There's an article in the NYT about the revival of punch in cutting edge bars and cocktail menus. The writer speaks of one bartender/historian's interest in Charles Dickens era punches but I love punch and I'm certainly not old enough to know anything about Charles Dicken's recipe.
My parents did a lot of home entertaining when I was younger. My Dad was a Naval officer and parties at home were a given. My mom had a huge crystal punch bowl and beautiful little matching crystal cups with handles In the punch with rum and various fruit juice and ice would float slices of oranges, lemons and limes. It was always beautiful and even as a young girl I was allowed to have a small glass of the party punch. I loved it because it made me feel so adult like to carefully hold one of those crystal containers but the refreshing and sweet elixir from that punch bowl was like nothing else I'd ever tasted or had on a regular basis. Sure I drank a lot of Hawaii Tropican Punch as a kid but this was different. It wasn't as sweet and sticky. It was light and the hint of rum just added enough bitterness to my 9 year old tastebuds.
I don't know when punch fell out of vogue but I'm glad to see it making a come back. And if you can find places doing it in beautiful crystal punch bowls with lovely delicate crystal mugs, definitely give it a shot!
2 comments:
Great post. Punch in crystal bowls always reminds me of a story from my parents' wedding. They had a non-alcoholic version and a version with rum at the reception. Unfortunately, my aunt forgot the sherbet that was to identify the difference between the two. My poor teetotaling grandmother sipped the wrong punch all night and had to go home with an "inner ear infection."
Thanks Katrina! And thanks for sharing that store about your grandma too! Funny, how many adults seemed to have sudden ailments at parties when we were younger. Hmm... :)
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