Aguas Frescas with Alcohol

Of course, I looked for aguas frescas that were used as alcoholic drink

Tamarind Margarita

mixers. In downtown Norcross, a Mexican restaurant called Zapata served me a tamarind margarita that was pretty good. And, in looking for a recipe for that, my search turned up with recipes for a Gitatini (a Ginger Tamarind cocktail), a Tamarind Martini (from Cooking Light), a Tamarind and Vodka Cocktail (served in a pitcher), and Tamarind Borracho (drunken tamarind). Oh, here’s a Tamarind Margarita with a Chili Rim… Quite a few of the recipes call for Tamarind Concentrate, which I just found in an ethnic grocery.

Of course, since aguas frescas are basically fruit juices, you can just add alcohol to them, and Boom! – you’ve got a drink.  But I thought that I would look to see if anyone had purposefully created a cocktail using aguas frescas as a base.

Here are some more cocktail ideas:

• Spiked Pineapple Agua Fresca
• Pineapple Party Punch Agua Fresca from Emeril Lagasse
• Watermelon Alcoholico Fresca
• Watermelon agua fresca cocktails – includes recipes for a Rum Roller and a Watermelon Blossom (with gin)
• Hibiscus (Jamaica) Margarita
• Hibiscus Cosmopolitan – interestingly enough, this recipe has no alcohol. Neither does this one.
• This Hibiscus Tea Cosmopolitan Cocktail does have alcohol in it!
• Hibiscus Tea with Vodka and Citrus from Giada Dilaurentiis
• Lemongrass Caipirinha – maybe more of a lemongrass syrup is used… but it sounds great!

Aguas at the Loteria Grill

I found an Australian company called Sunbeat that makes condensed syrups in exotic flavors.  They have PDF files of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks using all sorts of unusual ingredients, such as dragon fruit, hibiscus, rooibus, lemongrass and ginger.

I came across that site while looking for a Hibiscus version of a Sea Breeze coctail, which is made with Cranberry Juice.  I also found a New Orleans restaurant called The Green Goddess which has a very unusual food and drink menu.  I found this description: Organic Tru Vodka, Hibiscus from Sudan on the Nile River, Acai Juice from the Brazilian Rainforest,  finished with Jamaican Pink Ting.

Okay, I am sure that there are other recipes out there, but I need to wrap this up.  I have a tendency to search things to death – does anyone else do that?

Aguas Frescas – other than Horchata

My first experience with trying to make aguas frescas was in the interest of my Spanish Exploratory class –  I developed this day where we ate “Crazy Mexican Sweets.”  The Klass mixes were the first I tried and it was horchata.  First thing I learned after mixing it in a bottle was that sugar MUST be added.  I had some Mexican children in Spanish Exploratory (which cannot be avoided in the scheduling world) and someone politely tasted it and shared that info with me.

So, yes, there are mixes for aguas frescas that are little more that Kool Aid.  Here is a link so you can see all of the Klass mixes.  I think that the tamarindo and jamaica are passable, but skip the limon – it is very VERY acidic.

Next on the  list are bottled aguas frescas – which are a pretty good substitute if you don’t want to take the time to make them yourself.  They are also good to bring to a tasting – for example, if your Spanish students wanted to have a food day.  Bonadea Drinks offers 11 flavors, including pepino (cucumber?) and has very clean, slick packaging.  It is sweetened with agave for you health nuts out there.  Morela Aguas Frescas has many flavors as well.  Cañita  Brands offers only jamaica and tamarindo.  Even Kern’s Nectars is getting into the act with jamaica (full of antioxidants!), tamarindo and limon.

Okay, if you don’t know what an agua fresca is, it’s basically a drink made of pureed fruit, sugar and water.  The mixture is blended together and strained to make a refreshing beverage.  For further enlightenment, here is a Los Angeles Times article on aguas frescas – and another from the L. A. Times on where to find freshly made ones.  Apparently, they take their A.F. (aguas frescas)  seriously in L. A.

Here is a Guide to Mexican Fruits from MexConnect.com.  This is for your reference.  After you have read all of the enticing and creative recipes here, you may want to personalize your own fruit!  To get you started, here is a Basic Agua Fresca Recipe with variations.  Here is another page with the basics – they call them Mexican Coolers.

What follows is basically a collection of recipes and variations I have found on the internet through hours of research…

• Agua de Jamaica from Chow.com
• African Hibiscus Punch (Jus de vissap – called the national drink of Senegal!)
• Sorrel Punch (Jamaican Hibiscus Punch)
• Cucumber Agua Fresca
• Pepino (Cucumber) by Aaron Sanchez
• Agua Fresca with Cucumber and Lime (from Saveur magazine – with Serrano Chile!)
• Watermelon Agua Fresca
• Watermelon and Basil Agua Fresca – uses basil simple syrup
• Watermelon Agua Fresca recipe using Lipton instant lemon iced tea?
• Tamarind Chile Syrup – used as a base for spicy tamarindo drink
• Melon Agua Fresca (Cantaloupe or Watermelon)
• Cantaloupe Agua Fresca with Beet Swirl
• Guava Agua Fresca from MexConnect.com
• Lime Water
• Agua Preparada de Limon Rallado (Lime Zest Cooler) – Rick Bayless’ recipe
• Melon Agua Fresca (cantaloupe and honeydew) – Awesome photos!
• Mango Agua Fresca – from Whole Foods Market
• Mango Mint Agua Fresca
• Mango Pineapple Agua Fresca
• Strawberry Agua Fresca – and another recipe with video
• Berry Melon Agua Fresca – it’s the second recipe in the post
• Blackberry Agua Fresca – uses hibiscus and rosehip tea, too.  [note to self: try Blackberry with Sage!]
• Sparkling Blackberry Lime Agua Fresca (with ginger ale)
• Blackberry Limeade – are we getting away from aguas frescas?  This Cooking Light article slideshow also has Watermelon Cooler, Strawberry Agua Fresca, and Raspberry Lemonade (I guess to make it more authentic, you could use real lemons and up the sugar…)
• Prickly Pear and Blood Orange Agua Fresca – uses Blood Orange concentrate
• Peach Lavender Agua Fresca – now we’re getting creative!
• MattBites.com has recipes for Pineapple Ginger, Cucumber Lemongrass, and Strawberry Thyme Aguas Frescas
• Honeydew and Mint Agua Fresca – from the Food Network Channel
• Illustrated Pineapple Agua Fresca Recipe
• Tepache – A beverage popular in Mexico made from slightly fermented pineapple flavored with piloncillo and canela
• Chicha de piña – spiced pineapple drink
• This site has various recipes for licuados and aguas frescas, including a Ginger Lemonade and a Vampiro (beets, pineapple, carrots, celery and orange!)
• Agua de nopal – many Mexicans eat nopales as a diabetes preventative – here it is in a drink
• Agua fresca de tuna – tuna is the fruit of the nopal cactus

While I was researching, I came across Rachel Laudan’s blog.  She has a lot of posts about exotic foods, but if you click on her Aguas Frescas tag, you can find several unusual drink recipes.  Here is one for Agua de Viernes de Dolores which I think is colored from beet root but it has all sorts of fruit and even shredded iceberg lettuce in it!  Another unusual agua is made with Apricot Leather – it actually has Middle Eastern provenance.

Finally, I did an Amazon.com search to see if anyone had a book out yet on aguas frescas.  I found Cool Waters: Refreshing Homemade Thirst Quenchers by Brian Preston-Campbell – This looks like a really good book with recipes for flavored waters and ice cubes.

P.S. – I did find an interesting variation on Horchata from a restaurant called Guelaguetza in Los Angeles.  It has chopped prickly pear fruit (tuna) and pecans (nueces) on top.  Yum!

We have horchata!

Well, something I did not realize in my eagerness to write about horchata is that it is not an immediate gratification drink.  I went out and bought a coffee and/or spice grinder, white rice, almonds, and stick cinnamon.  I was ready!   I guess it would have been a good idea to read the INSTRUCTIONS…

All of the instructions I found said that the pulverized rice and cinnamon and almond mess needed to soak in water overnight.  I wanted my horchata NOW!  But, I did as I was told.  Then, I looked at the printout of the recipe for Smoked Horchata and noticed there was a cheat there.  They suggested using rice milk, almond milk and coconut water with cinnamon, brown sugar, toasted almonds and unsweetened coconut to make something that would be ready sooner.

I couldn’t find unsweetened coconut, and I fudged a bit on the almonds, using some roasted ones my husband had.  I also added white sugar and a tad of molasses to substitute for the missing brown sugar.  I strained it several times through my inadequate strainer, and it came out pretty good.  I could not find the ingredients for the Smoked Horchata, but I bought some rum and a tiny bottle of Frangelico to make something like the Squirrel Horchata.

I tasted my overnight horchata this evening, and it was good.  I think that I need to invest in some cheesecloth, though.  Paper towels are not good filters.  And, since we don’t drink coffee, there were no coffee filters hanging around.

Trip to Houston

What can I say?  I had a great Spring Break.  Friday night, my husband and I went to see Yacht Rock at a bar in Buckhead.  Do you know how long it has been since I have been out?  Especially in Buckhead: a major meat market for 20-somethings (and maybe 30-somethings). I cannot describe the crush when we were downstairs with the unwashed masses.  Finally, we made our way upstairs to a balcony overlooking the band.  That is where all of the other “old people” were… The band was great, though.

The next day, I left on an afternoon flight to Houston to visit a friend of mine.  She has the cutest little house in the Heights – the cutest little neighborhood in Houston.  We went out to eat – left planning to go one place and ended up at another.  We tried this trendy place called Max’s Wine Dive.  What a concept: expensive glasses of wine with upscaled “dive” food: Fried chicken, hamburgers, “meat loaf”, mac ‘n’ cheese.  God, I wish I had thought of it!

On Sunday, we went out to brunch with another friend – I had requested dim sum. Instead, a new South African restaurant was suggested for brunch.  It is called Out of Africa.  I have a friend who is spending the year in Johannesburg.  I would love to visit, but I’m afraid that the airfare would be a killer.  So I will have to take my South African experiences wherever I can.  It was pretty good – I really liked the bobotee.  The terrace was the perfect brunch spot – not too hot, not too cool.

As a surprise, my friend bought me a ticket to see Les Miserables at the Theatre Under The Stars.  It was particularly meaningful because Rob Evan was playing Jean Valjean.  I used to be friends with his mother when I was teaching in Monticello, GA.  I met him before he was “my son, Rob Evan – the actor/singer” (that’s what she called him).  He was also quite an event and hunter/jumper rider.  Okay, I am pretty sure I have seen Les Miz before, but did not remember anything at all about the plot.

I did a lot of sleeping late – while my friend was out walking in the morning, I hung with her two dogs, “the Fluffies”, teaching them bad habits, like jumping on the guest bed.  Monday, we went to International Boulevard to have Mexican food.  We ate at a little taqueria (Casa de Leon), where I had tacos de birria (goat, I think).  Afterward, we stopped at an ice cream place – appropriately called La Michoacana.  I had a coconut paleta.

Does it sound like we did a lot of eating?  I’m not done.  That night, we went to Anvil Bar and Refuge.  It’s a new bar run by four hard-core former bartenders.  Everything is homemade and prepared to exacting standards.  They specialize in old school cocktails, like “the sidecar” – I didn’t want that.  After looking at the daily specials, I decided upon a drink called a “Dark and Stormy“.  It was a combination of Cruzan Blackstrap Rum, Ginger Beer (they brew their own, adding a little Thai chili for spice…), and lime.  It arrived in a beautiful squat old-fashioned glass filled to the brim with uniformly crushed ice, with a slice of lime and a straw.

I took a sip of my drink, and pondered.  My friend took a sip, and also was quiet.  Finally, we discussed what it tasted like.  My guess was an incense shop.  My friend went with “inside of my grandmother’s purse”.  Bingo.  I joke – after a while, it kind of grew on me.  My second order was a caipirinha – the cachaca was smokey, and there were perfect little clear cubes of ice.  Beautiful.  These guys cure their own olives, macerate their own cherries (my friend had one on her Metropole), and toast their own hazelnuts, I guess.  Check it out when you are in Houston!

On my last day, I went shopping on 19th Street in the morning.  It’s a lot of fun.  I spent a lot of time at Casa Ramirez, and came out with some cool stuff.  The owner is really nice, and we had a good conversation.  He is somewhat of a local expert on Mexican culture and gives talks and tours of Mexico for Day of the Dead.  I also spent a lot of time at Grace Hart and Company – a flea market-like shop with lots and lots of stalls.  It was fun.

Before I went to the airport to catch my flight, we went to Oishii – a sushi restaurant – and to Berripop, one of those new-fangled yogurt places. It was all very good and light.  It was so much fun to get out of town – I forget how big a city Houston is!  Bigger than Atlanta!  One of the best parts was that, coming back on Tuesday night, I still had five more days of vacation left to spend at home.