There’s nothing like a drunk elephant to get my attention. Whoa, whoa, whoa. It’ s a little early for that kind of talk. Let me back up a moment. Amarula Coffee is a South African favorite – a breezy concoction that includes your favorite coffee, some brown sugar (the sweetener of choice in South Africa), a shot or two of Amarula, and whipped cream. It’s very much like an Irish Coffee. Why? The Amarula. You can find this creamy concoction at most liquor stores in the United States, next to the Bailey’s. The flavors are quite similar, which makes this drink the perfect nod to Saint Patrick’s Day, South Africa-style. Amaurula is made from Marula fruit. Which brings me full circle, back to the drunk elephants. I’m not sure I can do it justice… so watch for yourself what happens when the elephants (and other animals) feast on the fruit of this treat. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. (The hungover orangutan is too funny) Ingredients: 3 parts brewed coffee 1 part Amarula brown sugar, to taste …
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When I told Ava that the fine people of Saint Lucia like to wake up in the morning and drink Cocoa Tea, she squinted her eyes, titled her head, and said “what mama?” “It’s like hot cocoa,” I smiled, “but richer, and seasoned with cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg.” Her eyes instantly popped open in recognition and the corners of her lips curled impishly. I showed her my mound of chocolate chips and added that in Saint Lucia they use cocoa sticks and balls to make their Cocoa Tea, but we’d be making it with chips since that’s all we can get in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “Don’t worry,” I added, “It’ll still taste amazing and feel completely snuggly.” Truth is, the end result is a rich, thick blanket of goodness… each sip is almost like dreaming underneath a giant bar of ooey-gooey warm chocolate. This is the kind of drink you want after a chilly walk or sledding. After a breakup. Or an engagement. It’s the exact right statement for any sentiment, in fact. A giant mug …
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I can’t even begin to take credit for this drink. My dear friend Marina wanted to contribute something to our potluck-style dinner but even after I gave her the easy out by suggesting our Caribbean Rum Punch, she insisted on creating something new and unique to Saint Kitts and Nevis. Her research and uncovered this gem of a sipper… the Killer Bee Cocktail. With a name like that, it has to be good. According to her research: The Killer Bee cocktail is by far the most popular beverage on the island of Nevis. Sunshine’s [Beach Bar] is so secretive about the drink that I’ve read he mixes the cocktail under the bar to hide the mix from curious eyes. So while this is not exact, it is the closest thing you will find…after a few you won’t notice anyway, right? (Caribbean Escape Blog) Any kind of drink that is made under the table to preserve it’s secret? Count me in! Now for a few notes on the nitty gritty. Marina made the cocktail with …
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If you want to try something uniquely Russian (at least, I’d never heard of it until this week), try a cup of nice, black tea with a spoonful of fruit jam stirred in. Tea is the national drink of Russia, while the jam is a happy bonus. If you’re serving to more than one, be sure to brew the tea extra strong. According to Wikipedia: A notable feature of Russian tea culture is the two-step brewing process. Firstly, tea concentrate (Russian: заварка) is prepared: a quantity of dry tea sufficient for several persons is brewed in a small teapot. Then, each person pours some quantity of this concentrate into the cup and mix it with hot water; thus, one can make one’s tea as strong as one wants, according to one’s taste. Sugar, lemon, honey or jam can then be added freely. Even with the jam, a cube (or three) of sugar is optional, but recommended. So what’ll it be? Raspberry jam? What about cranberry? Or sour cherry? Whatever you choose, you’ll be well on your …
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It’s Friday. We all need a little love. A quick fix to carry us into the weekend, Filipino-style. Also, we’re on our way to October, which means we’re on our way to Halloween… The answer? <gulp> Sago at Gulaman, a.k.a. Tapioca and Jello Sipper. This drink hardly even needs a recipe. First step, make some jello. For brownie points, make agar agar “jelly.” Agar agar is seaweed based and sets up at room temperature. Very cool. You can find it on the international aisle of Whole Foods, or at your local Asian market. I used pandan flavored jelly from Nam Hai, one of our local Asian markets. They also had mango, lychee, and many other fun, tropical flavors. (Note: You might find it easier for dicing to make your jello in a 9×9 container – but Ava and I had a blast using these molds) Next, up, the tapioca. Drop the dusty white pearls into a large pot of boiling water. Give several stirs and cook like pasta until completely transparent. My small pearls took almost …
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I’m not a sadist by any means, but I will take any chance I can get to make my sweet Mr Picky drink coffee. For years now, he has claimed to hate the stuff. I maintain that coffee simmered gently with milk and spices is not the same as the sludge served at the local gas station. I’ve tried making him Nauru’s “Recycled” Iced Coffee (no luck), Arabian Cardamom Coffee (no luck), and even an Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony, complete with popcorn (he exhibited mild curiosity but only ate the popcorn). I’m not disappointed at my lack of success, however. I look at this as a challenge, one of the few hurdles we still have to tackle with his picky ways… I’m determined to find a winning combination that he’ll at least tolerate by the end of this Adventure (and open to any suggestions you might have). Today’s coffee, inspired by Pakistan, is a milky mixture of sweet cardamom, the most haunting whisps of cinnamon, and a lingering sweetness that is sure to bring out anyone’s smile. I …
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For some, the season of flip flops is over, now replaced by the steady clickety-clack of school shoes on polished linoleum. For others, school is nothing more than a faint memory, farther yet than the setting sun’s shimmering rays upon which our dreams cling. Either way, Rosewater Lemonade will put a smile where you need it most. For the back-to-schoolers, this drink represents everything easy-breezy; a way to go global, even in the midst of lost backpacks, homework, and forgotten lunches. Each sip will take you to the middle east and Oman, where Rosewater Lemonade is a cherished treat. For those who cling to the distant memory of schoolyard days, this is your ticket to the lost joys of youth. Each sip tastes like a thousand roses bathing in fresh squeezed sunlight. Literally. Now, here’s the deal. This time of year I have too many paper cuts to squeeze my own lemonade. If you find yourself in the same position, I have a sneaky trick for you. Add several slices of fresh lemon to each cup of store-bought lemonade …
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There are four things I love to do in the summer. 1. Flit around pools, lakes, and oceans until my fingers wrinkle and warp. 2. Make mud pies and bake them in the Oklahoma sun. 3. Kiss my husband at the drive-in movie theater. 4. Dance like no one is watching. When that’s all done, I like a good, sweet sipper and a shady spot to drink it down. Thankfully, I just learned about Chapman – a bright, bubbly festival for your mouth. This is a Nigerian drink made for parties – supposedly invented by a Nigerian bartender named Chapman and, although I wasn’t able to find any solid facts on the history, I like the idea that there is a real live person behind the drink. There are as many variations as there are bubbles in Chapman. The general idea is to mix orange soda (traditional would be fanta) with a lemon/lime soda (like sprite). I went with natural izze sodas and later made a version with san pelligrino. Both tasted bright and zesty. Perhaps the most …
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There are a few ways to keep cool in hot weather. In the west, we wear shorts, drink cold drinks, and blast the A/C. In Niger, they use a completely different set of tricks. The polar opposite, in fact. For starers, they cover up. Believe it or not, wearing long layers made of lightweight cotton keeps the sun’s hot rays off your skin. The flowing movement of the fabric acts like natural air conditioning. The elephants accomplish the same thing by dusting themselves with dirt. Not quite as desirable if you have somewhere nice to go. There’s one other trick to staying cool in Niger. Drinking hot tea. While it sounds like it’d make an already hot day feel like an inferno, it is the opposite. The hot liquid makes you perspire… and the tiny beads of sweat catch the slightest breeze, cooling you off. That’s what our tour guide in Tunisia told me, anyway (they do the same thing all over North Africa). All you do is splash hot water over green tea and… a …
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This summer I’ve seen almost everything. Laughter in sad moments. Tears in happy moments. Life is a bumble-all-over-the place, as it should be when temperatures screech up into the 100’s. What I haven’t seen? Purple-feathered dancing ladies. This Pineapple Horchata is certainly the closest I’ll get to this sort of carnival fun. And every summer should have a little carnival fun, don’t you think? The recipe is a cooked horchata (homemade rice drink), different from the amazing no-cook Strawberry Almond Horchata we made for our Mexican Global Table. In this drink, the Pineapple skin and core simmers with the rice and water to extract maximum flavor. Then I added extra pieces of pineapple goodness to amp up the flavor. Puree with a sprinkling of sugar and you’re done. Welcome to summer in a glass. Makes a gallon 1 pineapple 12 cups water 1 cup rice 1 cup sugar, or to taste Method: Gather your rice and pineapple. Let the sweet pineapple fragrance help you drift away to sunny Nicaragua. Once there, trim and core the …
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Iced coffee doesn’t sound very exotic until you realize that it isn’t so much the coffee that is totally Nauru, but how they drink it. If you pull up to a roadside shack and order an iced coffee you won’t have to … … say tall, venti, or grande … worry about what syrups, double whips, or skinnies you need to specify … spend half a fortune, before tax You will, however have a choice of … … sugar or more sugar … milk or more milk … and, of course, whether you’d like your coffee in a plastic bottle or plastic tub At only 8 square miles, Nauru uses a lot of bottles, mostly for drinking water – 20,000 per month (according to the Nauru Country Study Guide by Ibp USA). That’s 240,000 bottles a year. According to the same study, about 10% of the bottles are used to sell water or iced coffee in a localized recycling effort. So, in the spirit of Nauru, if you have some extra plastic bottles or tubs (yes, tubs) …
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If tea time in your home means sweet, sugary cups of deliciousness, think again. This week we’re sipping on salty, milky green tea cooked with buttery toasted millet. This is one of the more elaborate versions of Suutei Tsai – a famous Mongolian drink enjoyed out on the cold steppes. Each sip tastes of milk and salt and cereal – but the drink also has a remarkable drying effect in the mouth, thanks to a healthy dose of naturally astringent green tea. This is absolutely the strangest tea I have ever sipped. But Suutei Tsai is also delightful – it just begs to be sipped under the starlight on a frosty winter evening. Or perhaps on a chilly spring day, while watching wild horses gallop through the horizon. Everything written about Suutei Tsai claims that westerners have trouble enjoying this drink. I find, however, that if you go into it expecting hot, milky cereal you’ll be alright. In other words, don’t expect sweet tea. Just forget about sugar entirely. And pass the salt. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Gfl4Agf-A&feature=player_embedded …
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