Margaritas - A Bartender's Secret

Well, folks, in a massive effort to graduate on time, I no longer cook because I do not have the time.  Or, more accurately, I no longer have the time to dream about delicate morsels and hefty dollops of culinary genius, let alone producing said bits of goodness.  I still cook daily, but my diet consists of more baked sweet potatoes than I am willing to admit.  ($.89/lb, in case you were wondering...)  Potatoes and cheese and tea and chocolate with an occasional bag of carrots thrown in there.

Fortunately, I have a whole archive of eateries and past productions that remind me of simpler days when the whisk had to be washed at least one a day...

This recipe is not so much a set of instructions for preparing a particular dish as it is the direct result of my mother's ability to charm the mixologic secrets out of the most tight-lipped of barkeeps.

Margaritas

from Some Unsuspecting Bartender

1 can of Minute Maid Limeade (frozen and concentrated)

Your finest (by which I mean cheapest) available Tequila

the blender you bought freshman year of college

Salt (optional)

Limes (optional)

Dump the entire thing of Limeade into the blender.  Don't destroy the little cardboard tube in the process because it serves as a nice concentrated Limeade-to-tequila ratio-indicator.  

Add however much tequila suits your fancy.  I would start out with anywhere from a half to three-quarters of the container just to get an idea of what you are in for.  

Tequila Reposado all night long

BLEND!  Blend to your heart's desire!

In order to salt the rims, use either a damp cloth or a lime wedge and moisten the lip of your cup.  Dump some (a lot of) salt on a plate and invert the cup/glass/thing.  Push the salt around until the cup is salted appropriately.  Consume.  Preferably while icing the drink with chili pepper-shaped ice cubes.

que delicioso

***

I think "mixologic" sounds too much like "techonologic" to ignore:

Watermelon Juice

I'm not actually a big fan of watermelon juice, but I have managed to place it on this huge pedestal in my mind because if I did really love it, there is huge money-saving potential here... Instead of buying the incredibly expensive juice, buy the watermelon and blend it!  So simple!  So brilliant!  So much fresher and tastier!  Nevertheless, I bought a whole watermelon (the first one I think I've ever purchased).  Do you have any idea how much watermelon is in a watermelon??  So after slicing all these bite-size chunks, filling an entire platter/bowl/serving thing with fruit, and surveying the remaining half of the watermelon, I made watermelon juice.

Watermelon Juice

bits of watermelon

1 lime

In case you didn't get it above, blend a bunch of watermelon in the blender, which is where the blending happens.  I added the lime juice from one lime to add a new flavor-dimension to the juice.  If you don't drink it immediately, watermelon bits will separate.  You can strain it if it bothers you.

***

I think I'm trying to channel summer through my beverages.  Anyway, here is The Muff's "Kids in America"..  Yay 90's music!

Jockey Club Cocktail #2

Somehow, after the '20s, people forgot about gin.  At least that's what it seems like to me.  Gin is a dry spirit that is flavored with all sorts of things such as Juniper berries, orange peels, coriander, licorice, and who knows what else.  Anyway, the Wall Street Journal published some cocktail recipes for the Kentucky Derby a couple weeks ago and my mom raves about this one.

Jockey Club Cocktail #2

from The Wall Street Journal

2 oz. gin

3/4 oz. amaretto

3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice

1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake it all together with ice and strain.  For the record, 1 shot is equal to 1.5 oz of liquid and these measurements make one serving.

Here's part of the little blurb the article had:

The sweet almond flavor of the amaretto melds nicely with the tartness of the lemon juice, while the gin gives the drink a pleasant dryness.

I realize it is kind of a pain to buy all these ingredients, but my mother raves about this cocktail and from what I can tell, bitters and amaretto are not too expensive.  A little bottle of bitters goes for about $9 (and it will last you awhile) and a decently sized bottle of amaretto is about $12.  (Amaretto is a sweet-almond flavored liqueur.  And liqueurs are alcoholic beverages that have been bottled with sugar and flavored with various things such as fruits and creams.)

I am in no way familiar with the type of music that is typically played at the Kentucky Derby, but I feel like the music should match... so here's Johnny Cash singing "My Old Kentucky Home":

Sintumuang, Kevin. "Drinks for Your Kentucky Derby Party, Beyond the Julep." The Wall Street Journal [New York City] 7 May 2011. Print.