Of friends and fish
The highlight of this weekend was a lounge about cocktail birthday celebration with friends and fish. The friends part was great to just enjoy the sun and company of good peoples and the fish was just icing on the proverbial cake. A surprise fish! What better way to top a lazy afternoon with friends? That's just special. We were hanging out on the back lawn and our neighbor happened to be grilling. I guess he's one of those hunter gatherer types and had returned from a fishing trip to Alaska. I know it's strange, but he grilled a whole fish and just gave it to us. Below is what remained after 15 minutes with our crowd. The fish did not die in vain.
I infused a magnum of lychee vodka for the occassion (birthday, not fish) and am a bit bummin' because I didn't figure out the perfect lychee cocktail until last night. But in the spirit of sharing, here are some lychee vodka variations:
The lychee martini--it's the new cosmo...
-- 2 ounces of lychee infused vodka. That's fancy talk for taking a can of lychees and tossing them in a magnum of vodka. Store in a cool dark place for one week. 2 ounces is the big end of a cocktail jigger. But really, who's counting.
-- Ice in a shaker
-- If you want to add some color, a dash of grenadine. If you like it sweeter, a touch of lychee juice.
-- Shake
-- Pour and serve w/a twist of lemon.
Peoples this is a martini, which means nothing is cutting the alcohol content so this is in essence straight vodka. Light weights beware.
The better use of the lychee infused vodka cocktail...
-- 5 mint leaves
--2-3 fresh lychee--remove seeds
-- sugar or simple syrup
--a bit of lemon
Take the above ingredients and muddle. That's bar talk for mash it around.
--Fill glass with ice.
--If you like it really sweet (in case anyone wants to know, I don't like it sweet), a tiny spoonful of lychee juice from the can.
--2 ounces of lychee infused vodka
--1 ounce of club soda or seltzer
Stir.
Note to self: It is tempting to each the lychee that have been soaking in vodka for over a week; however, pickled lychee--generally a very bad idea...
Note to self part deux: Some recipes call for "lychee syrup" which is a pain in the ass ingredient that involves tossing lychees in a blender, pressing puree, then sifting all the pulp out with a fine sieve. I did it. Highly over-rated. If you can find fresh lychee, just mash some up and figure out a way to mix it with alcohol. If you can't, the lychee juice from the can is super sweet, but does the job.