19th century MONSTERS!

 This week's cocktail night was inspired by 19th century monsters. The idea was to choose a monster from a literary work and read part of the inspiring passage in conjunction with serving your original cocktail. We claimed our monsters early in the week, since monsters are (I hope) finite. The result was one of the most creative and clever cocktail nights yet!

Arjen chose the tale of Jekyll and Hyde as his inspiration.

In true Dr Jekyll style, he created his 'Potion' in a series of test tubes. 

The result was instant.
He apparently lost his mind.

The Potion:
- a drop of grenadine
- a teaspoon absinthe
- 1/2 ounce lemon juice
- 1/2 ounce blue curacao

 

Incidentally, this is the first time I've seen my husband wearing more make-up than me. A novelty, but not part of our future repertoire. 

Remco drained his with Hyde-ish speed. 

Next, Astrid unveiled an alcoholic jello concoction  inspired by Jane Eyre's Madwoman in the Attic. We listened to the passage in the classic Gothic tale wherein the madwoman sets Mr. Rochester's bed curtains on fire. Startling and festive!

The cocktail is tropical after the location where the madwoman and master met and married. It's sweet, (because women always are). The cocktail has a nut, resembling the nutter living on the top of the tower. Hello madwoman on the attic.

The Madwoman in the Attic (for 8 jello shots)
- three quarters of a package orange flavored jello.
-Three quarter cup of hot water
 -Mix according to package instructions
- mix it either in small portions or keep the bowl in a bigger bowl with warm water while preparing your cocktail.



The virgin version:
- Nut flavoured sirup (normally used for coffees)
- Diet coke
- Coconut milk (2 layers)
- A nut (same as the sirup flavour you used)

The alcohol shots contain:
- Nut flavoured sirup
- Coconut milk
- Coconut rum or malibu
- Cream
- A nut
- To make the layers, mix the cold ingredients as mentioned above in a 1:1 ratio with the warm jello mixture. Prepare a small quantity each time, just for that specific layer only. Pour a small layer in your shot cup. Leave to set in the fridge until ready for the next layer. The nut is hidden in a white layer (with cream or coconut milk). Just add it immediatly after adding the white layer in your cups.
- When all layers are done, leave the.jello shots in the fridge for another three hours before serving.

Even the non-alcoholic version was fabulous!

'Shot' time!

Using the tale of Dracula as inspiration, Judith created a highly-inventive and visually exciting piece of art. She first read us an excerpt in which Mina find Lucy draped over a garden bench in the dead of night, which the ghoul crouched over her.

After presenting the cocktails, complete with shot glasses and syringes, she read the second excerpt -- a description of Lucy's blood transfusion. The idea was to use the syringe to infuse the pale, flesh-colored  drink with its red counterpart--in effect giving life back to it and transforming it from pale and wasted to a healthier color.

Transfusion in progress. Most pleasant one ever. 

Shot can also be administered directly to the tongue. (although not recommended) 

Lucy's Secret Lover:
For the fake blood heat some cranberry juice in a pan and add some cornstarch to thicken it slightly to resemble blood (I used about 3 teaspoons of dissolved cornstarch to about 200 ml cranberry juice). Leave to cool in the fridge and remember it get be thicker as it cools, so don't add too much cornstarch.
For the pale drink:
1 ounce of vodka
juice of half a lime
top up with pear juice

For the virgin version:
replace wodka with tonic.

Serve the blood in a shotglass with a syringe (you can buy these at the pharmacy).

Pale cocktail pre-transfusion

Same cocktail looking infinitely healthier. 

My drink was next. Based on Washington Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  I combined the story of the lanky, superstitious schoolmaster, Ichabod Crane, with a classic, traditional and very early American drink... flip.

To garnish the drinks, I painted conkers to resemble pumpkins in honor of the headless horseman. 

After distributing the basic drinks, we heated up forks (in place of loggerheads) over the stove. As in colonial American taverns, a person would doctor their mug of flip by stirring it with a red-hot poker.

The result is instant froth (overflowing) and gives the drink a toasted flavor. While you might add a number of ingredients (milk, cream, eggs, cinnamon, more booze, etc;) to your drink, this is the recipe we used:

Icabod's Pumpkin Flip
- beer
- pumpkin
- rum
- grate nutmeg on top of foam

 Remco created a drink based on Frankenstein.

Blood of Frankenstein:
1 ounce Sloe Gin
3/4 ounce Dry Vermouth
1 tsp Triple Sec and 
a firm splash of O.J. 

It's basically a Frankenjack with Sloe gin instead of Gin and OJ instead of Apricot brandy.

Delicious!!!

At the end of a night of storytelling and black eyeshadow, everyone was ready for a long sleep in the coffin. 

But some of us don't need a coffin to get a good night sleep.