Greeted with the glow of sundrops, we walked along the mossy brick entrance to begin an all-too-brief visit to our friends Missy, Joe, Julian and Cameron (and their new doggy-addition, Queenie). Their beautiful Connecticut home provided our refuge as we managed to dodge most of the rainstorms that seemed to fall everywhere else last weekend. We had, at my instigation, loosely planned a meal of Southern standards, built around a boozy glass of Southern Peach Sweet Tea. The recipe is simple, provided the making of the tea is done correctly. We’ll begin there, as that’s where it all started:
Southern Peach Sweet Tea
- 1 part bourbon
- 2 parts sweet tea
- ½ part peach schnapps
- Garnish of fresh mint or lemon
To make the tea, I boiled about 8 cups of water, took it off the heat, steeped it with a few Luzianne tea bags for about five minutes (I’ve been told this is the authentic southern sweet tea ~more authentic than Lipton, if you can imagine), then immediately removed them before adding a good deal of sugar, then refrigerating overnight. That exact order, and the exact timing of the quick tea steeping is what is integral to making it right. (Leaving tea bags in too long leads to bitterness.) Or so those Southern ladies say. Who am I to argue with the South? When followed in this way, the recipe turns out tasty cocktails that go down way too easily, and that’s all that matters.
Doug and Julio joined in for lunch en route to World Pride/Gay Pride/The Biggest Parade the World has Ever Known. On Doug’s advice, Missy turned out a hellaciously divine rack of ribs that had oodles of meat falling deliciously off the bone. Having been raised on tiny ribs with the thinnest strip of meat almost impossibly stuck to the bone, I’ve never been a fan of them. Couple that with the mess they made and I don’t think I’ve ordered them once in my life. This recipe and preparation has changed my whole thinking on them, and Andy is already looking into finding a country rib rack for our next meal. I brought along some collard greens and gluten-free biscuits (for the celiac diva) with jalapeno and bacon, as well as some super-soft ice cream in bourbon mint and peach. Doug and Julio made a cherry pie and some coconut-pineapple rum balls. It was the best meal we’ve had in a while. But that was only the beginning. Better than the food was the company ~ and this remains one of our favorite weekends because it has some of our favorite people.
Work and kids and home ownership have us all scattered throughout New York and Connecticut, so this is one of the few times when we can all get together without pressure or worry or rush. That’s especially nice when Julian and Cameron are involved. It takes time for kids to get comfortable and come out of their shells; luckily we eased out of shyness last year, so this year we moved quickly into the comfort zone and soon enough there was ukulele music, fashion shows, and Lego princess parades.
After Doug and Julio headed to the happy madness of Pride, I went down to the pool with the kids, where we played shark, seaweed and something else. Andy’s back had gone out the night before, so he took a restorative nap. After such a boffo meal, we nibbled on some leftovers before bed and the day, like our stomachs, was suddenly full…
(So was Queenie, who had the last of the coconut pineapple rum balls, without permission.)
