Musical pairing – A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock and Roll by Donny & Marie Osmond
It all started last week when a thread on Twitter caught my eye between Elle’s Kitchen, DuoDishes, AGoodAppetite and Vino Luci mentioning a drink called, ‘The Arnie Palmer’ – which turns out to be plain brewed iced tea sweetened with lemonade – 2/3 tea to 1/3 lemonade . . . who knew?? Because ever since I had the iced tea special at Gayle’s Bakery in Santa Cruz, I’ve been dying to create my own summer drink; I also wanted something pretty and I was fascinated by the layered effect that Gayle’s was able to achieve.
The good folks at POM sent me some free samples of their delicious juice a while back and I wondered if I could somehow use POM juice for the sweetening layer. But I also knew that just pouring straight juice into the tea would simply mix with the tea – it wasn’t going to give me the layer I was looking for – plus, the juice is tart and I needed something a bit sweeter . . . so I made a simple syrup using POM juice and sugar and voila – a layered tea that tastes pretty darn terrific! And because we love POM juice, I always have a couple of bottles stocked in my fridge so I can sip on this little gem all summer long!
Now that I had the drink down, I needed a name – something clever and witty, something that would make the ad guys at POM smack their heads and say, ‘Why didn’t we think of that?!’ Something memorable and yet used ‘POM’ in the name. In fact, if you head to their website, you’ll see several clever names of drinks others have come up with – like ‘POMObama’. Well it looks like all the clever names are taken so ‘POMmy & Marie’ was all The Professor and I could come up with (it was late – that’s my excuse and I’m stickin’ to it) – go ahead and roll your eyes, groan, whatever you have to do . . . I’ll wait . . . Yes, this is very, very cheesy but must admit that it’s given me a giggle every now and then as well . . . it’s the little things, people, it’s the little things and sometimes the cheesy, that keep me amused. And no, I won’t quit my day job anytime soon . . .
What’s your favorite summer time drink?
***************************
THE POMMY & MARIE
Smith Bites
INGREDIENTS:
Green Tea, brewed according to package directions; set aside to cool. (Feel free to use your favorite tea)
POM Simple Syrup – recipe follows
SIMPLE SYRUP:
2 Cups POM Juice
1 Cup Sugar
Add POM juice and sugar to saucepan; heat to simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar. Continue to simmer approximately 10-15 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved and liquid has reduced into a semi-thick syrup. Cool completely and place into squeeze bottle.
SMITH BITES NOTE: The syrup needs to be thick enough to sink to the bottom of the glass BUT thin enough to be squeezed from the bottle. If your syrup ends up on the thick side, just add a bit of water to get it the consistency you want.
METHOD:
Fill glass with ice cubes; add tea to about 2/3 full leaving enough room to add your sweet layer. Squeeze POM syrup into glass to fill the glass – it should sink to the bottom of the glass creating a nice pretty layer. Add straw, gaze at your wonderful creation of edible art, then stir and enjoy! SMITH BITES NOTE: Adjust sweetness to your own taste – a little more for sweeter, a little less if you don’t want your teeth to ache!
Elizabeth ~
For this recipe, I used straight POM but I would imagine you could do the same thing with a blend depending on what tea you’d use – play with it, you may come up with your own version!
Rowdy ~ It took me a bit to figure out that the syrup had to weigh more than the tea itself, but I love the look!
This looks delightful–do you use straight POM or a blend? My summer drinks are water, green tea, wine (OK, they are my standards), caipirinhas, and hibiscus iced tea.
So clever! So pretty! I love layered drinks. The engineering just impresses me so much!
Well, up until now, I loved an Arnold Palmer. But I have to say, yours is so pretty! And sounds delicious. I love Pom….will try this over the weekend. Clever of you to have the simple syrup/Pom layer.
Marly ~ I love that you’re my cheerleader!! Now drink some POMmy & Marie!
I think Pommy and Marie is a very creative! You should submit it to them. They might feature it on their site. I think I could use this drink right now. It looks so refreshing!
Mac ~ am happy it gave you a giggle! Love POM juice and we really do keep bottles in the fridge!
Great idea! And the name did make me giggle a bit.
Well, your drink idea has me adding POM the grocery list, so those POM people should be thankin’ you. Perfect drink to try this summer. 🙂
Audrey ~ It’s surprising how good this is – your hubs will love it!
Will have to make this for the husband sometime soon. He LOVES Pom!!!
Twitter has been very educational Kristen!
What a pretty drink!
Twitter sure does get some crazy ideas flowing, doesn’t it? 🙂
What a clever idea! I’m a big fan of Arnold Palmers (the drink, not the golfer – though I have nothing against him). Your version is much prettier!
The things I learn Maria!!!
Gotta love Twitter:)