First Mojito of the Season

I got home from work last Friday and decided that a mojito on my patio was the way to start the weekend. Usually during the summer months I can make a mojito happen anytime because I have the ingredients on hand. However, this being my first mojito of the season, I had a little bit of prep work to do.

I stopped at the store and bought some mint and some limes. The mint was like $2.69 for a small package. This was not good considering mint is an invasive plant that will take over your garden if you let it. I had to pull all of mine last year when standing in my garden in an already tipsy state, I realized I couldn't tell the difference between my cat nip, lemon balm, common weeds and mint. 

So this year I'm going to start a mojito container garden. I'll post about it later. It will basically contain mint since limes are pretty cheap and wouldn't grow well in Iowa.

Next I had to stop at the liquor store and get some rum. I have rum at home, but I like to use Malibu Coconut Rum for my mojitos and I don't usually have that on hand during the winter. Are you starting to see how I get obsessed with my drinks? I mean this was a beautiful Friday afternoon and in the time I'd wasted getting my ingredients I could have been home on the patio downing a couple of Old Styles.

I think traditionally a mojito contains cane juice. I'm going to try cane juice at some point this summer, but for now I planned to use simple syrup. Which, of course, I had to make. But like the name implies it's simple to make and I can use it to feed the hummingbirds too. I'll share my simple syrup tips and a great picture of my hummingbirds soon.

So I mixed it up and drank it down. I'm glad it took me a lot of time because if I'd have just headed straight home and started in on the beer, I would have been too drunk too fast. All the preparation was a great way to unwind after a long work week.