'ladies events': orange blossom special punch

thirsty thursday
notes from maggie's farm


When I was a little girl, it was always a great thrill to go to ladies events with my mother.  I'd have polished shoes and lacy white anklets and a perfectly starched dress, likely homemade, but never looking it.  My mother would comb my hair into taut doggy ears, with ne'er a hair out of place, and matching bows would be somehow cemented onto my scalp such that they wouldn't budge under threat of a typhoon.

I was lectured all the way there, to stay still, and silent, and ladylike. I was not to speak unless spoken to.  I should avoid acting too clever.  And I was not to overdo it on the punch.

Those who know me know that staying still, silent and ladylike were marching orders that I, much to the chagrin of my mother, was not born to follow.  Not speaking unless spoken to confounded me because I had so much to say.  Couldn't imagine what was meant by acting too clever, because how clever is too clever?  Is there such a thing?

But I kept my word.  I stayed (relatively) still, silent, ladylike, did not interrupt, and avoided clever at all cost.  I did this all so that I might have...
MORE PUNCH.  

Oh I loved the pretty crystal cups, the crisp linens, the best china, the petite silver spoons, the delicate cookies, the sugary pastel cake frosting, the salty goodness of mixed nuts, the magical melt-in-your-mouth buttermints.  But the love. of. my. life. was PUNCH.


Punch with sherbet, punch with ice rings, punch with little frozen grapes, punch with pineapple juice, punch with ginger ale, punch with lemon lime soda, punch with anything.  I loved, and still love, punch.


We had a gathering of some of my favorite women at our church last weekend, and I, delightfully, was in charge of breakfast. They thought it was because I was being generous.  But it wasn't.  It was because I don't get to play hostess for ladies events nearly enough!  We had green chile egg puff with lots of gooey cheese, little cocktail smoked sausages in jezebel sauce, mixed berries in honeyed vanilla dressing...and, naturally, the best part, PUNCH!

This is what I came up with:
Orange Blossom Special Punch


2 quarts freshly-squeezed orange juice
one litre sparkling white grape juice
one pint fat free half and half, all chilled.
1 tablespoon orange blossom water
1 tsp pure vanilla

Except I made four times that amount.  We drank about the quantity, above, along with coffee, for the women's breakfast of about twenty.  We drank the rest at home.  I cannot say whether it would be good with champagne, or perhaps vodka.  Because this is for church,  people!



What we drank at home shall remain undocumented.
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Join us tomorrow as we prepare to celebrate the Chinese New Year, on Freestyle Friday, Notes From Maggie's Farm.  See you then!

9 comments:

  1. Sounds divine. I won't be able to stay away from the punch either:) Thanks for sharing the recipe.

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  2. Thank YOU for visiting! (and it makes a great 'adult beverage', might I add, in a whisper.)

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  3. This evokes so many memories of attending countless showers and "ladies" events with my mom. Thank you for that! I shall have to try that punch. Maybe I will make it and my daughter and I can drink it from crystal and be as clever as we want to be!

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  4. My Mom use to take me all the time to her "Christian Woman's Club" meetings and she would give me the exact same "talkin too" Oh how hard it was for me to not be "clever" I swear I never meant to eat that many sugar cubes one time, they were just so pretty and well sugar in a cube come on. Anyway thanks for the memories, I too am a lover of punch my favorite was the lime island one from Betty Crocker.

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  5. S.S, I agree, be as clever as you want to be! And eat every last mixed nut in the bowl (which was another admonition--don't eat the last one of anything!)
    Kristina-Girl--Sugar Cubes! I love them, still. I have a sugarbowl full of them, even though I don't use them, and really don't have much company out here at the the farm that would use them, either. They make me smile, and, occasionally, make a goat smile, too. ; )

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  6. Oh bless your heart. I love this post and I love the flashbacks I've just experienced of "ladies events." Sheepish, I grinned, then felt a little weird. I wonder what I'm missing without them now? ~ Red Dirt Kelly

    http://www.reddirtchronicles.com/

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  7. Kelly, While I was writing it, I was thinking 'How come I'm not going to these anymore?'. I think my life has been a little out of synch with the normal processes, and I seemed to miss out when these showers and things were happening. I sure enjoy meeting with my Women's Group at church, and I think that's filling a need I didn't know I even had.
    Thanks for your comment--Margaret Christine

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  8. Hi! I came over to this lovely blog from your comment on the help forum about the current Blogger fiasco.

    This punch sounds delicious, and this post brought back so many memories for me! I'd love to see a return to such occasions, such little girls and such women!

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  9. Hello Jean! Thank you so much for visiting, and what a compliment that it coming from one with such a lovely blog, yourself! (as you can see, the comments section is quite a mess on my blog, and what's the deal with the apostrophe causing such an uproar?!? lol).
    I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who kind of misses those genteel occasions. I know I overstate the case, but seems like the only gettogethers these days among women tend toward drunken bachelorette bashes from Girls Gone Wild. Some of us still yearn for Women Staying Classy.

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