we ate tonight

Ingredients

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• 1 1/2 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
  
• 1 oz simple syrup
  
• 2 oz vodka
  
• rimming sugar

Shake the lime juice, syrup and vodka over ice. Wet the rim of the martini glass with the squeezed limes and rim with sugar. Fill.

Aviation

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• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) fresh lemon juice
  
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) gin
  
• 1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) Maraska maraschino liqueur
  
• 1/4 teaspoon simple syrup
  
• 1 cup ice cubes

Garnish with maraschino cherry or pitted fresh cherry

Fabulous....5 star...perfect for summer. (Need to keep around more ginger beer.

Ingredients

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• About 1 cup ice cubes
  
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) reposado tequila
  
• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) ginger beer or ginger ale
  
• 1 teaspoon crème de cassis
  
• 1 lime wedge

Preparation

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In 11-ounce highball glass, combine ice and tequila. Top with ginger beer, then slowly pour in crème de cassis (it will settle to bottom). Squeeze lime wedge over, then drop wedge into drink and serve.

We have been on a buying spree of these things...so thought I would do the standard ratings on them:

Must Have
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+ Cherry Pie = tastes just like tart cherry pie from grandma...well, maybe not quite...but still durn tasty.
+ Tropical Fruit Tart = mmmm...piña colada-y...with nuts.


Very Good
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+ Lemon Pie = tastes like Hostess Lemon Pie...me likey.
+ Apple Pie = tastes like Hostess Apple Pie with more cinnamon in it.
+ Key Lime Pie = accurate to reality...with a bit of a distraction from the nuts.



Good
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+ Pecan Pie = tastes like eating uncooked crisp (for apple crisp)...which I like, ymmv...but I would rather have pecan pie.
+ Coconut Chew = coconutty...not really sure what is going on here.
+ Chocolate Coconut Chew = does taste like haystack cookies....but with nuts mixed in. Good but the nuts diminished it for me.


Take It Or Leave It
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? Peanut Butter = meh
? Ginger Snap = tastes accurate, if not more potent ginger....but it just isn't my thing.

Pisco Sour
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2 oz              pisco
1/4 oz           simple syrup^@
1 oz             *fresh-squeezed* lime juice
1/2               egg white
1 dash          Angostura bitters

Combine and shake everything - except the bitters - over ice in the shaker. Shake very vigorously for about a minute - you need the egg white to froth up nicely.

Fill a lowball over ice. Finish with a single dash of the bitters on top of the froth.

Bueno!!!!

My coworker brought this stuff to a company potluck. It sat unloved in the middle of the table while all the things covered in cheese and chocolate got eaten because, frankly, it looks like regular ol' boring popcorn. It that sat there until the first person took a bite and yelled "DAMN! What is on this stuff?" as he dove headlong into the bowl. Soon an all out fistfight broke out as every person tried to get their hands into the bowl at once.

Mona's White Chocolate Popcorn 4 oz white chocolate chips 1/3 tbsp Crisco/shortening 1 bag (which is usually around 4 cups) of microwave popcorn (less buttery is preferable - but don't get no-butter either) Melt chocolate and shortening in a double boiler until completely melted (to the consistency of approximately ranch dressing)...while simultaneously popping the popcorn. Best case scenario is that they both hit the giant mixing bowl piping hot. Mix until coated. Lay out on wax paper-ed cookie sheet(s) and into the fridge to cool to reduce the chocolate getting a change to make the popcorn soggy while drying. Commence the eating orgy.

Last year She stumbled upon the list of which fruits and vegetables should always be purchased organically because they are so loaded with pesticide. Well, they updated it for this year...

   Shopper's Guide to Pesticides 2009 [from http://www.foodnews.org]

You cannot believe how sublime and refreshing this is...man, I can't wait to have this when it is 88° out. ...and I don't even like gin.

Gin Sling
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2 oz                  gin
1/2 oz               fresh lime juice
1 1/2 oz            simple syrup
splash               water

Pour them all into a highball glass with twice as much ice as you have ever put in a glass. Stir. Garnish with a lime wedge. Drink in the sun.

Since it has 0g of trans fat I picked up a new health food, Crunchy Cheddar Jalapeño Cheetos. (PS: Puffed Cheetos are crap.)

Pretty authentic jalapeño flavor and heat, even if a little muted. Not as good as the classic straight-up Cheddar version...but...plenty good to keep you obese.

I was at Bread & Chocolate with the boys...and stumbled across IZZE "Sparkling Grapefruit" in a bottle...something I had never seen before. After a bit a searching She found it (and previously unheard-of "Sparkling Apple") for me in a store...although only in a can....weird.

Flavors (sorted by deliciousness):

1. Sparkling Grapefruit
   
2. Sparkling Pomegranate
   
3. Sparkling Blackberry
   
4. Sparkling Clementine
   
5. Sparkling Apple

A delightful wine with a light bouquet and fruity aftertones. Boone's Farm Manzana Delicioso, sweetly dances across your tastebuds as you put the bottle to your cabeza. Best served ice cold out of a sombrero (to prevent UV oxidation).

Complements tequila shots (Gun Show, no!) and Hot Dog Especiales.

Price US$1.80 at Chedraui or any other bum wine supplier. Worth MX$17.99 at a restaurant.

Once you have tried dried Montmorency Cherries you will never go back! (It is like popping a cherry pie in your mouth whenever you want!)

Once you have had dry-roasted Marcona Almonds...you will never go back.

Last Christmas everyone was thrilled with Santa's delivery of Chocolate + Bacon....so this year he brought the happiness again...but from different elves. Instead of Vosges bars the ladies received:

• Enstrom's (of Colorado) Cream Caramels (as recommended by Lynn Rosetto Casper's "Splendid Table")
  
• Enstrom's Milk Chocolate Almond Toffee
  
• Marini's Chocolate Covered Bacon - crispy entire strips of bacon completely covered in milk chocolate deliciousness.

In Santa's humble opinion this bacon + chocolate combination is exponentially better than the Vosges Mo' Bacon bar. It is a fantastic balance of salty and sweet, perfectly fried bacon gives it that same texture as crisped rice. Thumbs up!!!

I am sure Leigh & Meg agree it is a taste sensation when sister-in-law-in-law tried to dump the "extras" on them again.