Recipe: Royal Hawaiian Mai Tai Punch

For awhile now I’ve wondered to myself if you could feasibly scale up a Mai Tai to punchbowl proportions. So for our annual Oscars party this year I gave it a whirl. I decided to use the Hawaiian Mai Tai as my basis, which is sweeter and fruitier than Trader Vic’s classic formulation, figuring that would be more appropriate for punch. I was very pleased with the result! It’s very easy drinking, with an intriguing balance of flavors.

ROYAL HAWAIIAN MAI TAI PUNCH

2 bottles of champagne or dry sparkling white
12 oz. pulp-free orange juice
12 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice
6 oz. fresh squeezed lime juice
2.5 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice
3 oz. orange curaçao
8 oz. orgeat
10 oz. Lemon Hart Demerara Rum
10 oz. Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Gold Rum
8 oz. white rum (such as Flor de Caña Extra Dry 4 Year)

The day before serving, freeze a large ice mold. 15 minutes before serving place the ice in a large punchbowl. Add all ingredients, saving champagne for last. Stir gently to combine. Serve in small glasses.

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3 things about Roger Spottiswoode’s TOMORROW NEVER DIES

Tomorrow Never Dies [1997]

1. “You always were a cunning linguist, James.”
2. The women with the enigmatic smile whose Hong Kong apartment their motorbike crashes through the roof of.
3. Carver gets carved.

You’ve gotta have a soft spot for any movie where Ricky Jay plays an evil computer genius. 3 other things.

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3 things about Bing Liu’s MINDING THE GAP

Minding the Gap [2018]

1. He won’t stop until the skateboard is really and truly wrecked.
2. “You can’t beat up women, but … sometimes a bitch needs to get slapped.”
3. Bing says, “Cut.” And moves his head slightly. And his head is mostly out of the frame. But we can still see his right eye. The expression in that eye.

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3 things about Robert Altman’s QUINTET

Quintet [1979]

1. “It doesn’t transmit. The information’s still there.”
2. She lifts her arm from the fire, looks down with some curiosity at her own smoldering hand.
3. Light fixture melting the ice.

3 other things.

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3 things about Craig Gillespie’s I, TONYA

I, Tonya [2017]

1. Smoking on the ice.
2. “I made her peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”
3. A headbutt to the glass door.

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3 things about Todd Haynes’ WONDERSTRUCK

Wonderstruck [2017]

1. The only time I believe I’ve ever heard Robert Fripp on a film’s soundtrack.
2. James A Michener on display in the bookstore.
3. F-R-I-E-N-D.

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3 things about Jean-Luc Godard’s THE IMAGE BOOK

The Image Book [2018]

1. “Brecht said in reality only a fragment carries the mark of authenticity.”
2. Joan interrupted.
3. Phlegmy cough in surround sound.

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3 things about Alfred Hitchcock’s FRENZY

Frenzy [1972]

1. Potato cunnilingus.
2. The way she pronounces it “tuh-quil-uh.”
3. Beating a dead corpse.

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3 things about Roger Corman’s HOUSE OF USHER

House of Usher [1960]

1. Blonde Vincent Price.
2. “Still here? I suggest you leave, Mr. Winthrop. No? Then perish with us.”
3. Those paintings!

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3 things about Edgar G. Ulmer’s THE STRANGE WOMAN

The Strange Woman [1946]

1. She seductively shows off the bruises from her father’s beating.
2. “But … the rain. You know what happens to the roads in the rain.”
“Yes. They get very muddy, but they don’t change the direction.”
3. Smorgasbord of weird sideburns.

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