The Red and Black

I totally have a foodie crush on Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perelman. She has single-handedly gotten me to experiment more in the kitchen with her approachable style and easy to follow instructions for all of her recipes - more than any other blog I follow. Imagine my delight when I caught one of her rare cocktail posts!!! Called The Red and Black, it's a seasonal wonder as a muddled strawberry, white tequila fizzy drink. Basically a craft margarita sans triple sec. Of course, I had everything on hand and pretty much went straight from blog to kitchen to grab a glass and test it out.

Tasting notes:

- Definitely measure out the lime juice and don't just wing it with 1 whole lime. A bit too much.
- Superfine sugar is easiest to muddle with and dissolves faster, but you can substitute regular sugar.
- If you prefer sweet drinks and are expecting this to be one, possibly add another .5 - 1 tsp of sugar just to be safe.
- Pepper is not overpowering at all, I was skeptical at first but put a healthy 6 fresh grinds in and it was a nice accent.
- Big azz strawberries like I used are fine to cut up and/or use less of - it all gets muddled into a rough puree anyway.
- I didn't have club soda on hand, just lime flavor La Croix, and it worked fine.
- Eliminating the pepper and adding mint to the muddle might be a nice variation.
- Eliminating the tequila would change the flavor a bit but would be an ok non-proof drink for the DD, pregos or kids.

She's right - it's a lovely blend, albeit quite tangy. Tastes like June, and is a decent start to any patio dining the summer brings. Her recipes haven't failed me yet!

It's been a minute...

Sorry about that. In May of 2013, I didn't know I would not be posting on my blog for a while. I traveled overseas for work for a couple months and came home to a deteriorating health situation for my father. He passed in October 2013 and things weren't the same afterward. In the 4 years since then, I moved to Atlanta, GA from 10 years in the DC/Baltimore area, and quit my job of 13 years to try out academia. I've tried to pick up the pen again (so to speak) but with all these life changes, I forgot what account hosted my blog! AND THE PASSWORD. How does one just start again!??? At times it seemed overwhelmingly burdensome and trivial to talk about drinks again. Several times it seemed like a good project to dust off, but was overcome by something else all consuming, like a dream 3-week vacation to Norway, Germany, and Holland, adopting 3 fur kids, a random fitness kick, or sewing an oxford shirt (life goals: check, check, check, and check). Anyway, I'm back. Hope my prolonged absence didn't just nuke the possibility of starting over. Thanks to those who may want to pick up with me where I left off.