Kunitz Comes Back

Have you ever felt like maybe you were losing your touch at something you used to be okay at? And then you have a moment where you realize, "No, I'm still pretty good at this"? I had it when I made this particular drink earlier this week. I used Bigelow's Cinnamon Stick black tea as my base. When I tweeted about it, the person behind Bigelow Tea's account tweeted me back to say it sounded good!

Chris Kunitz might have felt that way, sort of, last night. Last season was a bummer for him--he spent much of it injured, and just wasn't right when he was on the ice. He was absolutely diesel against the Hurricanes last night, doing everything he needed to. He ended up scoring two goals, although the second needed to be cleared with the war room in Toronto.

I've named a drink after Kunitz. It's the first of these cocktails ever, the Cussing Penguin. It lightened up a loss when he hollered "Aw, fuck!" into a hot mic on live TV. But it's nice to have actual good hockey stuff to remember Chris Kunitz by, so I felt I should name this after him, too.

Kunitz Comes Back

1 bag Bigelow Cinnamon Stick or other cinnamon-flavored black tea
2 ounces bourbon
half a clementine orange (if you have a particularly big one, you may want less)
1 teaspoon sugar or Splenda
hot water

Steep the tea bag in a large mug filled 2/3 of the way with hot water. Give it 3-5 minutes while you peel your clementine and get the bourbon. When the tea's done, take the bag out. Pour the bourbon and sweetener in; stir. Gently squeeze the clementine half into the mug (don't let seeds or a lot of pulp get into it). Stir once more, and drink immediately.

Note on ingredients: If you can't find the cinnamon tea or don't want to buy a whole box, use a standard bag of black tea and add 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon to it while it brews. Chai tea will *not* work, trust me.

Atlanta Beauty

I hadn't felt inspired lately. Neither had the Pittsburgh Penguins. After the debacle on 11/10/10 which I'll forever refer to as the Boston Bruins Massacre, things were looking pretty bleak indeed for our guys. There were several question marks. Two big ones were Marc-Andre Fleury and Evgeni Malkin.

Then on the 12th, the Penguins roared back to life with a 5-1 win over a severely injured Tampa Bay Lightning. (Hey, our team started the season with tons of injuries, so fair's fair.) Last night, they went to Atlanta to play the Thrashers.

The influx of former Chicago Blackhawks into Atlanta, as well as the fact that the Penguins were playing the second of back-to-back games, had me worried for a moment. So did the fact that Brent Sopel, a Thrashhawk who I normally like, scored the first goal, and it went unanswered for a very long time. But Fleury made some amazing saves. Then Evgeni Malkin, bless his heart, scored the first Penguins hat trick of the season! 4-2, baby! Everyone's right. I worry too much.

This is a drink that I made as a tribute to Atlanta. I actually drank this last night. It's a beautiful city. It gave us Coca-Cola and OutKast, the zoo has a lovely panda family, and it's got a fascinating mixture of old and new. It's also still a wonderful place for slumping Penguins players to come back strong. I love Atlanta!

Atlanta Beauty

6 ounces Coca-Cola or Coke Zero
2 1/2 ounces Southern Comfort Peach

Combine ingredients in a glass with a few ice cubes. Stir gently.

Didn't say it was gonna be complicated, right?