Tag: Camarena

Cocktail of the Week: Margarita Fizz

Margarita Fizz

Summer’s here, isn’t it? Well, it sure has hell felt like summer yesterday out at the Cosumnes River Preserve. Or maybe it’s just the drought? With the coming of the long, hot dog days of summer my mind turns to margaritas. Delicious, delicious margaritas. But, I’ve already covered those, many, many times. So what to do? Come up with my own take on the signature drink! Though, if someone else hasn’t done this before I’d be truly shocked. My contribution to the world of mixology is the Margarita Fizz. Simply make a margarita in a Collins glass and top it off with Squirt soda. Yes, yes I am a visionary…

Margarita Fizz
The ingredients

Margarita Fizz

  • 1 part tequila
  • 1 part triple sec
  • 1 part lemon juice
  • Squirt soda

Fill Collins glass with ice. Add tequila, citrus liquor, and lemon juice to glass, stir. Top glass with Squirt soda. Garnish with lemon or lime slice.

Margarita Fizz

 

Turns out this is delicious! Also, I don’t have to wait to chill the mixture or use a blender or do any of that. Just add everything together and stir! If I had a poolside I’d be drinking these while relaxing there! Or maybe I’m inordinately fond of Squirt soda… Anyway, if you’re looking to enjoy a cool, bright, fizzy drink this summer you could do a lot worse than the Margarita Fizz.

Cocktail of the Week: Tequila Sunrise

tequila sunrise

I know, I know that looks nothing like a Tequila Sunrise… I guess my homemade grenadine isn’t think enough? So instead of sinking to the bottom it suffused into the drink? When I first poured it in it looked right, maybe I just waited too long before taking the picture? So, let’s call this a Los Angeles Tequila Sunrise? Nice and muddy looking through all that smog! Anyway, Tequila Sunrises are perfect summer drinks. Also, perfect morning drinks but you didn’t hear that from me! To the cocktail!

tequila sunrise
The ingredients

Tequila Sunrise

  • 3 oz. orange juice
  • 1 1/2 oz. tequila
  • 1/2 oz. grenadine

Pour the orange juice and tequila into an ice filled collins glass. Slowly pour grenadine into mix, the weight of the grenadine (should) make it sink to the bottom leaving some rather lovely red/pink trails through the orange juice. Garnish with a orange wedge.

tequila sunrise

Again, mine doesn’t look quite as it should. But, it did taste lovely. The acidity of the oj, the sweet tartness of the grenadine and the sharp alcoholic taste of tequila. Ah, what a delicious cocktail! As I said at the beginning. Enjoy for breakfast or as an aperitif before dinner! If you have a poolside or ocean side view even better! Enjoy the summer it’s going to get too hot soon!

tequila sunrise

 

EDIT: I think I figured out why my Tequila Sunrise looked so muddy. I transposed the figures for tequila and orange juice… Leaving me with a very boozy but not very bright cocktail.

Cocktail of the Week: Honeydew Margarita

2014-09-21 19.04.14

Have you noticed anything different at your local grocery store? Specifically, in the produce aisle? Most of the stone fruit is gone, as is the citrus, and there are now a lot of apples and pears and if you were lucky for about a two-three week span the place was overrun with melons. So many melons! Watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydews, casabas, muskmelons! We have a friend who had been growing their own melons in a private garden plot and had more than he could handle himself and so gifted us some. More than we could normally eat before they went bad and so D and I went looking for alternative uses for melons. Cocktails immediately came to mind, and that is how this post ended up here today.

The ingredients
The ingredients

Honeydew Margarita

  • 2 ounces honeydew juice
  • 1 1/2 oz tequila
  • 1 oz fresh lime juice

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake. Strain over ice into glasses with either a salt or sugar rim (I used a mixture of sugar and chili powder to rim these glasses.)

2014-09-21 19.04.00

Wow! Wow! Wow! I’m a big fan of honeydew on it’s own but mix it with some tequila and lime juice and you’ve got yourself an amazing cocktail. The Honeydew takes center stage making the margarita sweet with only a hint of sour provided by the lime and almost no alcohol taste. Really refreshing. I’m sad I only found out about these now as there won’t be any melons in the fall or winter and margaritas aren’t really seasonal or appropriate again until spring… If you do happen to find a honeydew in the supermarket in the next couple of days though, grab it!

Cocktail of the Week: Spicy Grapefruit Margaritas

2014-02-23 19.02.25

Saturday was National Margarita Day (February 22) and so I decided to make a margarita despite featuring one recently. I couldn’t do just another plain ol’ margarita either. D had me covered though with this spicy take on the cocktail she had seen online. This take on the familiar cocktail used grapefruit instead of lemons or lime and substituted a simple syrup for triplesec. Not just any simple syrup though, this one has cayenne pepper in it.

I was skeptical when D described the recipe to me, but she prevailed on me to make it and now, after drinking it, I’m glad she did!

The ingredients
The ingredients

Spicy Grapefruit Margaritas

  • 2 oz. tequila
  • 1 oz. cayenne simple syrup (see below)
  • 4 oz. fresh grapefruit juice

Rim glasses (this cocktail is not usually served in a margarita glass, we used mason jars) with either salt or sugar (I use a sugar cayenne pepper mix.) Place ice in glasses, add tequila, simple syrup, and grapefruit juice. Adjust juice and syrup for your desired level of sweetness. Stir well.

Cayenne Simple Syrup

  • 1/2 cup of sugar
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Combine the sugar, water and cayenne in a small saucepot and bring to a simmer. Stir so that all sugar melts then remove from heat and cool in the fridge. You’ll want to do this an hour or so before you make the drinks as you’ll want the syrup to be chilled before making the cocktail.

2014-02-23 19.02.48

I love the colors of this drink a deep ruby red at the bottom from the grapefruit juice and pulp shading lighter as you approach the mouth of the jar. Through out are little flecks of cayenne pepper. This is a delicious drink. Perfect for hot afternoons or warm evenings (the kind we’re having right now in California, sadly…) The sourness of the grapefruit is perfectly offset by the spicy sweetness of the syrup. A lovely drink. I’m thinking I’m going to have to keep some of this pre-made in the freezer as well…

%d bloggers like this: