Dark and Stormy (the drink)

We returned from our beach vacation on Saturday and it’s as though I have stepped into another world. We left in the morning, there were blue skies and puffy white clouds, and them temperature was 70 degrees. Four hours later we stopped for gas and it was 53 degrees with driving rain. As we made our way east, through the mountains, the leaves on the trees were gold and orange in addition to green.

As Jack commented, “we really did squeeze out the last little bit of summer this year”. Indeed.

Today has been cloudy with intermittent heavy rain and very high wind gusts. I’m done unpacking, and I occupied my afternoon with making tomato sauce. Out of the 34 pounds of tomatoes which we took to the beach, we only returned with 8 and that amount, plus another 24 pounds which I picked yesterday, are now simmering on the stove.

Having just had two weeks of frequent afternoon rum drinks, I find myself wanting one today in the late afternoon (am I trying to extend my beach experience?). Today I made us both a cocktail called a Dark & Stormy. It seemed very appropriate for our current weather.

Although I had been familiar with Myers dark rum, I tried Gosling’s Black Rum last year and find that I like the taste better. It’s smoother than Myers, dark and rich and redolent of molasses. This is what I use in a Dark & Stormy. I had difficulty locating ginger beer (no, ginger ale is absolutely not the same!), but finally found it in a liquor store even though it is non-alcoholic.

Dark & Stormy

Makes 1 drink

Pour 2 ounces of Gosling’s Black Rum over ice (use a tall glass).

Slowly add 8 ounces of ginger beer and stir gently.

Yes, that’s it!!! :) But I have to admit, it’s not the winner that I anticipated it would be. The flavor of ginger is far too dominant in this drink for my taste.

A very “beachy” photo:

A seagull who apparently likes to pose for photos:

And check out this really cool ship (which we would have taken a short cruise on if we could have stayed another week...)

Okay, that's it. I'm through torturing myself with these photos... :D