Randy Wong: Boston-based Musician & Arts Educator from Honolulu, Hawaii

Posted by Randy on September 4th, 2007 in mixology

Originally posted at the Pikake & Pearls Blog 

Today was the first day that I tried my hand at mixing cocktails. I’ve wanted to make some ono drinks for Hel for a long time. Tim Mayer brought me home after work, and after we loaded up all the boxes of WAITIKI vinyls and CDs (CMF & RiO), we hit the kitchen to make some long-awaited drinks.

First up was the Wai Niu, a concoction by Mai Kai General Manager Kern Mattei, who recently dedicated this drink to Waitiki.

Kern’s Wai Niu
3/4 oz. fresh squeezed lime juice
3/4 oz. rock candy syrup
1.5 oz. coconut rum
1.5 oz. coconut water
Dash soda

I didn’t have my shaker yet when we made these drinks, so we had to stir. Fill the glasses 3/4 up with ice, add ingredients. Top off with a dash of soda. (The addition of the soda was Helen’s idea - and it worked marvelously).

Later in the evening, I fired up my mortar & pestle and made a Cuban mojito for Helen. The mojito is her favorite drink; she first tried one at the Cheesecake Factory when we were in college, and I’d decided lately that that’d be one that I’d want to make at home.

The Tea Room Mojito
2 oz. fresh-squeezed lime juice
2 oz. white rum
2 oz. soda
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/2 oz. rock candy syrup

Helen likes her mojitos slightly sweeter than they often come, so I modified the traditional recipe slightly by adding rock candy syrup in addition to the sugar.