Ruby Red Champagne Punch — A Toast to Holi’s Colors (and the Baby Who Kicked)

Holi again — the festival of colors. Last year I ran through the temple parking lot with Raj, covered in pink and green, not thinking about anything except joy. This year I'm too pregnant to run (the baby is the size of a head of lettuce and my center of gravity has shifted to approximately Mars) but I went anyway. Raj and I stood at the edge of the celebration. Children ran through clouds of colored powder. Amma was at the food station again, handing out gujiya and thandai, covered in purple again, laughing again. The same scene as last year, almost exactly. Almost. I watched Amma more carefully this time. She was herself — social, commanding, in charge of the food the way a general is in charge of the troops. But twice I saw her pause — a hand hovering over the thandai pitcher, a momentary blankness before she resumed pouring. Microseconds. Nothing anyone else would notice. But I notice everything now. A child — someone's son, maybe four — ran up and threw pink powder at my belly. "For the baby!" he shouted. I laughed and the baby kicked and the pink powder settled on my kurta like a blessing. I made thandai at home — the saffron-almond-cardamom milk that is Holi's signature drink. Cold, creamy, fragrant. I added rose water this year, which is Pushpa's influence — Gujarati thandai includes rose where Tamil does not. The fusion is subtle but real. This is what my cooking is becoming: neither one thing nor the other. Both. The food journal is evolving. I've started including notes about how Amma was on the day I learned each recipe. Sharp. Present. Laughing about the time she burned rasam and the smoke alarm went off and Appa opened every window in February. These notes aren't recipes. They're timestamps. Evidence of when she was fully herself. Evidence. I'm building a case. A case for my mother's mind, documented in recipes and stories, filed in a leather journal that smells like new pages. Twenty-seven weeks. Third trimester starts next week. The home stretch, the final lap, the part where the kumquat becomes a baby becomes a person becomes my daughter. Pink powder on my kurta. Saffron in the milk. A mother who paused and then poured.

I made thandai for Raj and me that evening — but I’ve been thinking about what I’d serve if Amma and the whole family came over to celebrate properly, the way she used to host before things started to shift. This Ruby Red Champagne Punch is that drink: bright as the pink powder on my kurta, festive enough for a crowd, and so deeply colored it looks like Holi poured itself into a pitcher. I’m not drinking champagne right now, obviously, but a generous pour of sparkling water over my portion and it’s just as celebratory — and honestly, watching everyone else raise a glass while the baby kicked felt like its own kind of toast.

Ruby Red Champagne Punch

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 3 cups ruby red grapefruit juice, chilled
• 1 cup cranberry juice, chilled
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
• 2 tablespoons honey or simple syrup, to taste
• 1 bottle (750ml) dry champagne or prosecco, chilled
• 1 cup ginger ale or sparkling water, chilled
• 1 cup ice cubes or an ice ring
• Ruby red grapefruit slices and fresh mint, to garnish

Instructions

1. Mix the base. In a large punch bowl or pitcher, combine the ruby red grapefruit juice, cranberry juice, lime juice, and honey or simple syrup. Stir until the sweetener is fully dissolved. Taste and adjust sweetness.
2. Chill thoroughly. Refrigerate the juice mixture for at least 30 minutes before serving, or up to 4 hours ahead. The colder everything is, the better the bubbles will hold.
3. Add the bubbles. Just before serving, slowly pour in the chilled champagne and ginger ale (or sparkling water). Pour gently along the side of the bowl to preserve the carbonation.
4. Add ice and garnish. Add ice cubes or an ice ring to the punch bowl. Float thin grapefruit slices on top and tuck in a few sprigs of fresh mint.
5. Serve immediately. Ladle into glasses and serve right away while the punch is fully sparkling. For a non-alcoholic version, substitute the champagne with an equal amount of additional sparkling water or sparkling white grape juice.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 140 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 10mg