But I’m guessing I might have to make do with something a little more mundane.

And it will come in handy because I’m thinking that this could be a long haul.  There is so much that is both amazing and godawful in Salads for All Seasons, that  I think it’s worth spending some time here.

I was going to work through it from start to finish…until I read some of the recipes and paused for a moment of sanity.  So we’ll be kind of working our way through in a fairly random order but skipping some of the truly awful and the just plain boring.

But just to get us off to a to an extravagant and devilish start, put your hot pink dancin’ shoes on, because your tastebuds are going to be doing the Rhumba with this awesome Cuban inspired salad.

Rhumbas

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:2]

Cuban Aguacate Salad
Cuban Aguacate Salad

Who knew you could put rum into salad dressing? It’s certainly efficient – you can toxify and detoxify at the same time!!! And it tastes great!

I”m going to be spending my week, trying not to think about marshmallows! Hopefully Salad dressing liberally dosed with Bacardi will help that  act of forgetting.

Have a fabulous one whatever you do!

Signature 1 Vintage Valentine Quick as Wink2