Matching Martini Madness: Hot Summer Night

I know it’s summer in the city
And the sun is high
But you can play it cool again
Coz boy i seen you disco dancing
With your pants on fire
We need a little tropical rain

So baby, baby
Watch the needle when your heading south
You drive me crazy
Just remember you can burn me out
So get down…

It’s been a long, hot summer
And it’s 95 degrees in the shade
It’s only Sunday morning
And I need that Friday feeling again

-Girls Aloud, “Long Hot Summer”

It was beastly hot today, in the high 90’s. I was out for a little while, but the heat and the humidity chased me into my air conditioned house. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing HPS Test Kitchen: Barbecue spare ribs and Scorpio’s cole slaw, morel mushrooms fried in olive oil and butter, and an unusual spinach pasta dish with chives and parmesan cheese. Bunny will probably eat the spare ribs this week and leave me with the “weird food.”

So, what to drink with these dishes? A martini flavored like a pina colada! For this recipe you will need two Vincent Van Gogh flavored vodkas.

Hot Summer Night

1 shot pineapple vodka
1 shot coconut vodka
1 shot pineapple juice
squirt of cream of coconut

If you have neither kind of flavored vodka just use plain or vanilla, but add more of the nonalcoholic ingredients for taste. My cream of coconut comes in a squeeze bottle and is made with real coconut. I always try to avoid mixers with corn syrup or artificial flavoring. This martini is made like all the others: In a shaker with ice. Make sure it is very cold. It is better to make a smaller martini than a large one that’s lukewarm by the time you finish!