Feeling cornered by a pack of yapping hyenas? The moment you decide to bite back is cause enough for celebration with Caipirinhas, pleasant reminders that you're still master of your life.

Invite a large group of friends for a sunny afternoon beach or backyard gathering. In keeping with the Caipirinha's heritage, cachaça, soccer, and a lottery - the principal passions of the Brazilian people - should be part of the party.

Be warned, though, this gathering requires plenty of preparation by the host. If you're trying to forget about life's little annoyances, several hours in the kitchen the night before might be just what you need to clear your head.

The cause for such longsome KP duty has to do with Caipirinha and cachaça tradition. As most Brazilians would say, don't have either the spirit or the drink without their national dish of celebration, feijoada (pronounced "fay-zhwah-dah"), which is as beloved and entrenched in Brazil as turkey dinner with all the trimmings is in the United States.

Like the Caipirinha, the feijoada began as a peasant concoction that managed to rise above its disreputable past. With roots in Portuguese and African cooking, the feijoada originated during the 16th century with Afro-South American cooks preparing what had been a traditional northeastern Portuguese bean stew with pork. Adding their own spices and leftover meat from the wealthy, they created a very different dish that customarily includes a pig's foot and ear. We suggest ditching these meats, though. Pig's ear, after all, is nearly impossible to find. Besides, Valmor Neto, owner of Bahia Cabana and instructor at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, has concocted a feijoada that maintains its Brazilian heritage while appealing to guests turned off by hooves.

Aside from the food fixings, you'll need to gather plenty of limes and fresh fruit juice and small fruit slices for garnishes. The Caipirinha, however, relies on entire limes, so you'll need to locate attractive, medium-sized fruit with even coloring and thin skins. Of course, wash all fruit before drink preparation.

Although we always advocate rolling citrus fruits [350 KB .mov] before slicing, it's crucial for Caipirinhas to extract the aromatic oils from the limes' skin. After rolling a lime, cut it into quarters. Place the lime pieces in the bottom of a chilled tumbler, pulp-side up. Pour the simple syrup over the lime and muddle for a minute or two. Next, add ice and stir. Then toss in the cachaça and stir again. If the lime quarters aren't pulp-side up, or if you miss pouring the sugar on top of the fruit, the drink will initially be too bitter and then too sweet, as the imbiber hits the stagnated simple syrup at the glass's bottom.

You may want to recruit a bar back, or helper, for this party. Although simple to make, Caipirinhas can be mixed only one at a time because of the muddling. Fortunately for your guests, this gives the host an opportunity to tailor each drink to each imbiber. For instance, drinkers unaccustomed to sipping a fiery 80-proof distillate may prefer less cachaça and more lime.

A true Caipirinha uses only limes, but other fruits mix well with cachaça. In fact, depending on the crowd, you may want to offer a variety of fruits. If mixing with passion fruit, replace the lime with the pulp of 1 1/2 passion fruits. With pineapple, replace the lime with a slice of fresh pineapple - not canned - diced with the center removed; add half a lemon if pineapple is too sweet for a guest's tastes. Oranges, grapes, and guava are other fruit alternatives.

Because cachaça may prove more difficult to obtain than a pig's ear, you can substitute vodka or rum for it to create a Caipiroshka and a Caipirissima, respectively. Such drinks lack a true Caipirinha's spunk, though they're technically just as hard-hitting. Supply plenty of water and snacks, especially if your guests will be playing soccer.

For those guests happiest to relax in a lawn chair, serenade them with sounds of Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, or Maria Bethania. Even if you can't transport them to the sandy beaches of Ipanema - let alone deliver the girl (or suitable substitute) - the Caipirinhas, feijoada, and an afternoon with friends may be enough to keep the dogs of life at bay.

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