Whenever Diana and I are together, we have a delightful mix of storytelling, relaxation, eating and drinking, and of course, laughing. This recipe is inspired by that mix. We hope you enjoy these Painkillers as much as we do!
Island baby Diana grew up in the US Virgin Islands and has memories that makes my little New York heart want to head to the caribbean like, yesterday. While I’m a freakishly good parallel parker because of my upbringing, Diana’s high school experience included sailing and having these incredible cocktails. She’d go boating to Jost Van Dyke to sip on Painkillers at the Soggy Dollar Bar and keep the plastic cups. Since we’re pros and need to keep our Instagram game strong, we swapped the plastic cups for a more legit tiki vibe. You see, even with all of our travels and an island upbringing, our favorite tiki bars are in our cities: Tiki Ti in LA keeps Diana feeling tropical and Lost Lake in Chicago gives me booze and chinese food for ultimate happiness.
Proper tiki cups are a bit easier to come by than proper garnishes. Always up for an adventure, Diana and I traipsed ALL over LA to find goodies to fill our glasses but came up short. All of that running around had us loopy with hunger so we drove to In and Out for a break and some sustenance. On the way there, I scoped hibiscus flowers growing that were the right color for our drinks. I’m a pretty friendly person so I had no issue ringing the bell to explain the cocktail dilemma and how I needed to borrow some flowers; no one could disagree with me, right? A few doorbell rings and knocking on windows later, I decided to try my hand in theft and hopped back in the car with incredible pink and yellow hibiscus flowers. Getaway driver Diana had me in stitches as she carefully put them into a tiny water bottle and near the air conditioning vent for preservation before burgers. It was a small MacGyver flower shop driving for burgers. In and Out provided excellent burgers and fries and I may have tried to steal some palms from bushes between ordering and pick up to really up our garnish game. After all that, we kept our garnish game simple with some grated nutmeg which I accidentally stole, but that’s a story for another day… Happy drinking!
xx
ab + DZ
- 4 ounces rum -- Pusser’s or Diana's favorite Cruzen work best!
- 8 ounces pineapple juice
- 2 ounces orange juice, freshly squeezed if possible
- 2 ounces cream of coconut
- Fresh grated nutmeg
- Add rum, juices and cream of coconut to a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously until it is foamy on top. Leave out the ice for the shaking otherwise the coconut won't mix properly. Pour into a fancy glass or plastic cup filled with ice. Grate fresh nutmeg on top, add half a bouquet of flowers or whatever else you want to make it look delicious. Enjoy!
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