Thursday 7 January 2010

New Year's Raspberry Punch



New Year's Eve was exhausting this year.  I spent much energy keeping Sylvia and Zinc apart.  Sylvia crawls towards Zinc with her eye on grabbing the tail or fur.  Zinc doesn't stay away as a wise cat might.  I have visions of Sylvia tugging too hard and Zinc swiping her with the paw.  Meanwhile E was poorly and when I went out to the shops, I returned to find him lying on the floor with Sylvia.  The heat was unbearable and by evening gave way to rain so heavy and loud that I couldn't hear the television.  Oh, yes, I didn't have energy to do other than watch tv.  And eat haggis nachos and drink raspberry punch.


Fortunately just before New Year's Eve that I found the recipe for Raspberry Lemonade on Cherrapeno.  It was raspberries, sugar amd lemon.  Quite similar to Kristy's Raspberry Lemonade.  Kristy had been inspired by a drink she had in London.  I was inspired by an orange and raspberry juice that I had in Scotland (M&S) to try this.  But as I am not that fond of lemon I used lime instead.  I also changed the quantities but if I had more rasbperries on hand I would make more.


I was concerned that E needed a cool sugary drink to keep him hydrated as he was off his food.  This seemed like a good option.  The recipe called for either still or sparkling water but we love our soda water so there was no question of still.

I hadn't planned to make a drink but I was glad that I was inspired by Nic.   In my days before blogging I usually just bought a bottle of lemonade or ginger beer but it is fun making a special drink for an occasion.


I also made fruit salad with a bounty of passionfruit, cherries, pineapple, blueberries, blackberries, and kiwi fruit.  The photo doesn't do justice to how refreshing it was.  E was very pleased with the punch and the fruit salad but most of all he loved the haggis nachos.  If I had time I would share these now but it is late, Sylvia wont sleep, and I am trying to use blogger's new editor which is doing my head in with the photo editing.  So I will leave you with the punch recipe.

Raspberry Punch
adapted from BBC Good Food via Cherrapeno
makes about 6-8 glasses

  • 200g raspberries
  • 200ml water
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 small orange, chopped
  • 1 lime, chopped
  • soda water, mint leaves and ice cubes, to serve
Place raspberries, water, sugar, orange and lemon in medium saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring frequently.  Turn off heat.  The recipe said to cool and strain but I strained the syrup and then cooled it. 

To serve, fill a quarter of a glass with syrup.  Fill three quarters with soda water and ice.  Garnish with mint leaves.

On the Stereo:
Tribute to Dead Soldiers: vol II: Various Artists

13 comments:

  1. Such a gorgeous, festive drink! The deep color is incredible! I completely agree about the fizzy version - much more grand! :-)

    Your fruit salad looks incredible, too!

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  2. Your raspberry punch look yum, Johanna. I must try it! I also love freshly made fruit salad. So refreshing.

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  3. Thanks Astra - the colour was fantastic

    Thanks Tahn - fresh fruit salad is great - have plans to make some more for this hot weather

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  4. first, happy new years and best wishes for a very happy year. second, did she get zinc or not? when Belle was that age, she went for Coy and Coy yelped. No bite, no hard feelings. And, Belle never did it again. I always think that the animals that won't take a pull well are the ones who run away...

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  5. Oooh, but will we get the haggis nachos details soon? I'm so intrigued!!

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  6. Your raspberry punch looks cool! I like the color! It makes me want to make some now!

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  7. Oh dear, it sounds as though you had a challenging evening! The punch and fruit salad sound lovely and refreshing though, and I'm glad they perked E up. I never think of making drinks either, but this sounds nice and sparky. I'm very intrigued by the haggis nachos...

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  8. This drink looks gorgeous with its ruby red hue - hope that E is feeling better. And I also await details of the Haggis nachos with baited breath - sounds like a perfect dish for Burns Night!

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  9. Happy New year! That sparkling punch looks delicious and refreshing - and haggis nachos sound DIVINE!!!

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  10. I'm a soda water fiend too! I can't not drink several glasses after dinner. I don't know why but I get all upset if I can't have soda or mineral water. This sounds like a fancied up version!

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  11. That's not a bad recipe is it, if you have a ton of berries to use up! Thanks for the shout-out, and your fruit salad sounds really refreshing.

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  12. The punch and fruit salad both sound divine. . . hope it helped E to feel better (and I swear I thought you were going to write, "E was pleased as punch. . ." instead of "pleased with his punch"!). Sounds like you could use a bit of rest after that evening, yourself!

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  13. Thanks Maybelle's Mom - happy new year to you - sylvia has got zinc's tale once or twice but zinc has been fairly calm but unhappy - still finding the two very stressful together - but good to hear you have survived the cat and baby race

    Thanks Hannah - the nachos are posted - wish I had some now

    Thanks MDT - yes I loved the colour

    Thanks Lysy - punch and fruit salad are just so lovely on a hot day

    Thanks Cakelaw - E is better thanks - but it was great making haggis nachos when he was too ill to eat lots - all the more for me :-)

    Thanks Jenn - happy new year too - I could do with some punch now - it is quite hot today and the punch really does refresh

    Thanks Lorraine - this is not too sweet but has that fizz up the nose like soda water - but better - and we drink a lot of soda water too

    Thanks Nic - I bought raspberries specially for this drink because it looked so good and it was worth it - but I also topped them up with some that had been in the freezer quite a while

    Thanks Ricki - can't believe I missed such a great punch line (ha ha) - I did manage to stay up til midnight unlike the rest of the household but was glad to get into bed - not like new year's eves of the past!

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