Living in Wine Country, we don’t see a lot of punch served at parties. Most of my friends don’t own a punch bowl set and neither did I until recently. We served lunch yesterday after my daughter’s First Communion. My friend Laura found this recipe on Epicurious and it’s a winner. She encouraged me to make punch because it’s easier than making individual drinks and less expensive too. Most punch is overly sweet and I was worried the guests would be quickly clamoring for a chardonnay, but this was an all around hit and like my mom said, “It’s got some kick!” I found sparkling wine at Safeway for $7.99 a bottle. It was Barefoot Bubbly Brut Cuvee. ?
We served fresh lemonade to the children.  By adding cherries to our punch cups we were able to easily differentiate the adult cups from the lemonade.
Orange Cooler
Rind from 2 oranges, cut into julienne strips
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups water
1 cup bourbon (I used Jim Beam bourbon)
Juice from 2 oranges, strained
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, strained
2 bottles chilled dry champagne (use sparkling instead)
Garnish: fresh cherries (now in season) and thin orange slices
In a stainless steel or enameled saucepan, combine orange rind, sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 5 minutes. Let the syrup cool and strain into a large bowl. Stir in bourbon, orange juice and lemon juice. Chill until cold. Transfer to a punch bowl set in a hollowed-out block of ice. Stir in champagne. Garnish the punch with cherries and orange slices. Gourmet August 1983