Bob's rum of love

Bob's rum of love
Originally uploaded by pwilnyc.

Cut up a whole pineapple and jam it into a big jar.

Split a vanilla bean and put it in too.

Also a piece of brown Mexican sugar (piloncillo) to the tune of about 2 Tablespoons.

Pour in as much rum (Wray and Nephew overproof is optimal, Myers dark is second choice, a mix is also good) as will fit.

Stick in the freezer for a couple weeks, or leave it at room temperature for half a day.

Strain through cheesecloth into a pitcher, garnish with lime.

Drink in moderation. Seriously. This stuff is so smooth that it will Mess You Up.

UPDATE: This picture has been getting a lot of conversation on Flickr.

• Q: "Doesn't the glass break?" A: No, the mixture doesn't freeze so there's no expansion.
• Q: "Is the pineapple edible?" A: Bob says the pineapple is wonderful when you start with a nice ripe fruit - he served it at the Church Council of Greater Seattle and apparently they were enraptured by the pineapple. When we did it the other day the pineapple was a little mushy, but Bob says it wasn't much of a pineapple to begin with.

In addition, Bob would like to disclose the fact that this recipe is adapted from one in the Coyote Cafe cookbook. He had one of the fanciest meals of his life there, in Santa Fe, accompanied by this drink, which they called a Brazilian Daiquiri.

I'm reading (listening to) Heat, the book by Bill Buford about his time in the kitchen at Mario Batali's Babbo. Maybe people shouldn't write about restaurants. As in Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain's funnier book about Les Halles, the kitchen staff come off as immature, griping, coked-up children who have somehow gotten ahold of sharp knives.

I loved Bill Buford as editor of Granta, but this book is half a biography of Batali, who kind of doesn't merit biographizing, and half an account of Buford's tutelage in food preparation. There's nothing really new here. And I tell you, it doesn't help that the guy who's reading it sounds like he should be narrating a documentary about Renaissance art. Every time he has to read a cussword it's like it's in verbal quotes.