HAPPY HOUR

How to stay up all night

October 2, 2009

Shauna Rempel

TORONTO STAR

Scotiabank Nuit Blanche is here once more. For those of you who have been snoozing, that's the "all-night contemporary art thing" that has taken over city streets for one night a year since 2007. Universally translated to "sleepless night," Nuit Blanche starts Saturday at 6:55 p.m. and goes until sunrise Sunday.

For those contemplating staying up the full 12-odd hours, good luck – many a reveller has tried and failed over the past three years that Nuit Blanche has been lighting up our city. With 130 projects in three zones around T.O., it's a lot of art packed into one night.

Organizers actually recommend an "early to bed, early to rise" approach. Go to bed at 7 p.m. and hit the streets at 3 a.m. for a completely different experience – the events will still be in full swing, but the crowds will have dissipated.

Extended TTC service ensures that you can get around easily, and extended hours at 30-plus city restos and bars in the zones ensure you will never go hungry or thirsty. Plus the Toronto à la Cart food stalls, along with independent vendors such as yummy Tiny Tom Donuts, will be out in full force.

Also helping you to stay wired: the folks from experimental cooking show Food Jammers are constructing a giant coffee snow cone-maker – out of a Ferris wheel. Head to University of Toronto's Hart House for a java snow cone shaved from frozen blocks of coffee circling round and round on a big wooden Ferris wheel.

We here at Happy Hour can't top that, but we can offer this alcoholic spin on coffee-flavoured ice. (The booze pretty much cancels out the caffeine, but it still beats the heck out of Red Bull.)

This week, something a little creative, a little artistic to sip before heading into the night in search of all those contemporary art happenings. We call it the Art Star.

Adapted from a recipe by Australian blogger Matt O’Donohue — a.k.a. Abstract Gourmet (abstract%gourmet.com) — who used espresso. Depending on the type of coffee used and strength of coffee flavour desired, you may want to add in a little Kahlua. Make sure the black, unsweetened coffee is room temperature when you pour it into the star-shaped ice cube tray. Novelty shaped trays are available at retailers such as Kitchen Stuff Plus and Ikea.

INGREDIENTS

sugar

1 frozen coffee cube

1/4 to 1/2 oz Cointreau

1/4 oz Kahlua (optional)

1 oz Baileys Original

1 oz milk

DIRECTIONS

Moisten rim of snifter or similar-shaped glass with water and dip into small plate covered in a thick layer of sugar. Carefully place ice cube in glass. Add Cointreau and Kahlua, then Baileys and milk. Swirl and sip. Makes 1 drink

Star-tested by Shauna Rempel

 

Toronto Star

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