Jazz Fest is great! You enjoy unbelievably good food in a festival setting; you hear the greatest music on the planet all day and all night long for two weekends in multiple venues; and you can enjoy just about any manner of fine crafts! Only in New Orleans …
And while we’re on the subject, how about spending a day with loads of your new best friends, kicking up dust and sitting on the ground? It is fun, and it’s an experience.
When the day is done and the music is still echoing in your mind, why not find an oasis with air conditioning, comfortable chairs and someone to serve you a refreshing and cold adult beverage? One of those oases is The Bombay Club, where Cheryl Charming (and she is) oversees the bar duties.
The Bombay Club is usually more closely associated with a fine martini, but Charming has developed the Cucumber Melon Collins in time for soothing a warm-weather, parched-throat thirst. Looking forward to savoring this drink after festin’ makes a day at the Fair Grounds that much better.
Cheryl Charming’s Cucumber Melon Collins
1 1/2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce melon liqueur
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
Sprite
Soda water
Cucumber slice garnish
Tall glass
Garnish: Using a vegetable peeler, slice the cucumber lengthwise to create a long, thin slice. Hold one end of the cucumber then slowly lower into the glass and rest against the inside of the glass. While holding the cucumber slice, fill the glass with ice with the other hand. The ice holds the slice in place.
Pour the gin, melon liqueur and lemon juice into a shaker tin and add 1/2-cup ice. Shake, then strain into the tall glass already filled with ice and the cucumber. Fill rest of glass with half Sprite and half soda water.
As served at The Bombay Club, 830 Conti St.
