Thirsty Thursday: Pink Carnation Punch (A Mother's Day Cocktail)

So, this year I celebrated my first Mother's Day.  My husband asked me for a list of ideas, and so I sent him this:

I know you keep asking and I keep saying I don’t know, so here’s some ideas:

-        I would like to sleep in.

-        I would like a mimosa or other cocktail at some point in the day.  Maybe two.

-        I would like to go for a walk or to the park since the weather should be nice.

-        Maybe dinner or lunch somewhere? I would like to not cook that day.

-        A foot and/or back massage.

-        A decent looking picture of the baby & I together and/or all three of us.

-        A reminder to call my mom & talk to her for a little while.

And I would have been utterly happy with just a couple of them.  Particularly that first one. (I mean...there's a reason it's first.)  But my amazing husband made ALL of them happen...even though we were all under the weather that weekend and not feeling 100%.  

• The baby woke up at 7am, so he got up with him while I slept in 'til 8:30am.
• He made me biscuits & gravy (from scratch) for breakfast, and then grilled pork steaks & sweet potatoes for lunch (leftovers of the same for dinner).  
• The weather was iffy, so we did a 20 minute walk through our neighborhood instead of going to the park.
• I got a foot massage while I played on the floor with the baby.
• We [eventually] got out of our pajamas so that Baby J & I could take a pic together on the porch (this request was inspired by an article I read earlier in the week about how there are so few pictures of mother and child together because the mother is usually the one behind the camera).
• And I called and chatted with my mom for about 45 minutes after lunch.

Oh...and he made me this cocktail as an afternoon aperitif.  

Since carnations are the most traditional Mother's Day flowers, I thought that would make an appropriate name, given the color.  It was quite tasty and just thrown together from things we had in the fridge.  The basil, pineapple, & cherry garnish really made it special (plus, I mean...fruit!  Now it's healthy, right?)

Bouquet in the background is from Baby J's daycare.

  

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 oz vodka

3-4 oz strawberry lemonade (cold)

1 Tbsp grenadine (okay...maraschino cherry juice.  Whatever you have.)

1 tsp agave syrup 

3-4 oz ginger ale (or 7Up Ten if you're looking to save a few calories), chilled

DIRECTIONS:

Combine the vodka, lemonade, grenadine, and agave syrup in a tall fluted glass, then pour your fizzy soda of choice over the top.  Garnish with a couple fresh basil leaves, fresh pineapple, and a maraschino cherry.

NOTE: If your lemonade and soda aren't chilled before hand, you can shake the first four ingredients over ice, and then add the soda... or just serve over ice in a pint glass or mason jar.  

Enjoy on your back porch while gazing adoringly at your husband and infant son... while also perhaps smirking about the clash-tastic outfit said amazing husband managed to put together for said infant.

Chillaxin' while watching church online since we were all under the weather.

Friday Facts & Maps: Tchoupitoulas Street.

I figure it's good to stimulate the brain on a slightly random & nerdy level on Fridays, since I know I have a hard enough time focusing on work, when I'd rather be pondering forward in my psyche on the things that will be occurring during the coming weekend. For example--I have a spa treatment and my husband's business fraternity reunion this weekend (as well as posting this week's Cajun recipe, which will, just FYI, include a BONUS recipe of what to do with leftovers, assuming you have any.)

So, why not throw a little education into your Friday? And if that education just HAPPENS to be about Louisiana, then hey, I've done my job. I personally enjoy learning something new every day, so I hope this contributes to your knowledge base. (For my readers that actually live in Louisiana, I guess I'll have to try to dig extra deep for my pearls of wisdom.) ;)

So anyway--Tchoupitoulas Street, in New Orleans. It's one of the longest streets in the city, following the river along the east-then-south side of the city between Canal Street and East Road, where it dead ends at Audubon Park. In the portions of the Uptown area it acts as the river road, located just inside the levee. When I lived in New Orleans, we lived Uptown just a few blocks north of Tchoupitoulas, but pretty well the only time we went down to Tchoupitoulas was to go to the Super Wal-Mart (fun fact--people in New Orleans are kind of antiWal-Mart--so demonstrated by the fact that there are only TWO on the East Bank of the city, the one on Tchoupitoulas being the only one in the actual city of New Orleans. I currently live in a city of 200,000 people & we have 5 Wal-Marts within city limits.), or to go to Clancy's Restaurant to pick up one of their famous key lime icebox pies.

Like so many street and city names in Louisiana, Tchoupitoulas is infamous for being misspelled and mispronounced, but the the proper pronunciation is "chop-uh-tool-us". My favorite story about the street comes from a book called "Frenchmen, Desire, Good Children, and Other Streets of New Orleans" by John Chase:

One morning a police officer found a dead horse lying in the street at the corner of Common and Tchoupitoulas streets. He took out his notebook to record the incident. After several futile efforts to spell Tchoupitoulas, he grabbed the horse by the tail and pulled it a block down the street. "Dead horse at the corner of Common and Magazine," he wrote.

For your reference, here is the intersection from the anecdote:


Note: to keep this at least somewhat food related, I've left the map zoomed out a bit to show some of the famous restaurants in the area (thus the "Maps" part of the "Facts & Map". Feel free to use these if you have travel planned to the area.)

Palace Cafe: The first time I visited this restaurant, the special of the day was a panneed rabbit stuffed with proscuitto and gruyere cheese. If you visit here & they're serving it as the chef's special, GET IT. You will not be disappointed. If they don't have it, I highly recommend the Catfish Pecan.
Restaurant August: One of Chef John Besh's restaurants, it's situated in a gorgeous 1800's creole building. The menus run a bit high dollar for my budget, but they get rave reviews, so I doubt there's a bad meal to be had if you're in the mood to splurge.
Mothers: This was one of the first restaurants I visited when I moved to New Orleans. We got there and the line was out the door and down the block, and I was terrified that we were going to be waiting forever and a day. But, the line moved rather quickly--because, as I learned inside, the order line was set up cafeteria style. Use your time in the line to decide what you want, because the staff is ready as soon as you get up to the counter. I personally love the deliciously messy Debris Po-boy, though they're famous for their baked ham.