cocktails & mocktails 2010

I already told you- Cocktails & Mocktails is my favorite party of the year!  Of course, it was fabulous.  How could it not be?  Delicious food, unique and fabulous drinks ranging from Frozen Ginger Lemondrops to Chocolate Martinis, great company, no kids, a backyard full of twinkle lights... glory, I tell you.

The Premise
A drink competition.  People bring a tasty cocktail (as well as a mocktail version) and pit it against everyone else's delicious libations.  We all score the drinks (the categories we evaluate are taste, presentation, originality and refreshment factor) and declare a winner.  Oh, and since the entry fee is $3, the winner takes home the whole pot.

The Menu

Appetizers and desserts... since everyone brings something yummy to share, I can't take much credit here.  My favorite?  The macaroons.  Or the fried pickles.  Yum.

The Decor

Candy stripe signs

An old door to display the scoring ballots.

Fans that double as a writing surface as we taste and judge (the ballots are paperclipped to the back of the fans).

Numbered drink entries.

Little labels to denote "cocktail" or "mocktail."

Felt signs.

Hanging pom poms.

The Favors

People send me their drink recipes in advance and I bind them up in little recipe booklets as favors.  As a funny sidenote, these are the only favors I've ever made where every one is always taken (and people ask for the extras for the rest of the year!).

Other Fun Stuff

The photo booth made another appearance.  More details on how to put one of these together to come (I promise!).

The Winning Recipe
If the reigning champions weren't also our best friends, it might be a little less fun to tell you that Ben and Heidi won Cocktails and Mocktails.  Again.  Their entry, "Javier Bardem" (horchata), only beat our Mango Peach Sangria by 2.5 points.  I'll be honest- I wish I were $48 richer instead of them.  But their drink was darn good.  So good that you should try it out.  Here's the recipe so you can do just that:

The Javier Bardem

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

2 quarts warm water

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 cups milk

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup rum, or to taste (optional)

16 cubes ice

Directions

1. Mix the rice and warm water together in a bowl, and let stand for 1/2 hour. Reserving the water, drain, and place the rice in the bowl of a food processor. Add the cinnamon and process until a paste forms. Return the rice to the water and let stand at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally as the water turns milky white.

2.  Strain the rice through a fine sieve into a bowl or pitcher. Stir in the milk, condensed milk, vanilla, and rum, if desired, until evenly blended. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

3. To serve, divide the ice cubes between four glasses, and pour the chilled horchata over the ice.