Madly Deeply for MAD MEN

It's mid July and all I can think about is Season Two of MAD MEN which begins on July 27th . When I think of MAD MEN I think of drinking, clothes and the bad but oh so good Don Draper. Like the "real housewives" of the 1960's, when I have guests over I try to have a special drink , along with the usual beer and wine. One of my favorites for the summer is Fresh Pineapple and Rum Punch that I found in Bon Appetite in 2003. It's hard to have only one. But beware this punch can give you one if you're not careful.
Serves Six generously...

1 Very Ripe pineapple,peeled and cut into bite size pieces
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 cups gold rum
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbls fresh lime juice
ice
pineapple cubes for garnish

-Combine the ingredients in a large pitcher and mash it for awhile.Chill overnight
-Strain the mixture and transfer the leftovers to a food processor.Coarsely chop then strain again,pushing as much juice as you can out of the mixture with a spoon into a pitcher.
-Add more fresh pineapple and ice to the punch and serve- can be made 6 hours beforehand.
Serve in a martini glass, of course.

A fun drink for the kids(and also great for adults too if you add a bit of rum)and guess what- no fake coloring etc like you get when you make the frozen pink lemonade..

Homemade Pink Lemonade
6 cups water
1 cups sugar
2 or 3 cups fresh lemon juice
pint of strawberries

Put the 6 cups of water on the stove and add the sugar-let come to a boil and cool off. In the meantime cut up the berries and puree in the blender. Squeeze the lemons- about 12 or so.
Put all the ingredients together in a pitcher.

Don't forget to watch MAD MEN and if you haven't seen it yet- you are in for a treat- watch a repeat of Season One starting tomorrow on AMC at 10AM.Otherwise buy it from Itunes or rent it from Netflix or get it on demand.