A Little This, A Little That, and the Beer Punch Recipe

For several years now I've been considering creating a blog, but I've never quite managed to get around to it. Now a combination of events and changes in my life have made writing a blog both doable and personally useful.

If you're on Pinterest, you've probably lamented, as I have, the lack of an "I did this" option on pins. I've always been fairly crafty (craftish? prone to crafting? craft-inclined?) and Pinterest has been great with helping me keep track of inspiration and ideas to try. However, I now find myself craving a place to post those ideas and inspirations I actually followed through on! So this blog will function in part as an archive of completed projects.

So the advent of Pinterest was one incentivizing (yes, I am claiming that as a word) factor. Another is the upcoming deployment of my husband, Pete. He'll be heading out to Afghanistan soon and I'll be needing some distractions while he's gone. A blog will really help if law school doesn't work out.

Yep, that's right. Law school. I've got some big changes coming this year: I'll be moving to D.C., trying to find an apartment, a job (or at least an internship that will jazz up my resume), and hopefully (like seriously crossing my fingers, arms, legs, and eyes) starting law school in August 2012. And lucky you, hypothetical reader, you get to come along for the ride!

So I guess I'm finally getting around to blogging because I finally feel like I have something to talk about! Fair warning: It's going to be a mishmash of what I'm doing and what I find interesting, but that's what bricolage is: taking disparate things to create a combined whole.

Now, since this is a pretty lame first post, and no-one really cares about why I'm writing: Mama's gonna give you something meaty: A boozy recipe.

No seriously, everybody who has tried this adult beverage has wanted the recipe. Don't let the ingredients prejudice you: This stuff can be presented as fancily as you fancy, or as simply as you like.

Before I get too much further into details, I need to give credit where credit is due. We begged this recipe off my Aunt Abbey (aka Princess, as she insists we all call her after she's had two cups of this punch). Additional flourishes I mention are due to personal experimentation or ideas I found on Pinterest.

Beer Punch
1 can frozen lemonade (we usually use the plain yellow stuff, but the pink lemonade also works!)
vodka
three beers (y'all are going to be mixing this anyway, so save your 'spensive micro-brews and use Bud or Miller)
cranberries
2-quart sized or larger pitcher or other receptacle (we bought one of those handy-dandy gallon containers with a handle and spigot - I highly recommend getting one if you potluck frequently)

Dump the frozen lemonade into your container. Fill up the empty lemonade can half-way with vodka, and add that to the container. Slowly pour in three beers (you want to minimize the foam). Add cranberries and mix well (and carefully, remember this concoction has a tendency to foam when first created)

Garnishes and Presentation
The cranberries are primarily a garnish, but they do add a bit of flavor to the punch. If you can't acquire any cranberries, try any frozen berries you can find. I've also used frozen chopped rhubarb, which is quite tasty.

To make this punch extra fancy, consider adding special "ice cubes" to the mix. One idea I saw on Pinterest (it originally came from industrious justice and y'all should totally check out that blog, 'cause the lady has some great stuff!) was to slice up some lemons and put them in a cupcake pan, one slice per hole. Then you fill the holes up with either water or lemonade and freeze. Once the liquid has frozen, you can pop the fancified "cubes" out and add them to your punch. You may have to let them melt just a tiny bit around the edges before you can remove them from the pan.

Well that's all I've got for now. Check back later this week for a new post - I've got a few projects in the works and next time I'll include pictures ; )