Horchata!!!!

I often find myself becoming obsessed with something. It can be a project, a food, a piece of fabric or people or stories...whatever. This week I was obsessed with horchata so I decided to make my own. The recipe I got from allrecipes.com. I didn't follow the recipe exactly and I think next time I make it, I will make more changes, but it was still really good and a fun drink to try.

For those of you who don't know what horchata is, it is a refreshing cinnamon flavored rice milk drink that is often served with mexican food. Apparently, it is often served at breakfast because it is considered to be great for a hangover, but I just read that online. I don't think I will ever need a cure for a hangover.

And now, for the recipe...

Lola's Horchata
1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
5 cups water
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Put rice and water in a blender and blend until the rice starts to break up (about one minute). Let sit for 3 hours (Because I did this step before going to church, mine sat for more like 5 hours and it was still tasty, also my blender was leaking with 5 cups of water so I scooped some of it out to blend the rice and then added it back in for the sitting time).

2. Strain rice and water into a pitcher, add other ingredients, stir, and refrigerate. Serve over ice.

Easy peasy and it was delicious. I made some chicken enchiladas to go with the drink and we all had a fun time (not really, Miles drank the horchata and decided he didn't want to eat any of the meal but just have more drink which made for a high strung, stressed out mother. Eventually, I got him to eat a few pieces of broccoli (he loves broccoli) and two bites of enchilada).

The one complaint I had a bout the drink was it left a huge amount of silt at the bottom of the glass (sugar and cinnamon) which bothers me terribly. I think next time I make it, I might take some of the strained rice water and heat it with the sugar to make a simple syrup, then add the milk and vanilla. I might also include a cinnamon stick in while making the simple syrup instead of using ground cinnamon.

Cooks...what are your thoughts? How would you remedy the problem of the silt?