Even Dogs Celebrate the Presidential Inaugural 2009

It was written in the newspapers that all across America people were getting together to celebrate freedom and the Presidential Inaugural ceremonies this past week. Well, our neighborhood was no different, except most of our guests had four legs and a tail!

We get together with our dogs almost every evening after the golfers have finished playing, only we don't usually have cocktails. After Tuesday evening, though, we may start bringing libations more often!

We have Eric Felten, writer for the Wall Street Journal's Food & Drink section to thank for Tuesday's buzz and Wednesday's hangovers for that matter. He wrote a fantastic article (Sat/Sun, Jan 17-18, p. W5), called 'Having a Ball at the Inauguration'. The story was about the crazy party with the American people at Andrew Jackson's Inauguration in 1829. There are some striking similarities between that inauguration and this one (read the article).

Anyway, he included a recipe of the Inaugural Orange Punch that got so many people drunk back in 1829, so I made up a batch to use at out little party. I also made a Barackatini from a recipe off the Internet, but it was not near as special as the punch.


The first cup was delicious! Here's to our 44th President! The dogs were busy roaming around and chasing tennis balls oblivious to the political process.

The second and third cups were even better! Yummy. One person had to go home and she put the wrong dog on her lease to leave. Poor Wrigley almost went to another person's home for a sleepover!




Discussion on the fourth and fifth cups of punch:

"You should post the recipe for this punch on your blog!"

"Good idea":

Inaugural Orange Punch

3 parts fresh orange juice

1 part fresh lemon juice ( I squeezed about 5 lemons for 1/2 and used Minute Maid Light Lemonade for the other 1/2)

1 part mulled orange syrup (see below)

1 part dark rum

1 part cognac

2 parts soda water

Combine in a punch bowl with a large block of ice. Serve in punch cups with a little crushed ice and give each glass a dash of Angostura bitters.

For the Mulled Orange Syrup:

Combine 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water and heat to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Add the peel of an orange and mulling spices (a couple of cinnamon sticks, some whole cloves and allspice berries). After 15 minutes, remove form heat and let it sit for several hours, strain.

Finishing off the last cups in the punch bowl, some of us could have used this sign crossing the course to get back home with our pets:

I cannot think of a better way to celebrate, it's a new tradition in our house! Congratulations, Mr. Obama and special thanks to Eric!