Summertime Rum Punch

Hot summer days like the ones Ottawa has been experiencing lately require a tasty beverage to make the most of your relaxing during these lazy, hazy times. This recipe for rum punch is based on a formula used by both my Barbados-born father and a woman my wife met at the Wine and Food Show some years ago. This drink can pack quite a punch, so take the necessary precautions.

Ingredients
1 750 mL bottle of rum
240 mL citrus juice (lime or orange are good choices)
240 mL water
120 g white sugar
120 g brown sugar
nutmeg
cinnamon sticks
cloves
1 jar Maraschino cherries (optional)

"One part sour, two parts sweet; three parts strong, four parts weak."

1. Pour the citrus juice into either a large punch bowl or pitcher. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan combine the sugar, some cinnamon sticks, a few cloves, a dash of grated nutmeg, and the water. Bring everything to a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Allow the syrup to cool before mixing it with the juice.
3. Add half the bottle of rum and stir until everything is mixed together. This is where you can add more rum if you want a stronger punch, or some of the juice from the Maraschino cherries if you prefer a sweeter drink.
4. Add 4 cups of ice to your bowl or pitcher to keep the drink cool, and serve the punch with ice. Add a cherry for garnish.

The new food trends for 2015

Greetings and salutations everyone. Hope the holidays were good, and the start of this new year has treated you well. During my downtime, I ate a lot of good food, hung out with family and friends, and enjoyed the two cookbooks I received as gifts, a reprint of my late mom's beloved "All New Purity Cook Book", and "The Official DC Super Hero Cookbook", the closest I'm going to get to the out-of-print cookbook I loved back in my youth. To get back into the swing of things, I thought my first entry of 2015 should be a comment about this year's predicted food trends.

• The new cocktail ingredient: Tea
  Taking advantage of the millions of tea drinkers in the world, bartenders will be looking for ways to add it to more drinks. This isn't as crazy as it sounds, as several local brewers, like the Dominion City Brewing Company, have made some great beers with tea. The green tea powder matcha will also be appearing it everything from pesto to antioxidant-rich drinks due to its vibrant colour and flavour.
• The new comeback food: Foie gras
  About two weeks ago, a judge overturned California's ban on the sale of foie gras, to the delight of chefs, foie gras producers, and lovers of fatty duck or goose liver everywhere. Because of this, restaurants will soon be making foie gras the centerpiece item of haute cooking again. I'm sure the number of death threats issued against chefs who resume cooking with this controversial food will decrease as the months go by.
• The new comfort food: Uni and guacomole
  Uni is the Japanese name for the edible part of the sea urchin; guacamole is in my opinion the best thing you can do with an avocado.  Together, they are a high-end comfort food combination that makes truffled macaroni and cheese look like last year's Kraft dinner. You might need an in with the chef at your favourite gastropub to get this before it starts appearing on the menu.
• The new cooking trend: Stem-to-root
  Picture cauliflower leaves being sauteed, and served over polenta with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese; carrot tops made into pesto and fennel tops finding their way into a relish; limp celery simmered back to life with ground meat, white wine, and aromatics. With the head-to-tail movement working so well with meats, it seems logically that a similar movement would happen with vegetables.
• The new foodie trend: Taking a selfie with the chef
  Why just snap a picture of your food when you can have a picture of the person(s) who made it? Given how temperamental chefs can be about people in their kitchens, I can't see this catching on, but with all the attempts to make chefs the new rock stars, who knows? Can't wait to see how this plays out at Union613...
• The new food treatment: Pickling and fermenting
  Vegetarians won't be the only ones benefiting from this, expect to see a lot more vegetables getting a bath in either vinegary, herbal or garlicky solutions this year.
• The new kale: Various contenders
  Several vegetables are vying for the chance to replace kale as the trendy choice in the produce department. Root vegetable like kohlrabi, celery root, and parsnips (one of my favourites) is predicted to be appearing in more kitchens, along with radishes and cauliflower. As a parent with poor eating habits, my wife is always looking for new ways to trick my son and I to eat healthier, so having something new on the vegetable side of the plate is always a good thing.
• The new Starbucks order: The flat white
  All the rage in Australia, the flat white is milk poured over two shots of ristretto (the first, most concentrated part of the espresso shot), with a thin layer of microfoam on top. What's the difference between that and a regular cappuccino? Beats me, I'm still uncouth enough to order a pumpkin spice latte in the fall.
• The new taste zone: Sour
  While umami will still get a lot of attention, the use of citrus, mustard, and vinegar will be seen in everything from beverages to entrees to desserts this year. It's about time sour have gotten some of the spotlight, it's an underrated taste. Who don't like a sourball gum every now and then?