Serious Eats has a recipe for a cocktail called the "Corpse Reviver 2"- which is a TERRIBLY unappealing name, unless you're a B-grade Japanese knockoff horror movie sequel- but it sounds tasty. You mix equal parts (a shot each) of gin, Lillet, lemon juice, and Cointreau plus 1 drop absinthe or pastis. All of those things are good (except the absinthe, but 1 drop couldn't be that bad, right?) which leads me to believe the finished concoction might be pretty tasty. The name comes from the fact that folks think it's good to drink when you have a hangover. Which dovetails nicely to the Caipirinha part of this story.



My friend Sasha just returned from a few weeks in Brazil and as any good friend would do, he returned with Cachaca and flip-flops for everyone. He made an enormous pile of Brazilian-style grilled meat- only a great friend will BBQ a pound of steak per person, outside, in the rain- and got all the fixins for Caipirinhas. To put it euphemistically, I might have used some corpse reviving the next day. They were not weak drinks and it was not a high quality liquor and there was a lot of sugar involved. But super tasty!

To make them, fill a glass with ice. Put 2 teaspoons or more of super-fine sugar in and squeeze 4 segments of lime in. Fill with cachaca and stir well until sugar is melted. Adjust sugar and lime as needed. To weaken it, add a little sparkling water if desired. Serve with sticks of sugar cane. What?!?! Sugar cane??!?!? OK you probably won't have that on hand although I did find some at the Alemany Farmers Market and couldn't resist buying it. For about a week I used it as an avant-garde floral arrangement.

      

Then when I heard about the Caipirinha plan I peeled and cut some pieces to use as garnish/stir stick. You need a sharp knife to peel and cut them put they are a nice kind of cud-like snack. They would be a great garnish for a mojito or other tropical-type sugary drink. They were only a buck each at the market. What a deal!