A lovely friend invited me to a online girls’ night out, together while apart, by way of a virtual experience through Airbnb, Sangria & Secrets with Drag Queens, last night. This is a live experience in Lisbon, Portugal that went virtual with the Great Lockdown. Our group of six joined a total of about 30 people online, each of us in our own kitchen making our own batch of Portuguese Sangria.
We were sent a loose shopping list of ingredients a few weeks earlier, but having to substitute for unavailable items was taken into account. The must-have ingredients to make your sangria Portuguese-style seems to be cinnamon, lemons, fresh ginger, fresh mint, a lemon-lime soda such as 7-Up or Sprite, a citric alcoholic beverage such as Cointreau or Triple Sec, and vodka or other hard alcohol. You could use any type of wine or sparkling wine; club soda instead of Sprite; any kind of fruit (some types would be pureed in a blender before adding); any type of alcohol, etc.
I just had the suggested orange and apple to go with the lemons. Boring, but at least I didn’t have to get out the blender, along with everything else!
We were guided through the preparation of a sangria syrup made with water, brown sugar, ginger, and mint, and while that was simmering, we were entertained with sexual innuendo and musical numbers.
The resulting sangria was delicious. I shared it with my husband who was determined to stay off camera and avoid getting engaged in any off-color banter. We also got to try out our fun slide-whistle reusable straws, part of a recent cocktail-themed Mother’s Day gift!
Someone in the group was celebrating a birthday, so the three performers sang Happy Birthday in Portuguese and lit the candle on a virtual birthday cake for her.
Everyone enjoyed the evening, although, as with any virtual experience, the energy and spark that comes from having fun in a group seemed a bit forced sometimes, due to the slight lag inherent in most video calls and not being able to see everybody all at once the way you could if you looked around an actual room.
Many in the group were celebrating separately an occasion that they would have been celebrating together in person were it not for the G.L., so this was a fun choice for a virtual party, with no worries about driving home afterwards.
Check out a recipe for Portuguese Sangria from The International Kitchen here, and learn more about the Dragtaste experience here.
This article to open to all as part of The New York Times coronavirus coverage:
New York Times: I Spent a Weekend Bingeing Airbnb’s Virtual Experiences. Was It Worth It?
Happy Weekend Cooking!
Shared to Weekend Cooking, hosted by Marg @ The Intrepid Reader.