It's Not the Holidays Without Coquito

Image via Goya, whose ingredients you’ll mostly be using for this tasty drink.

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As a Puerto Rican, it doesn’t feel like the holidays if I’m not snacking on turrón (a slab of almonds with a hard nougat holding it all together), having perníl (slow-roasted pork shoulder rubbed in seasoning) for Christmas Eve dinner, and drinking as many bottles of coquito (a sweet, creamy drink comparable to eggnog) as I dare.

Every Puerto Rican has their own recipe for coquito and will swear that every other recipe is incorrect/ridiculous. I’ve seen recipes that call for eggs (what?!) or orange liqueur (absolutely not), but why mess with my mom’s version when it’s better than the rest and sooo much easier to make?

Try your hand at her version below (with a few notes, specifically about measurements because she’s notoriously vague about amounts):

Susie’s Coquito

Ingredients

• 1 12oz. can of evaporated milk

• 1 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk

• 1 15 oz. can of cream of coconut (Coco Lopez is her brand of choice)

• A splash of vanilla extract (or 1/2 tsp, to be more exact)

• White Bacardi to taste (anywhere from 1/2 cup to 1 cup)

Directions

• Mix all the ingredients in a blender, starting with 1/2 cup rum. If you don’t feel 🥴 tipsy keep adding rum.

• Store in a glass bottle in the fridge and shake before serving.

Notes

My mom balked at any deviations from this recipe, though other people will add 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and a cinnamon stick. You’re welcome to try any of these, just don’t tell Susie cuz she doesn’t want to hear it.

Also, feel free to skip the rum if that’s not your thing. Coquito tastes delicious on its own, too.

A Sustainability Check-In

With the world coming alive again and Earth Day coming up on the 22nd, I’ve been thinking a lot about the environment and my role in it. I wanted to look more closely at my and my jewelry company’s environmental impact and realized that I could be doing a lot more than I currently am (and also, what have I been waiting for?)

I’d already been casting jewelry with recycled brass and silver as well as fairmined gold (fairmined is more about how we treat the people that mine the gold vs. its environmental impact, which still feels important). I’d also been using recycled paper whenever possible, including recyclable mailers and crinkle package filler made of mostly recycled papers.

…But that’s it. Embarrassing, right?

So I did some digging and asking around, picked up Christine Dhein’s “Eco Jewelry Handbook,” and started making some changes:

• Jewelry-making requires lots of chemicals and potions — I’ve begun replacing them with more earth-friendly alternatives that are easier to neutralize and dispose of. This is especially important to me considering I live in the Catskill Watershed, an area whose water feeds the reservoirs that then feed NYC and the surrounding areas; we have to be extra careful about what goes down our drains, into the soil, and into the water.

• Using EcoEnclose for as much of my packaging as possible, which includes fully recyclable postage stickers and mailers. Soon that will include packing tape and printed materials, too.

And in the next few months I’ll start:

• Planting a tree for every order placed with One Tree Planted starting this month. This organization has already planted over 40 million trees, working with partners all over the world including the U.S. Forest Service here in the US.

• Switching to bio-degradable zip bags — every piece of jewelry gets stored in its own bag, so many jewelers (like me) are drowning in them. Not knowing any better, I bought the regular ones in bulk a while ago but once I’m through my current stash I’m making the switch.

• Reducing the paper stuff that’s included in each order, like skipping envelopes and printed invoices (but keeping gift receipts).

Have you seen other companies doing awesome things for the environment that you think I should consider, too? I’ll readily admit that I’ve got a lot of room for growth, so if you’ve seen something please do share!

Egyptian Asps

Watching the incredibly glamorous and over-the-top Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, sparked something in my brain. The costumes! The culture! The love story! Though much of it was 1960s Hollywood applying its shiny veneer to history, I wanted to know more about this woman, Egypt’s final ruler, and all the stories we still tell about her.

Image credits, clockwise from top left: Snake rings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection; Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra; Snake bracelet from Phoenix Ancient Art’s collection; Detail of “Death of Cleopatra” by Francesco Cozza; Illustration from John Edwards Holbrook’s “North American Herpetology”

Most tragically, her final story is one of star-crossed lovers meeting their end. She and Marc Antony, co-ruler of the Roman empire back in 30 BC, fell in love and joined forces against Octavian, Rome’s other co-ruler and eventual emperor. When Octavian’s forces defeated Marc Antony’s in a civil war, she and Marc Antony made a pact to end their lives instead of submitting to a new ruler. Marc Antony acted first, and upon hearing the news Cleopatra locked herself in a tomb with her two maids, using an asp’s poisonous bite to end her life.

Painters, sculptors, and playwrights have depicted Cleopatra’s life, with asps prominently featured every time. These snakes are especially meaningful considering how important they were in ancient Egyptian culture, represented by the goddess Wadjet and symbolizing a pharaoh’s divine authority. Worn as talismans, they were said to grant protection and health. Snakes have been important in other cultures, too, featured in creation myths, symbolizing rebirth and new beginnings, and said to bring good luck.

Left: Asp Bangles and Asp Rings from our Egyptian Asps Collection; Right: Snake bracelet from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, photo by Kenneth Garrett

What started as an obsession with Cleopatra turned into an urge to make this ancient symbol into modern, wearable amulets. I hope you enjoy wearing these new versions from our mythically-inspired Egyptian Asps collection.

A new summer reading list

It’s heart-breakingly disappointing that it took a string of killings and nation-wide protests for many of us to get a glimpse at what it’s like to be black in America. I’ve been trying to be quiet and just listen — I mean, no one needs to hear my opinion about the Black Lives Matter protests. I haven’t lived the black experience, and amplifying the voices of those who actually have is more important.

A week ago my cousin sent me an article about “mirror books” (where you see characters like you in their pages) vs. “window books” (where you get to see into someone else’s world), and I realized I need a lot more window books in my life.

Here’s a list of books, both fiction and nonfiction, that I want to dive into, and if you feel like you’re in need of horizon-broadening, too, I hope you’ll join me:

a list to start:

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou

“Notes of a Native Son,” by James Baldwin

“How to Be An Antiracist,” by Ibram X. Kendi

“Sula,” by Toni Morrison

“Between the World and Me,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates

“Red at the Bone,” by Jacqueline Woodson

Have you read any books by black or minority authors that you’ve loved? Post them in the comments — I’d love to read and share them, and hopefully we can all become better, more understanding people in the process.

Stay safe, stay sane

Image by Sara Shakeel

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While so much is uncertain and we’re all feeling a little more anxious these days, here are some ideas for distracting ourselves and making good use of our time: 

1. Buy gift certificates to your favorite restaurants or small businesses; they’re struggling with low foot traffic even though you'd be there IRL spending money if you could.

2. Bake something from scratch or try a complicated dish for dinner — I recommend these thin mint cookies or this delicious eggplant parm.

3. Rearrange a bookshelf so that things feel new, making sure to highlight your favorite objects.

4. Give your jewelry a spring cleaning.

5. Make a list of movies to watch and get started; consider adding “The Eye Has to Travel” about Diana Vreeland or “Donkey Skin” starring Catherine Deneuve.

Good luck, you’ve got this!