*LUPEC Boston’s latest ruminations, in case you missed ‘em in this week’s Dig.
by Pink Lady
Did you wake up after the LUPEC Boston Tiki Bash with dry mouth, a pounding head and a bad case of UPDA (unexplained paranoid drinking anxiety)? It’s OK, so did we. If you’re the lucky recipient of one of the gift certificates we raffled off, we hope you chose to spend it on a little hair of the dog, as that is truly the only way to reset your off-balance nervous system once afflicted with a hangover.
The winner of a $100 gift certificate to Eastern Standard, for example, had many delicious brunch beverage options from which to choose. Roll right from our 1950s tiki party into the swingin’ ’60s with classic morning sips, like a Greyhound or a Harvey Wallbanger. When’s the last time you had Galliano?
Brunch cocktails at Toro are offered in pitchers, which is exactly what the winner of that gift certificate needed for the morning after. The Blood Orange Mimosa is a lovely, dark pink take on the classic that looks oh-so inviting in large quantities. And a pitcher of Bloody Marys is packed with nourishing Vitamin C and lycopene, which has been extensively studied for its possible antioxidant and cancer-preventing properties. There’s got to be a hangover cure in there somewhere, too.
For the recipient of a gift certificate from the Franklin Café, we’d suggest brunch at the Franklin Southie over an Improved Toxic Moxie Cocktail, featuring Rittenhouse Rye, Fernet Branca, Moxie and angostura orange bitters. True New Englanders know Moxie makes everything better … as does the bacon that we suggest you add to your hangover-snuffing sirloin burger.
Can’t make a move without coffee? Lucky news for the lucky winner of 4 pounds of coffee from the 1369 Coffeehouse. If only it came with a personal barista/masseuse to rub away the pain.
Did you sleep till 4pm? There, there. Sleeping in is the best way to sleep it off. No one needs to know your early-bird dinner at Hungry Mother is the first meal of the day. The lucky winner of that gift certificate had a smorgasbord of rich, Southern-style, hangover-healing comfort food to choose from. Baked grits with tasso ham and cheddar and a bowl of potlikker soup with turnips, braised greens and ham hock should do the trick. Wash it down with a No. 56—gin, Aperol, sour and cava—the bitters and bubbles are sure to settle your stomach.
Perhaps the luckiest winner of all received a free round-trip ticket to anywhere JetBlue flies, allowing a chance to run from their hangover with real-life escapism. Actual sand and surf, and some R&R, could make you forget bitter, cold Boston and our faux tropic Tiki Bash. And Bloody Marys always taste better at 30,000 feet.
Tiki cocktails are potent stuff, but you can’t say we didn’t warn you. Thanks to all who turned out for donating your dollars—and your livers—to help support our fall beneficiary, On the Rise. We hope you had fun … perhaps enough to relive the night—maybe in a few weeks—with this modern tiki creation, a LUPEC Boston original.
KEN-TIKI
1.5 oz bourbon
0.5 oz Campari
rinse Herbsaint
0.75 oz Falernum
0.5 oz passionfruit
0.5 oz lemon
Put all ingredients except Herbsaint in a shaker and shake. Rinse glass with Herbsaint (or absinthe). Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
CIN-CIN!
What’s your favorite dance to teach? We usually like teach an auwana (modern) hula called the Hukilau during our shows. We like to teach it because the mele (song) has a good variety of hand/arm gestures, and the footwork is very basic so people can follow along fairly easily.
If you were putting together a playlist to your tiki party, what would you put on it? I have made that playlist, and it includes around 150 songs, from the godfathers of Exotica [Les Baxter, Martin Denny] and the cool concept albums of the late 50’s/early 60’s [“Jun’gala”, “White Lotus”, “Tropical Fantasy”, “Surfer’s Paradise”…], Elvis hits from films like “Blue Hawaii” & “Paradise Hawaiian Style”, surf music, and modern day practitioners like Combustible Edison, which I was a member of, and Waitiki, whose last 2 albums I produced.
Favorite cocktail: We like our cocktails showy & accessorized, martinis, mai tais & mint juleps.
fancybrandy
Hanky Panky
joseypackard
Pink Lady
Pinky Gonzales
Hoskins
thepinkgin
Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails - Boston 