park slope punch

i went up to nyc for the halloween weekend to hang out with some friends from my coop days. thanks to a freak snowstorm i didn't end up celebrating halloween but i did end up co-inventing a new alcoholic beverage, loosely based on a mimosa. me and my lovely host for the weekend, ms. saki tanaka, (yes i know that was poor grammar) were sitting in a post-breakfast stupor when i decided that a mimosa would be a refreshing way to continue the day. while we did have the requisite champagne on hand we did not have the other half of the cocktail equation, orange juice. we looked for alternatives and came up with a strange mix of items, one of which included some left over compote from the previous morning's breakfast. we mixed up the ingredients and what came out was a surprisingly successful concoction we decided to call park slope punch, named after it's birthplace.


park slope punch recipe:
• a handful of raspberries
• maple syrup
• apple juice
• champagne
• a mason jar or something like that...

in a sauce pan, or maybe just a skillet, cook the raspberries and maple syrup until the raspberries turn into a deep red and the juices start to release. remove from heat and allow to cool; we had a whole day to cool but i'm sure 15 minutes in a fridge could work. pour the compote into a blender and pulse into a slurry. if, like us, you don't have a blender just pour the compote into a mason jar or something like that and use a fork or whisk to break the berries apart. some chunks are okay. remember, texture is a buzz word. use this to your advantage. after blending your compote, if not already in a mason jar (or comparable, actually we used a cleaned out kimchi jar, it's all good) go head and put it in one and fill the rest of it up with apple juice. put a lid on the jar and shake vigorously. you're looking for a nice even mix here. now get your finest glasses out and fill it up about a quarter (1/4) of the way with your apple/raspberry/syrup mix. now you're going to want to add the champagne but carefully because it will foam up real fast. in the end it's probably about a 1:1 mix of champagne to fruity mix. you should end up with something like the photo below, a delicious, red morning beverage sure to impressive all of your friends.

okay, obviously i'm never going to be a food photographer but, in my defense, this was taken with my iphone.