Boozy Berries

Boozy Cranberries covered in sugar and drying out a bit.

I haven’t decorated for the holidays yet, but I’m ready to decorate my drinks with boozy cranberries.

Here’s how I made them:

You’ll need:

1 package cranberries

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

1/3 cup Triple Sec (Grand Marnier or Contreau if you’re rich)

Dusting sugar

Rinse cranberries. Heat sugar and water until just boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in Triple Sec. Stir in cranberries. Let this mixture sit overnight or for at least 8 hours.

Drain the cranberries. I saved the pinkish sugar water to use to use as simple syrup. Place the cranberries on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with the dusting sugar. Dusting sugar is not powdered sugar—it’s a fine sugar that sticks well to the cranberries. My dusting sugar is tinted pink ‘cause I’m fancy like that. Let the covered cranberries dry for at least an hour before putting them in a container. 

Longest Night

Because it is the longest night and because I believe in the old adage feed a fever, get a cold drunk, tonight I'm drinking hot buttered rum.

I make this by the glass. Put one tablespoon butter, one tablespoon brown sugar and the juice of half a lemon in a mug. Add 2 ounces of dark rum--I use Meyers. Fill the glass with boiling water.

Ginger Deer

Today I made homemade ginger beer and served it in a reindeer glass. During one minute of exhaustive internet research I learned that currently there is no difference between ginger ale and ginger beer. Both are non-alcoholic soft drinks made with a combination of ginger, sugar and club soda. I wanted something to drink out of my reindeer glasses, so because beer rhymes with deer, I'm calling my version ginger beer.

Just an aside to say one of my favorite things about Christmas is drinking out of my reindeer glasses. Aren't they great?

This is how I made ginger beer syrup:

• I took a six inch long piece of ginger and washed it off.
• I ran it through my juicer.
• I added the juice and all the shredded ginger left in the juicer's waste bin to two cups of boiling water.
• I added a half cup of blue agave syrup to the mix.
• I let it simmer for 10 minutes or so, stirring often.
• I strained it into a cute little bottle.

This is how you should make it:

• Chop ginger up in a food processor if you don't have a juicer. Or just chop it up if you don't have either.
• Add chopped ginger to two cups of boiling water.
• Add one cup of sugar to the mix. What was I thinking using agave syrup? Agave syrup is for health nut pussies. It also gave my ginger beer syrup a kind of malty taste. I don't mind it, but sugar would be better.
• Let it simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. I'm impatient and could only hold out for 10 minutes.
• Strain it into whatever container you can find. You may not have the foresight to save old bottles like I did.

For the drink pictured:

• Add one tablespoon of ginger beer syrup to a reindeer glass full of ice. You can use other glasses, but it won't taste as Christmasy.
• Add club soda, or sparkling water to fill the glass. I used San Pellegrino.
• Taste and add more soda or syrup until you're happy with it.

Drink up. Ginger is good for you.

The Salty Dog

I’m inspired by my friends. They are talented and witty and going places. Trying to keep up with them instead of--I'll just admit it--being jealous of them, drives me to drink.

My most recent inspiration came from @sewzinski. Not only is she an incredible artist (check out her shop on Etsy), now she’s trying to get all healthy. When she mentioned how she was eating grapefruit to infuse her body with grapefruity goodness, I was inspired to make a Salty Dog.

Here’s a little lesson on the Salty Dog:

Vodka mixed with grapefruit juice is known as a Greyhound. I don’t know why. If you add salt to the rim of the glass, the Greyhound becomes a Salty Dog. When I really want to annoy the bartender at The Filling Station (bar in Des Moines with fresh squeezed juice drinks), I order a Screwhound. A Screwhound is vodka, orange juice, and grapefruit juice.

I made the Salty Dog pictured by juicing two ruby red grapefruit and adding some Tito’s vodka. I mixed salt and pink sanding sugar to rim the glass. I garnished with a zest of grapefruit. I feel healthier just drinking it.

Warning: I’ve read that grapefruit has some interaction with anti-depressants and makes it so they don’t work. But who needs anti-depressants when you have grapefruit juice and vodka?

Soothsayer

I have found my drink for fall. I stole it directly from Shar on The Spirit. Normally I use drink recipes as a jumping off point. I assume I know what I will like better than the mixologists or whatever they call themselves. I usually change the name of the cocktail because, again, I know better.

But when I read about the Soothsayer, a drink with bourbon, maple syrup, lemon, sage and St. Elizabeth's All Spice Dram, I couldn't think of a thing I wanted to change. Well, except this called for Basil Hayden Bourbon, which sounds great, but I didn't have a bottle on hand. I substituted with Templeton Rye.

Oddly enough, I did have a bottle of St. Elizabeth's All Spice Dram. I saw it at the liquor store and thought, "I like spices; I like the word 'dram'; I like being frivolous with my limited funds." And so it was mine.

Soothsayer means prognosticator. You probably already knew that--I didn't. Soothsayer sounds soothing and mystical--both qualities of this drink. Prognosticator sounds like something you'd have to take your pants off for at the doctor's office. So, the name Soothsayer stays. I foresee a lot more of these in my future.

Boozy Banana Bread

I find myself in a wonderful temporary situation where I have been laid off, but because of a severance package I'm getting paid until sometime in late spring. I'd go into more detail, but I fear angering the corporate gods and losing this windfall.

So now is the time I should be doing all sorts of things I've always wanted to do if only I didn't have to work. I'd like to bake. I'd like to drink in the mornings. I'd like to visit friends for "coffee."

This morning's Boozy Banana Bread project will allow me to do all three of those things. This Roast Banana-Pumpkin Breakfast Bread recipe from 101 Cookbooks has always been my favorite banana bread recipe. Probably because of the rum raisins. You can go to her site for the recipe, but I have a few thoughts after the ingredient picture on how to make this Glass Half Full style:

Let's start with the bananas: Banana bread is a perfect recipe for people like me because it makes use of bananas that are past their prime. Letting the bananas get overly ripe is actually a good thing for banana bread. I had four bananas and the other two are going in the freezer for when I make this bread again. It's really gross how black they turn in the freezer, but it makes good banana bread. It also means you can have the ingredients on hand so you can make this on days you don't want to leave the house. Now that I don't have to work, I find I can go days without leaving the house.

Coconut Milk: Not much to say about this except when you open the can you'll find some thick white stuff and some watery stuff in there. I try to get a mixture of both in my half cup.

Pumpkin Seeds: I have made this without pumpkin seeds and it tasted pretty much the same. I had pumpkin seeds on hand, so I used them. I toasted them in the toaster oven for two minutes while the bananas were baking.

Raisins: The recipe calls for golden raisins. I'm sure brown would work, but it might look like you have little black things floating around in your bread. The golden raisins look really pretty in the finished product. And you're going to all this trouble, so do it right.

Rum: This being a blog dedicated to drinking, I have a lot to say about the rum. I use Myers's Original Dark Rum for all my rum baking needs. I also like to drink it with tonic water and lime on hot days, but that's a post for another time. This recipe tells you to boil the raisins in a half cup of rum and then let them soak for an hour. I usually use a little more rum. I'm always tempted to cut the soaking time short, but I don't do it because an hour is about how long it takes for the raisins to soak up all that rum. It also smells really good.

The recipe says to discard the rum that's left when you strain the raisins--not going to happen. I drink that rum or save it to pour over my bread if I accidently over cook it. Sometimes the day after I've made this bread, I'll use the leftover bread and make French toast with it. The leftover rum works well mixed in with the maple syrup. Have I made my point yet? Don't pour out the raisin rum.

The picture below shows my finished product. One to take to a friend and one to use for French toast tomorrow.

Before I go I'd like to say a little bit about the fact that this friend has children and I'm heading over there with rum-loaded banana bread. What if the children ask for a piece of the banana bread? You could reason that there probably isn't any alcohol left in the raisins because they were boiled and baked. Being a little tipsy from drinking my leftover raisin-soaked rum, I tend to disagree.

I like children to like me. Therefore, I don't want to be known as "Mommy's creepy friend who smells funny and tries to make me eat icky fruit bread." I'm stopping at a shop on the way over and picking them up some candy bars.

Happy New Year!

During the holiday season I like to drink Southern Comfort Punch. It is actually called "Holiday Punch" in the Southern Comfort pamphlet I have from 1974 (real date of pamphlet may not be 1974, but it has a 1974 feel to it and me and my family have been drinking this for a long time, so you get the idea).

I made it at least three times in December for various events I held in my home. Some of those events were as simple as me decorating the Christmas tree. My family drank it on Christmas Eve, like we do every year. I think drinking this mixture at other times of the year would ruin the special holiday magic it holds for me.

So, since the new year is fast approaching, get started mixing up your batch now or wait until after Thanksgiving 2011. Directions after ingredient picture below:

1. Get punch bowl.
2. Add one container of frozen orange juice (any brand will do). It can still be slightly frozen because I think that makes the punch colder and it will thaw eventually.
3. Add one container of Minute Maid Limeade. I always use Minute Maid Limeade because it just tastes better.
4. Add some Cranberry Juice Cocktail--classic Ocean Spray works best. Don't use real cranberry juice. This is no time to try to be healthy. I like the punch to have a pinkish orange color, so I add enough cranberry juice to achieve that look.
5. Add Southern Comfort. Use your judgement here. No matter how much you add, it will pretty much taste the same. So you decide how drunk you want people to end up and how much of your precious alcohol you want to use. Southern Comfort is relatively cheap and I like people to have a good time, so I add a lot.
6. Add a bunch of ice or an ice ring. You've made this pretty strong and the juices are pretty sweet, so it can handle a lot of melting ice without losing any of the flavor.
7. Add a can or two of 7-Up before serving. The fizz makes it good, that's why I add it as close to guest arrival time as possible.

They say what you are doing on the first day of the new year will pretty much predict how that year will go for you. So what better symbolism for the year to come than the abundance of a bowl of punch shared with people you love. Wishing you joy and abundance in 2011!

The Small Glass Approach

Saturdays have a way of slipping away too quickly or should I say "sipping" away? I probably shouldn't say "sipping away" because that's just the sort of stupid pun-ridden writing that would make someone like me stop reading this blog, and I want people like me to read this blog. So, forgive me for that and stick with this a bit longer.

I woke up at 7:30 this morning to go sit in my favorite chair surrounded by coffee, books, magazines, laptop, iTunes and big plans.

One hour in, on an innocent trip to the refrigerator to get a glass of juice, I noticed I had a bottle of Lindeman's Kriek (cherry) Lambic.

I was ready to take the bottle back to the little area of heaven I'd carved out for myself in the front room, when I realized it was a defining moment in my day. If I took the whole bottle with me, I'd sit there and drink the whole bottle. Then I'd be kind of lit up and the productive day I had planned would instead be a day spent indulging my basest drunken whims. Just so you know, I'm not against indulging my basest drunken whims, it's just that none of my basest drunken whims have ever resulted in a clean house.

Anyway, I decided to try the Small Glass Approach. The Small Glass Approach, or SGA, is an approach developed by me, in my kitchen, about two hours ago. The thought is that if I fill a small glass with cherry lambic goodness and take it to the living room with me, I will at least need to get up to get more, at which time I can reassess my situation. Do I really want to drink more? Do I really want to sit down again or is it time to get going?

To find the answer to those questions, please see picture of empty bottle of kriek lambic above sitting next to the smallish glass. I went to the Lindamen's web site to learn a little more about this stuff:

• It also comes in pomme (apple), framboise (raspberry), cassis (black currents), and peche (peach).
• I've tried them all and kriek (cherry) is my favorite.
• I served it in a smallish glass but it should typically be served in a tall pretty glass.
• It's got a pretty low alcohol content.

So, maybe I'll be able to get this house cleaned up after all. . . or, I could go buy another bottle and then hire a housekeeper on a drunken whim. Have a great Saturday.

Alpine Swag

Today was a foggy dreary day. I decided to stop in at the Alpine Tap Room after work for a drink or five.

I was drinking Old Style from a can and talking about the Cubs with Gunner, Larry and Dean when the Coors Light truck arrived. Dean asked Matt the beer guy if he had anything for us. And young Matt came through big.

He brought us three bottles of the new flavors of Mike's Hard Lemonade. The new margarita line includes peach, classic margarita, and raspberry flavors. He also brought us Miller High Life koozies, Miller Light rings that light up, and Coors Light/bottle opener key chains. It was like getting a swag bag as a presenter at the Alcoholic Academy Awards.

We taste tested the Mike's. I felt the peach flavor had a body odor aftertaste. Dean dumped the peach out. Larry hated it, so he drank it first to get it out of the way.

We liked the margarita flavor just fine, but the raspberry was our favorite. It reminded Larry of Sun Country Wine Coolers. I thought it tasted like Zotz candy. Other than the fact that it was free, the best part of drinking sugary malt liquor drinks in the afternoon was it made me feel like spring is finally here.

To summarize, stopping for drinks after work is always a good idea; asking the beer guy for free stuff is always a good idea. Oh, and I'm back.

Punch Drunk Love

My husband and I are celebrating our five-year wedding anniversary this week. Anniversaries are a great excuse to buy champagne and drink out of fancy glasses. 

Since we were camping on our actual anniversary, I didn't serve our Sofia Blanc de Blancs out of the awesome Waterford toasting glasses my friend Amy bought us as a wedding gift, but rather we had it in IKEA champagne flutes with our breakfast of campfire-cooked eggs and bacon. 

We toasted and drank our first sip straight and then added some orange juice and drank the rest as mimosas. My husband is a gentleman who let me have most of the champagne. Later that morning when his drunk bride fell in the lake after stepping into the canoe like it was the most stable conveyance ever, he made sure he asked if I was okay before he burst out laughing.

Now that we are back home I decided to mix up a batch of the punch I created for our wedding reception. I think weddings and celebrations of any sort are a good reason to create a signature drink that in some way captures the essence of the event. Our wedding color was green like Midori Liqueur. Therefore, I used Midori to create this punch:

Midori Wedding Punch:

• 1 can Minute Maid Frozen Limeade
  
• 3 of the limeade can of water
  
• 1 can Dole Pineapple Juice
  
• 1/2 liter of 7-up
  
• Enough Midori Melon Liqueur to give it a great green color
  
• Frozen honeydew melon balls and or ice ring made with limeade

Hoisting a Brownie with the Driscolls

Ever since I posted about liquor sales so far this year in Iowa, I've been curious about who in Iowa is drinking all the Black Velvet and Dr. Mcgillicuddy's Cherry Schnapps. Well, on a trip to my husband's hometown for his class reunion last weekend, I found out, and the answer surprised me.

My husband grew up in what, to me, seems like the ideal small town. The kind where the neighbors are good friends he's known all his life. I arrive in town and notice Bob and Linda Driscoll are hanging out on their porch. I've heard that their summer drink of choice is a drink they call the Brownie. I headed across the street to catch up and find out just what this drink was all about. 

They have new comfy patio furniture and a plaque on their patio with a picture of a margarita on it and the inscription "Hoist--The Driscolls."  "Hoist" is what the Driscolls say when it's time for a drink. When I told them I wanted to try a Brownie, Bob headed inside to freshen Linda's drink and make one for me. 

Bob came back with a mug of Black Velvet Whiskey mixed with unsweetened iced tea. It was very refreshing and very strong. I was feeling tipsy and talkative after just one glass, so of course I asked for another. This isn't my favorite iced tea-themed drink of the season, but I liked it, and I liked the company.

However, it was getting late. It was time for me to walk down to the town's bar, The Sundown, where my husband's band was playing. After a few songs and a few beers, I was feeling pretty good. I asked the bartender for a round of his most popular shot for me and the band. He made Cherry Bombs. Turns out Cherry Bombs are a tasty mixture of Red Bull and, you guessed it, Dr. Mcgillicuddy's Cherry Schnapps. 

When I woke the next morning with a terrible headache, I realized that, at least for that weekend, the person in Iowa drinking all the Black Velvet and cherry schnapps was me. Headache aside, I recommend both of these concoctions. As the Driscolls would say, "Hoist!"

Betty's Bar Guide

It was my mom Betty's birthday last week. So much of what I've shared with you and want to share with you I've learned from her. But since she's no longer with us, and all my attempts to share fun mom stories seem to come across as morbid to other people, I've held back. 

However, her birthday reminded me of a great gift she gave me one year. She found the Bar Guide in this picture at a junk store. Before the Bar Guide gift I'd often been disappointed with gifts from mom. But I was thrilled beyond words with this Bar Guide and just kept spinning the knob and reading off the recipes for crazy old-timey drink after crazy old-timey drink. There are 80 in all. My mom said, "I finally figured out that I can just buy you alcohol and old junk for gifts and you'll be happy." So true.

From time-to-time I will share a recipe from the Bar Guide with you. But be warned, they almost all involve raw eggs, and you need to know about things like jiggers. The definition I found for jigger is a measure of one drink of liquor.  Since most drinks call for two jiggers, a jigger glass is like the metal one shown above with the smaller side measuring one jigger and the larger measuring two jiggers. You could always just use a shot glass because it's pretty much the same thing.

Since Gin and Tonic was my mother's little helper of choice, I dialed in number 39 on the Bar Guide. Here's what it says: Place 3 ice cubes into tall highball glass. Add 2 jiggers Gin. Crush 1/2 slice lemon. Fill with Tonic Water. My mom used lime instead of lemon. I think she also used more than two jiggers of gin, but you can't blame her when she was stuck with a kid like me.

Take the Peach Tea Plunge

Back when I posted about My Kind of Arnold Palmer (re-named the Laura Palmer by clever friends), I said that drinking Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Vodka with lemonade was pretty much the only way I'd drink the stuff. 

Well, I was wrong. I stopped by a small town diner for lunch yesterday. I ordered the special peach tea that was "back by popular demand." It's the picture at right in the Coca-Cola glass. Notice how they added an actual peach slice to the tea? I thought that was a nice touch. 

Today an idea started to take shape in my head; I could make this at home, and I could make it into an adult beverage. So tonight I created the Peach Tea Plunge.

I know, I know, the name is not that great, but the drink is incredible. Here's how I did it:

• Mix up one packet of Crystal Light Peach Tea according to the instructions.
• Pour four cups of the tea in a pitcher.
• Add two shots of Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea Vodka
• Add one shot of DeKuyper Peach Schnapps
• Add ice and frozen peaches
• Mix it, taste it, and add more of whatever you think it needs.
• Serve in glass with more ice and frozen peaches.

This is my new go to drink of the summer. I bet you'll like it too. And if you can think of a better name for it, let me know by commenting here.

Sex and the City

Almost every time I sit down at my laptop to write a post, I get this weird feeling that I'm Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City. It's not because I'm wearing a cute little outfit; in fact, I'm writing this in late July and yet I'm wearing my flannel halloween-themed pajama bottoms with a big grey t-shirt. It's not that you'd ever classify me as a "Carrie" in real life. I think I have the unlikely Charlotte/Miranda combo going on, in that I have longish dark hair, a big butt, and yet I'm pushy and kind of mannish. No, it's because I always want to write Carriesque sentences like the following:

I couldn't help but wonder, if real ladies drink Cosmopolitans, are the rest of us just whiskey bent and hell bound?

Now that I've gone down this path, please indulge me. I'm just going to admit that I loved SATC back in the day. I actually remember watching it at home one Sunday night (probably while wearing the same halloween flannels) and then getting dressed up in my best black cocktail dress and heading to GT (Des Moines drinking establishment) by myself. I ordered a Cosmopolitan, and when my friendly bartender Mike asked me why I was so dressed up, I lied and said I'd just come from a party.

It was fun to play girly girl during the three minutes it took me to down that Cosmo, but then Mike and I got to talking about the silly girls who think they are drinking martinis when they are really just drinking a vodka and cranberry juice in a fussy glass.

Though Sex and the City tried to be edgy and real, I think they missed the mark as far as real women and alcohol go. I'm not going to re-watch the old episodes just so I can give you specific examples. You'll have to trust me on this. 

I think real women sometimes like to drink a girly drink, but they also like to drink beer and whiskey and whatever is left in the cooler at the end of a long night. Cue music as I head to the refrigerator to get a Miller High Life. . .after all, it is the champagne of beers.

Finally, I'm not at all about people who put down SJP, but I will likely never get a better chance to share one of my favorite drinking-related jokes: Sarah Jessica Parker walks into a bar and the bartender says, "Hey, why the long face?" I think it is safe to say that I'm whiskey bent and hell bound.

Texas Mule

The Moscow Mule is one of my favorite summer drinks. I've been drinking them for years at The Alpine Tap Room. 

Moscow Mules are made with vodka, ginger beer and citrus fruit. They are usually served in copper mugs because they are colder and better that way.

When you order a Moscow Mule at the Alpine, Frankie, Dean or Jimmy will ask for your drivers license so that you won't be tempted to steal the mug. That is unless you are a regular, like me. My new favorite game at the Alpine is to wait until someone orders a Moscow Mule and forks over a drivers license. Then I walk up right in front of this person and ask for a Mule and watch the person's expression as it is handed right to me, no questions asked. 

Once again, I will be telling you people things you already know, but the reason they are called Moscow Mules is because of the vodka, which is typically Russian. I'm not sure, but I think the "mule" part of the moniker comes from the fact that if you drink too many of these, you'll feel like you've been kicked in the head by one.

When I drink these at home, I use Tito's Vodka. Way back on my post about the Lavender Zinski, I mentioned Tito's Vodka and promised to tell you more at a later time. Well, now is that time. Tito's Vodka (I'm hoping if I write it three times it will magically appear in my liquor cabinet) is "handcrafted" in Austin, TX. They tell you all about it on their web site. You can also get a free belt buckle and a certificate stating you are an official Tito's Taster.

Tito's is so good. It doesn't have that vodka burn. It makes me dreamy and nice, where other vodkas tend to make me angry and mean. Plus, it doesn't cost that much.

The drink pictured above is a Texas Mule because I made it with Tito's and Bundaberg Ginger Beer. I think the picture has a happy, hazy feeling representing how I feel when I drink these. It is served in one of my very own copper mugs. I didn't steal the mug from the Alpine, but I could have, because they never ask for my driver's license.

Stop Whining About Iowa Wine

I'm not one to make a lot of resolutions at the beginning of the year. I definitely couldn't make one every week like my friends at Fifty2 Resolutions. 

However, this spring I found myself at the Farmer's Market in Des Moines, Iowa trying to buy everything for a perfect local meal. I had the organic chicken from the county where I grew up. I had asparagus. I had rhubarb. When I found myself thinking I couldn't stoop so low as to buy Iowa wine, I checked myself and decided then and there that this summer I would give wines made in Iowa a chance.

Since that time I've tried the two Iowa wines shown above. I know that trying two bottles isn't really what you'd call giving Iowa wine a chance, but mainly it's because at $12 a bottle (it seems like they've banded together and decided that's the going rate), it is a little more than I'm used to spending. But you know, I paid a little more for that chicken, and I was okay with that because it was supporting someone in my state. It's the same with Iowa wine--the people making this stuff are our friends and neighbors; they need to make a living.

So back to the wines. . .The Jasper Winery Front Porch wine was a lot too sweet for me. Luckily, I had a friend who likes her wine on the sweeter side help me drink it. It was good in small amounts, and fun to drink. Also, I'm just going to go ahead and admit that I thought the red bottle was pretty.

I used the bottle of Francesca's Folly from Covered Bridges Winery to make sangria. It was an easy-drinking Rose' perfect for a summer afternoon, just like they described it in the brochure. However, that's not the whole story behind this wine adventure.

The guy who sold it to me was really nice and said that while they only had white wines right now, they hoped to have a drier red wine ready soon. So I gave the guy a $20 and walked off with my bottle. Two days later I get an email that said, "This is going to be a totally off the wall question, but did you stop by Covered Bridges Winery’s booth at the WDM Farmers Market last night and buy a bottle of wine?"  I'd walked away without getting my change, and he tracked me down so he could get my money back to me.

As I was arranging to get my money back, I told him about Glass Half Full and how I'd made a sort of resolution to stop whining about Iowa Wines. He said, "Those of us in the Iowa wine business appreciate spreading the word about Iowa wines.  There are still a lot of lingering memories of sickly sweet fruit wines that are made in Iowa. We are working very hard to overcome the quality perception. Hopefully some of what you tasted last night will help that cause."

You know what? What I tasted did help that cause. The other thing that's helped the cause is the fact that all of these Iowa vintners are so darn nice, it can't help but make their wines taste a little sweet. . . uh, I mean, better.

I'll leave you with a recipe Kevin sent me, along with my $8 change, for Sangria, the Covered Bridges Winery way:

• 1 bottle Francesca’s Folly
  
• 1 can ginger ale
  
• 1 cup pomegranate or cranberry juice
  
• 4 cups of fresh fruit (frozen will work, too) Pineapple, peaches, oranges, lime, apples, pears, kiwi.  Just about anything works except banana.
• Mix all of the above and serve over ice. Alternative – Use 1 bottle Edelweiss wine and increase the amount of juice to get a nice color.

Not Just for the Boys: Beer in the Shower

After working outside or just being outside on a hot summer day, when you are getting ready to go someplace in the late afternoon that you may not really want to go to, or in the morning before work (just kidding), there is nothing like taking a cold can of beer in the shower with you.

You don't even have to remember to take it into the shower with you. If my man finds himself in the shower without a beer, it's okay for him to holler, "Honey will you bring me a beer?" You know what? Yes, I will bring you a beer because that is just so cool.

TV commercials would have you believe that women don't want to bring you a beer in the shower. Women, it seems, don't even want you to drink beer. They want you to sit around while they shop. They get angry when they want to "vent" about their hard day at the office and you want to "vent" by drinking.

My advice for all my single guy friends, find yourself a women who will bring you a beer in the shower and not think twice about it. Oh, and be willing to do the same for her.

Margarita Monday

I was going to start this post by apologizing for a week going by without new posts. But then I reminded myself that this is a blog about drinking, written by a person who drinks; and therefore, you shouldn't expect any sort of regularity from me. 

One thing you can expect is that after work on Monday I will want a drink. Tonight it's watermelon margaritas. 

I made the drink pictured by chopping up some seedless organic watermelon in the blender. I mixed in some ice, tequila, and instead of orange liqueur, I used Midori melon liqueur.  The trick here is not to add too much Midori because it is a bright green beverage and will make your margarita an ugly color. 

This drink tastes good and gives you a good healthy drunk feeling. If you want to blend up the whole watermelon, Martha Stewart says it will last for up to a week in your refrigerator. I'm drinking all of mine tonight.

My Kind of Arnold Palmer

Traditionally an Arnold Palmer is a mix of half iced tea and half lemonade. The Arnold Palmer pictured here is half lemonade and half Jeremiah Weed Sweet Tea vodka.  

The Yacht Club is known to have the friendliest bartenders on Ingersoll. I tend to get along with all the bartenders on Ingersoll, but I have to say, Piper was very nice to mix this up for me and help me with my picture.

There was no harsh vodka feeling at all to this drink, even though almost half of it is the sweet tea vodka. It tasted very summery, and if I hadn't been trying to pace myself on this particular Saturday, I could have handled a larger glass. Piper said that's because this vodka is only 70 proof.

I've heard a lot about these tea vodkas lately. I'm sure mixologists have all sorts of tea drink ideas, but I feel like the Arnold Palmer is the only way I'd want to drink this stuff.

Campari

My favorite way to start the weekend during the summer months is to take the edge off with a little cocktail on the lanai. I call our porch a lanai, because it just makes it seem special.

Drinking Campari and soda seems special too. Campari is an Italian liqueur of herbs, plants and fruits. It has the strangest taste--I can't explain why I like it, but I like it. 

The drink in this picture is a mixture of Campari and soda. I added a slice of orange and a slice of lime. The back of the bottle says you can drink it with orange juice as well. 

I drink this in the summer. I've found I need to be careful with this drink because the secret blend of herbs, plants and fruits gives me a terrible headache if I overdo it. I'm SURE that won't be the case tonight. Happy Friday! Have a great hangover-free weekend.