They say if you die in a dream, you die in real life.
True? Meh.
But if you die of pleasure while drinking a morir soñando—the Dominican drink whose name translates as "to die dreaming"—don't say we didn't warn you.
The frothy, sweet orange concoction was first brought to our attention as one of Saveur magazine's heralded 100. Then we read the Hungry Cabbie's account of his adventures regarding same. As a local guy in possession of a car, he headed straight to the source, the Reben Luncheonette in Williamburg, Brooklyn, where he tasted the drink for the first time.
His verdict? "The flavor was so pleasing it made my shoulders slump and my eyelids droop shut."
We're taking that as a thumbs up. And the next time we're in Nueva Yorkito, you know where we're headed.
In the meantime, we're making morir soñandos at home. The basics: fresh-squeezed O.J., condensed milk, sugar, and vanilla syrup, all shaken with crushed ice. (Yeah, it's kind of like a Dominican Thai Iced O.J.) We've seen recipes that use lime juice or grapefruit instead of orange. Some peeps (not us) are into the low-fat milk instead of condensed. And lots of folks are against the vanilla syrup.
All of which to say: Play around a little. Make it your own. Shake it up and gulp it down. Wear a frothy orange moustache. Just don't morir while you're soñando—except metaphorically, of course.
And for those in search of a recipe, this
is para ti.