Please both martini and mojito drinkers with Watermelon Gin Punch

Looking for a summer cocktail that serves several easily and will wow the crowd?
   Watermelon Gin Punch (click for the recipe) from Fine Cooking magazine is it.
   Of course, you can cut back the ingredients to make far fewer than the eight servings the recipe yields. That’s what my husband and I did as there were just the two of us when we tried it for the first time.
   But this drink would do very well at a backyard party. It can be put in a punch bowl or pitcher and even assembled outside if needed. Plus, you can make the simple syrup and puree the watermelon in advance.
   It’s an absolutely delicious cocktail with a dual personality: The gin will please the hard cocktail drinkers who gravitate to martinis, and the watermelon and mint will please the lighter cocktail drinkers who like mojitos or margaritas.
   It was very easy to make.
   The simple syrup is made by boiling sugar and water together, then cooling the mixture. It can be refrigerated far in advance of making the drinks.
   Chunks of peeled seedless watermelon are pureed in a blender or food processor, and the resulting puree pressed through a strainer. The juice is chilled until cold.
   Fresh lemon juice, simple syrup and mint are put in a pitcher or punch bowl, and the mint is mashed with a muddler back of a wooden spoon. Ice, gin, and the watermelon juice are added and the liquid stirred.
   The punch is served in glasses over ice.

Get the backyard party going with Rum Punch with Passion Fruit and Lime

Last summer I hosted a retirement party for my parents and cooked for 30 people.
   What was the alcoholic drink I chose to make out of the dozens I have tried?
   Rum Punch with Passion Fruit and Lime (click here for the recipe at the Bon Appetit website), a really easy pitcher drink which can easily be doubled, tripled or quadrupled.
   It was a hit at the party, as it always is.
   The recipe calls for frozen passion fruit juice concentrate. I've never been able to find this exact item. As long as you find one that says it has passion fruit juice in it (I use a guava/passion fruit combination), you'll be fine.
   The recipe also calls for making spears out of pineapple to garnish the drink; I've never bothered with this but it probably would be fun to include.
   It's so easy: throw some gold rum, the juice concentrate, water, lime juice and grated, peeled fresh ginger together in a pitcher, mix it up and serve.

Luscious lime rickeys

On the May long weekend, I took Lime Rickeys (click for the recipe) (with cilantro, though I left this out) from the June 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living for a test drive, and was very pleased with the results. I'll be making it again.
   The lime rickeys are from an article on summer pitcher drinks, which anyone who is thinking of hosting a backyard shindig this summer would do well to check out.
   One set of drinks uses limeade as their base. The limeade is made with water, fresh lime juice and superfine sugar (I used Splenda instead.)
   The lime rickeys are made by combining the limeade, sugar (more Splenda, in my case), and fresh lime slices. I put in the lime slices and then took them out shortly after. We have made limeade in the past that had lime peel left in it for too long and the drink was bitter, so I wanted to err on the side of caution.
   After at least an hour of refrigeration, club soda is added and the rickeys are served over ice.
   With that batch of limeade that is the base of the lime rickeys, two other delicious-looking cocktails can be made: Pineapple-Basil Margaritas (made by muddling chopped fresh pineapple with fresh basil and adding tequila) and Kiwifruit Caipiroksa, a variation on the Brazilian caipirinha.
   Also in the pitcher drinks story are three cocktails to make with ginger ale as a key ingredient: Watermelon Cooler (pureed fresh watermelon and vodka), Dark and Stormy (ginger ale and dark rum), and Pimm's Cup (lemonade and Pimm's No. 1.)
   The June 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living promises "60+ Summer Crowd Pleasers." I wondered as I flipped through it if Living's annual entertainment issue, which is in July, been moved up a month. There's are many recipe ideas in this issue, with food stories comprising the bulk of the features.

Here are the other recipes that caught my eye to try:
- Almond-Apricot Tart with Whipped Cream
- Grilled Buttermilk Chicken
- Grilled Steak Sandiwiches