Yo Ho Ho and All That

As I'm moving back to New York in a month, I've begun to whittle down my pantry, including my booze. While I never drink to the point of being drunk (and I don't drink at all if I'm driving), I do like to experiment with different flavors and try new things, all in the name of professional research, you understand. As a result, I've acquired a number of random bottles (and surprisingly good $2.99 Chilean wines from Trader Joe's... sigh... I love living near a Trader Joe's). I'm now working on using them up so I won't have to fret about packing or pitching them when I move. With that in mind, here's my favorite creation of late, followed by two more old friends (I don't know if these drinks exist outside my kitchen already and have "real" names, but here's what I call them):

The Pirate's Quenelle

12 oz. bottle of ginger beer, chilled (Target sells a surprisingly tasty one under the Archer Farms brand)
2 oz. Amaretto or more to taste
2 oz. dark rum (I prefer Gosling's Black Seal Black Rum) or more to taste (I'm in the "more to taste" camp for both liquors, but you've got to set your own limits)
1/4 lime, in wedges
Pineapple Sherbet
Squeeze lime juice into glass and toss in the wedges themselves. Pour in ginger beer and then the booze. Give it a twirl with a mixer or, if you're low-budget like me, a chopstick. Garnish with two quenelles of pineapple sherbet... quenelles are those fancy football-shaped scoops that you see in finer restaurants, and quite frankly, I suck at them. But I am practicing, and by adding a quenelle or two to this drink, you see, it suddenly becomes "work-related practice" rather than drinking rum on my own in my apartment, which, quite frankly, sounds a bit sad. Feel free to scoop your sherbet, or omit it altogether if you prefer.

The Bloody Good

3 parts blood orange juice (regular orange juice won't work, though to be honest I hate regular orange juice in general so I'm probably not the most objective judge of that)
2 parts Limoncello
1 part vodka
2 T fresh sage, crumbled - or chiffonaded, if you are a chiffonade maniac like I am
Mix liquids and 1 T sage in shaker with ice, strain into martini glass, strew rest of sage on top. Personally, I freakin' love this one, though in general I love anything with blood orange, Limoncello and/or sage.

The Swamp Thing

3 parts green juice such as Trader Juice's Green Plant or Odwalla's Green Machine... you know, the scary stuff that looks like grass gravy and contains things like wheat grass and spirulina.
2 parts Limoncello or Orangecello
1 part vodka (optional)
Mix in shaker with ice, strain into martini glass. It looks ghastly (great for Halloween) but tastes delish, especially if you like sweeter cocktails. If you like really sweet cocktails, omit the vodka. Garnish with a gummi worm if you're feeling kitschy.