Drinks, Anyone?

I'm an eat, drink, and be merry type of person, and really just love to have a good time with friends and family. And as much as I talk about (good) food, I'm also someone who loves to have a good drink in my hand. It doesn't have to be alcoholic, but it should be tasty.

(Remember that if you do drink alcohol, do so responsibly and always have a designated driver.)

1. Tea

What kind of southerner would I be if I didn't start out with tea? People might show up outside my house with pitch forks and ask me to move somewhere where they think tea comes in china cups and the acceptable sweetener is one delicate little sugar cube. (I actually do love tea in all its glorious forms, but I am partial to my iced tea.) Of course when I say tea, I do mean sweet tea. Did you know that there are places in this world where tea does not automatically mean enough sugar to make a candy addict happy? I was personally shocked to learn that tea could be unsweetened, but like grandmother always said, "there's just no accounting for people's tastes."

To get good instructions for Sweet Tea is incredibly difficult. Most families have a particular brand of iced tea blend and a particular type of sugar that they are loyal to. (To say nothing of the serving containers. Some families have crystal pitchers that have been in the family for generations for nothing other than tea. Other families will fight to the death for Mama's plastic Rubbermaid tea jug.) In fact, to get a good sweet tea recipe usually requires marrying into families that have a good recipe, the death of a near and dear relative who has perfected the recipe and finally feels ready to share at the threat of impending demise, or membership in certain clubs where it is essential to the smooth running of the organization - the Hospital Auxiliary, the Junior League, and the Garden Club come to mind.

Luckily my family has a recipe so good and so easy that it doesn't require a simple syrup, or even a tea kettle. So despite the culture of secrecy surrounding sweet tea recipes, here is the H family sweet tea recipe: (Per tradition I include my favorite tea and sugar brands. If these are not available to you, or if you have a different brand that you like better feel free to change it up. But of course that means that your tea will not be as good as mine.) (I'm kidding there ... well sort of.)

You will need:

4 family sized bags of Tetley Iced Tea Blend (8 if you are using the smaller size)
1 1/2 to 2 cups of Dixie Crystals Sugar
Water (if you didn't know that you'd better not turn on the stove, you might hurt yourself)
a plastic 1 gallon drink container (you can always pour into a nicer one later - and this keeps you from committing the cardinal sin of putting scratch marks on crystal from overly vigorous or heavily repeated stirring.)

Place tea into a 4 quart sauce pan with water. Bring water to a rolling boil. Boil for two minutes. At this point, you should let the tea steep for at least five minutes, but if you're in a rush continue on to the next step. Put sugar into the gallon container. Run hot water over the sugar in the container and stir. (This saves you from having to make a separate simple syrup, and prevents the tea from being grainy or developing a syrupy bottom layer.) Pour in the tea from the sauce pan. Top off the container with water, and stir. Refrigerate and serve over ice with a lemon wedge if you like.

2. Gin & Tonic

I have a particular fondness for Tanqueray and tonic. But I've found that Bombay is also quite nice. Add a lime circle or wedge and leave it alone. It's a drink that needs no dressing up.

3. Blanton's

Bourbon. You need it for Mint Juleps and you need it for ... well you just need it. It's great for cooking - you can put it in mashed sweet potatos (yum) - and it's great for drinking - particularly on an evening when you pick up a Faulkner novel and just want to have a night in by the fire. I do love Blanton's & Pappy Van Winkle best. Sip a couple of fingers out of cut glass and cultivate your inner Kentucky gentleman.

4. Champagne/Sparkling Wine

You need no excuse to open a bottle of bubbly. Too often people think you have to be celebrating something to have champagne. You don't. It doesn't hurt if a bottle of Dom goes down with a promotion or some Laurent-Perrier is popped with 'the question', but you can have it when you're not celebrating anything at all. Actually, scratch that. Do celebrate with champagne. Just celebrate more frequently. Like on Tuesdays. After all, it only comes round once a week you know.

5. BH Blackberry Cooler

I really can't believe that I haven't shared this drink recipe with anyone before. I did a search of previous entries to make sure that I hadn't mentioned it before, and was genuinely surprised that I hadn't put this recipe up. It is one of my favorite things in the entire world, and so far is my crowning achievement in the world of drinks recipes. It is a summertime drink that is light, sweet, and seasonal.

Blackberry Simple Syrup

1 quart blackberries
3 1/2 - 4 cups water
2 to 2 1/2cups sugar

Place blackberries, (You may use frozen ones at the beginning of summer, but only if you have picked them yourself and only if they were picked the immediately preceding season.) water, and sugar into a pot over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and then lower the temperatures slightly to simmer. Reduce the liquid content for about 10 minutes allowing the berries to macerate in the pan. Remove from heat. Strain. Chill the simple syrup. (Eat the warm berries with a fresh buttermilk biscuit. Trust me on this.)

BH Blackberry Cooler

16 oz glass with ice
2 oz chilled Blackberry Simple Syrup (4 tablespoons)
2 oz Vodka (Grey Goose or Belvedere)
Lemon-Lime Soda (Sprite or similar)

Ice into glass, followed by syrup and vodka. Stir. Top with soda, stir gently once more and enjoy. The vodka is completely optional and the drink is thoroughly enjoyable without it.

Being from NC I love that our state has it's own official toast adopted by the General Assembly:

Here's to the land of the long leaf pine,
The summer land where the sun doth shine,
Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great,
Here's to "Down Home," the Old North State!

Here's to the land of the cotton bloom white,
Where the scuppernong perfumes the breeze at night,
Where the soft southern moss and jessamine mate,
'Neath the murmering pines of the Old North State!

Here's to the land where the galax grows,
Where the rhododendron's rosette glows,
Where soars Mount Mitchell's summit great,
In the "Land of the Sky," in the Old North State!

Here's to the land where maidens are fair,
Where friends are true and cold hearts rare,
The near land, the dear land, whatever fate,
The blessed land, the best land, the Old North State!

Cheers Y'all!