Although my debut novel Hoods Landing is now out, alive, sharing the same realm as us; I hope you’ll permit me one more literary-culinary flourish ahead of Thursday’s launch party in Auckland. For what it’s worth, despite actually being a double flourish of two cocktail recipes, I’m going to keep this relatively succinct as I am no less feverish and hectic and wild-eyed than I was eleven days ago when we launched it for the first time (and exceptionally so) in Wellington. Thus far I can tell you that the life of a novelist involves a lot of refreshing notification screens and being immensely humbled and grateful. To celebrate that launch, I made chocolate mousse; to féte Auckland, an Old Fashioned variation that I call the Hermit; plus a bonus reminder of the Hoods Landing Punch recipe that I shared on Instagram before the last launch in a fugue state of optimistic tangential self-promotion.

True to its name, The Hermit rather suits a solitary ruminating silence, though nothing at all is stopping you making it for other people. It takes the unimpeachable framework of the Old Fashioned: mostly booze, a little sweet, a little bitter, and adds the distinctly rural and faintly peppery golden syrup to both buff away the bourbon’s edge and play up its caramel notes. You also muddle a couple of cloves, somehow warm and icy in their numbing woodiness, which lend further mystery to the proceedings.

If you don’t like Old Fashioneds to begin with this is in no way going to change your mind; but if you prefer a mixer-shunning cocktail of this nature then it’s an easy win. (And, thank you to my girlfriend for being my hand model above.) All these ingredients float through the novel in one way or another; they also taste delicious together—beguilingly sweet and aromatic yet bracingly strong. Given that the novel is set at Christmas, the orange and clove lend a yule-ish element in tandem; calling to mind those rather hideous yet undeniably fragrant clove-studded pomanders.

As for the Hoods Landing Punch, this is a variation on the punch that appeared at every good family party we ever had; I can only assume in its ubiquity that some of you out there are also familiar with it, too. If not, I implore you to have faith in the combination of the plainest black tea, tropical fruit, ginger ale—not ginger beer!—and mint.

It is alchemical, tasting wildly complex yet utterly approachable, with the bass notes of tea merging into the luscious sunshine sweetness of the fruit and the mild spiciness of the ginger ale. I could drink absolute buckets of this. Here I’ve added rum and passionfruit both for, well, something to do, but also for literary verisimilitude—besides which, passionfruit always tastes like a celebration to me, and lends even more juiciness to the brusque mixers.

I’m going to remind you once more, my novel Hoods Landing is out now from all good bookstores and libraries; ask for it by name—and all are welcome to the Auckland launch party on Thursday, there’ll be a reading from fellow Āporo Press publishing pal Nicola Andrews, I’ll be reading from the novel and signing all your first editions; there’ll be drinks care of Clean Collective and Garage Project and snacks and general launch-y glamour and excitement to be had. Thank you EVERYONE for your support, kindness, enthusiasm and attention—regular blogging will resume soon but because everything is an extension of everything and all a spiralling overlapping whole anyway, what is the novel is also the blog is also me and always has been and always will be.

And for more cocktail ventures, I recommend my fig leaf gin recipe and suggested uses therein; this tamarillo sidecar, and—tis almost the season—a peppermint espresso martini.

The Hermit

Named for the tarot card that best describes the Hoods Landing character Rita; this is a slight twist on an Old Fashioned made peppery and rich with golden syrup and just a hint of cool, numbing warmth from the cloves. For some reason I believe Old Fashioneds should be mixed separately and strained, and equally strongly believe that Negronis should be made in their serving glass; here you need to strain out the ice and cloves anyway hence the extra dishes to wash. As always, before going shopping for these or any ingredients, I recommend checking out the Boycott Aotearoa zines so you know which brands to avoid.

For one serving:

• 1 tablespoon golden syrup
• 2 cloves
• 3-4 dashes Angostura bitters
• 60ml bourbon
• A strip of orange peel

1: Stir the tablespoon of golden syrup, the two cloves, and the bitters together with a couple of fresh ice cubes until the golden syrup has softened from thick syrup into thinner liquid.

2: Pour in the 60ml bourbon and pack the glass with fresh ice. Stir with a long-handled spoon—although a teaspoon will do—tasting as you stir; once the ice has diluted it just enough that it tastes fantastic, strain it into a fresh glass, leaving behind the cloves and dissipated ice.

3: Into this glass of dark, tawny liquid, lower in a large single ice cube if you’ve had the forethought to freeze one, otherwise drop in a few regular fresh ice cubes. Peel a strip of rind from an orange—avoiding too much pith as you do—and pinch it over the glass to let some of those citrus oils spray out over it, then drop it into the glass as well, and drink.

Notes: 30ml = 1 shot = 2 tablespoons.

Hoods Landing Punch

This is simply the immensely classic punch of family parties, made boozy with rum, evocatively zesty with passionfruit, and mellowed by the sweetness of honey. The least-negotiable ingredients are the black tea and ginger ale; I consider the mint quite necessary too for its celebratory freshness. As always, before going shopping for these or any ingredients, I recommend checking out the Boycott Aotearoa zines so you know which brands to avoid.

For two servings:

• 30ml strong plain black tea
• 45ml white rum
• 30ml cheap passionfruit pulp in syrup
• 1 teaspoon clear honey
• Ginger ale, to top up
• Fresh mint, to serve

For a punchbowl or jug:

• 1 liter strong plain black tea
• 250ml white rum
• 2 x 170ml tins cheap passionfruit pulp in syrup
• 1/4 cup clear honey
• 2 liters ginger ale
• Fresh mint

Alcohol free version: Replace the rum with pineapple juice or a tropical blend; I’d increase the quantity somewhat but taste as you go to see what works.

1: In a measuring jug, stir together the 30ml black tea, the 45ml white rum, the 30ml passionfruit syrup and the teaspoon of honey—it’s fine if the tea is still warm, as it’ll help to dissolve the honey.

2: Strain this mixture through a sieve into two tumblers, pack with ice, and top up with ginger ale. Pick two hearty sprigs of mint and tuck them amongst the ice to secure them.

3: Follow the same process for the larger quantities; the mint leaves tend to flop around wetly in the jug but ARE essential, you could consider freezing mint leaves into your ice cubes to give them some structure.

Notes:

• If you are blessed with an abundance of passionfruit you can absolutely use them—in which case you may want to leave the punch unstrained, or garnish with an extra spoonful of pulp. Taste as you go to see if the mix needs more sweetness, as the fruit is a lot more tart on its own.
• To that end, the passionfruit quantities are a little relaxed—depending on what brand of passionfruit syrup your local supermarket has, being roughly in the neighbourhood of my specs is fine.

music lately:

Oscillations by Silver Apples, it’s unnecessary to say it’s almost weirdly ahead of its time for 1968, but I simply have to get that off my chest! Somehow loud and bleepy and discordant and muffled and softly at a remove at the same time and it really does oscillate; I know the sixties was what it was but this sounds like it was composed via a literal portal.

Drink Deep by Florence and the Machine. Her new album is excellent! This song is wonderfully gothic and ecclesiastically ominous—billowing with layered wails and chants like a pillowcase on a clothesline in the rain and crescendoing like an unregulated rollercoaster.

My Home Court by Renee Elise Goldsberry from Original Cast Recording: Co-Op, the mockumentary parody of the 1970 documentary film Original Cast Recording: Company; While Goldsberry sings like a dream and has just the kind of razor wit you need to sell this rather niche premise; the fact is I got the “brown and the beige and the brown and the beige and the brown” refrain stuck in my head for several days and needed to exorcise. That end note, though!

PS: Feeling hopeless is a luxury that serves no one but those perpetrating the hopelessness. Despite the ceasefire announcement, families in Palestine need us now more than ever. You can donate to ReliefAid’s Gaza Appeal, who are connected with teams on the ground in Gaza; you can donate to Convoys of Good, another registered NZ charity distributing aid. I’d also like to highlight Welcome Back Slow Fashion who has relentlessly fundraised for mutual aid by selling off gaspingly beautiful and rare vintage clothing pieces one by one. As I’ve already mentioned, you can also demonstrate your control and power through the absence of your dollars. Boycott Zine Aotearoa has helpfully put together two comprehensive free zines so you can quickly see who to studiously avoid when buying food, drinks, household items and beauty products.