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Christmas

The Pear-Devil

by:
September 13, 2011
16 Reviews
Author Notes

So today is my birthday. And I have been at work since 11 p.m. last night and will be going back into work at 10 p.m. this evening. Ppppsssssbbbbbtttttt! That is my giant raspberry at having to work such inhuman hours. Thus (oh yes, I used the word 'thus'), because I am over-caffeinated from attempting to keep my eyeballs open between the wicked hours of 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. when the sucking sweet siren song of sleep drives me to endless bottles of five hour energy drinks and sugar free redbulls, rendering me helpless in the face of run-on sentences and incapable of sleep....I give you The Pear-Devil. My delightful (and slightly incoherent) experiment in concocting a drink that will take the place of the green butterfly commercials I see on the television in which all those beautiful people are drifting off to effortless and blissful sleep, easily overcoming the natural circadian rhythm of a morning person from Vermont (a place in which sleeping during the daytime is viewed as the ultimate expression of sloth).

.....6 groggy hours later.....Looking over the spasmodic prose I created during my sleep-deprived mania and, laughing so uproariously I had to call my mom and share my insanity, I decided not to 'edit' one word of what I had written earlier. Needless to say, I was quite out of my gourd with sleep-deprivation when I penned the previous paragraph. I should mention now, however, being somewhat more rested and lucid, that I am in no way advocating the use of this (or any) alcoholic beverage to help you sleep. Although I did have to try several versions before I found one that worked for me! Was it my fault that the experimentation made me somewhat tired? I was simply noodling around the kitchen trying to keep busy until the above mentioned caffeine wore off and sleep became possible. I had already unloaded the dishwasher and cleaned up after the hurricaine (one husband and two small boys) that had blown through the house that morning and came up with this concoction. And, in my defense, it was my happy hour even if it was at 11:30 a.m. Drinking before noon: another act viewed as borderline heresy in my home state. Cheers! —Niknud

  • Serves 1
Ingredients
  • 1/2 Bartlett Pear (very ripe - the softer the better)
  • 1 ounce Bombay Sapphire Gin
  • 2 ounces Ginger Beer
  • 3 drops of lemon juice
  • 1 splash Pear Juice
  • Ice
In This Recipe
Tools
Set a Timer
Directions
  1. Remove the skin from the pear. Using a vegetable peeler, shave 1/2 of the pear in thin strips into the bottom of drink shaker. Muddle until well mushed.
  2. Add the gin, ginger beer, lemon juice, pear juice and ice. Swirl gently (there are bubbles in the ginger beer!) and strain into a serving glass. Honest to goodness I am drinking this out of a coffee mug right now but you may want to class it up a bit for company....... Drink (or serve if you're feeling generous) immediately.
  3. Note: There is also nothing wrong with simply putting all the ingredients in a glass, stirring and adding ice. The mushy pear strips are a nice little present at the bottom of the glass. I added the step about the straining as a nod to formality...but you're talking about a person who was fixing her drink in a coffee mug so really, what do you expect? Either way, I'm sure it will taste good!
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Review
Niknud

Recipe by: Niknud

Full-time working wife and mother of two small boys whose obsessive need to cook delicious food is threatening to take over what little free time I have. I grew up in a family of serious cookers but didn't learn to cook myself until I got married and got out of the military and discovered the joys of micro-graters, ethiopian food, immersion blenders and watching my husband roll around on the floor after four servings of pulled pork tamales (with real lard!) complaining that he's so full he can't feel his legs. Trying to graduate from novice cooker to ranked amateur. The days of 'the biscuit incident of aught five' as my husband refers to it are long past but I still haven't tried my hand at paella so I'm a work in progress!

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