Should Really Read the Recipe

You know when it's summer when people are outside thinking of watermelons, burgers, corn-on-the-cob and margaritas. So that made me wonder, I asked what is your favorite of the 101 Margaritas to the author, Kim Haasarud?! Here is what she responded "That's a tough one ... so many great things in season right now, maybe the Watermelon Margarita or the Grapefruit Margarita. (Just be sure to use pummelo or ruby red grapefruit - those are the sweetest.)" I can't wait to drink everything within this beautiful, summer season!

Tonight, I made the Sunrise Margarita. Can anyone guess what's in that?? Yep, it's just like a tequila sunrise... except I made it... I've never done that before. As you may be guessing, I should really read the recipe. I got a little excited and put everything into my shaker with my ice. As I was shaking it and looking back at my book, I was suppose to add the grenadine at the very end so that it settles correctly to the bottom, making the sunrise true to color. I guess I should have read the recipe. However, the Sunrise Margarita was amazing still; a little pinker than it should have been, but delectable!

Happy Daiquirita Day!

Rum, strawberries, and tequila... what else can I ask for? Today, on this Memorial Day, I enjoyed the Daiquirita Margarita, the Strawberry Daiquirita, and the Strawberry Margarita. It was a wonderful and holiday-ish day of Margaritas. They were sweet and delicious!!! My entire family including baby-to-come are all here for a Memorial Day BBQ with burgers and brats!! Margaritas are a perfect treat for this near-summer day at 82 degree and HUMID day!

22 different Margarita recipes down. 79 recipes to go!!

Plotting and Planning

Who would have thought that drinking margaritas could be so much fun and so much work at the same time?! I thought I had such a good schedule, however, I am a very busy 25-year-old! Family, friends, work, softball, and drinking. Thank you to my mother who got me a small stack of little post-it's to use. They're all over my book with notes... who I'm drinking them with, when I am having them, and in some cases, where I'm drinking them.

I've got to plan out my margaritas each week so that they get done as well as I shop for the correct "ingredients." The shopping list is getting more and more challenging each week, and my biggest challenge is to find smaller bottles, because some of them, I am only using an ounce or so. My friends and family are enjoying drinking them with me, and are making it a fun experience with costumes, fun glasses, flair, and of course, drinking the cocktails.

Memorial Weekend!

Tonight, I tried the Blood Orange Margarita and Disaronno Margarita. I didn't really like either one of them, but I successfully tried them and drank them.

Happy Memorial weekend to all of my devoted followers! You know its a long, holiday weekend when you can drink three nights in a row and not have to wake up early the next morning! I have a strong belief that long weekends are planted in the perfect times throughout the year... just think... Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day. These are perfect Margarita weekends!!!

Cheers until tomorrow. There's one more day in this long weekend!

Afternoon Delight

"Joining Julie for a little Orange Delight Margarita," says Margaret Fontana. My dear my friend from college, Margaret and I have been experimenting with several glasses of margs on this cloudy afternoon. What isn't good with a hint of Sunkist Soda?!?! We're sitting on the deck sipping on our Orange Delight........ And let the rain begin...

Rain, you may fall from the sky, but you will not take the margarita from our glass!

White Margarita!

The white margarita is a delicious margarita made with lemon sorbet and a blender. It is very frothy and lemony!! The lemon sorbet is an interesting addition to this margarita! I'm not sure that I would choose to make this for myself on a warm, summer night. And check out the one-drink blender I bought today. Thank you, Target!

More to come, very soon!

The Cosmo Rita

After an epic fail at softball tonight, and a few beers, its time to head back to reality. Margarita time for me. It's going to be a short blog tonight though. I made the Cosmo Rita. It was delicious, although very sweet.

Sour... check.
Sweet... check.
Tequila... check.
Flavored vodka... check.
Emptied my glass... check

More to come this weekend! (Along with a better posting!) Good night, all!

Limoncello Margarita

Welcome to my guest bloggers this evening, Sue & Steve Rinker! The "Drinkers" introduced me to Limoncello years ago, so naturally, I thought of them for this recipe. As we sit here on the deck, on a Monday night, no less, we are enjoying immensely, the Limoncello Margarita!

We started off with the original recipe using 1800 golden tequila, it was deliciouso! Then, Steve offered the "good stuff." Although the recipe calls for a golden tequila, we pulled out a wonderful bottle of Don Julio Blanco. Does that make the recipe better.... YES, I believe, it does! We definitely put our tequilas to the test and there was a winner by a landslide!

This leads us to ask the author, Kim, why was the original recipe made with a golden tequila versus a blanco? We found that the golden tequila masked the flavor of the limoncello, whereas the blanco enabled it to shine and be more flavorful. My dear friends are extreme lovers of limoncello, so we ask you all?! What do you think?

"Tonight, as a compliment to our margarita, we had fish tacos, made with a seasoned-grilled tilapia (very spicy), a tomato salsa, homemade chunky guacamole, and cilantro. It was a perfect accompaniment to this margarita. We have proof of all the food and drink! Enjoy!" -Steve Rinker

Cheers until tomorrow, all!

Rhubarb Margarita

The rhubarb margarita, although very fun to make, was a little too tart for my taste buds. I cooked down a very fresh stalk of rhubarb, fresh out of our personal garden, in a 1/2 cup of simple syrup. Simple syrup, I'm convinced is still the secret ingredient for all margaritas. It was very sweet and sour at the same time. I had to add a little sour soda to mellow it down. But I drank it!

My mother helped me accompany this marg with a rhubarb coffee cake recipe that is delicious! Lots of sugar and lots of rhubarb... all very fresh. It's a good start to a long week of margaritas! Cheers, everyone!

Back in Business

After being sick all week, it is a delicious treat that I've missed dearly! While spending the evening with my best friend and confidant, we're making margaritas and celebrating a Minnesota welcome to the summer! And we played catch up today!!

I made the Lemon-Basil Margarita, the Meyer Lemon Margarita, the Bitter Lemon Margarita, AND the Mojita Rita! Yep, count 'em... that's 4! I ALSO made the Shirley Temple Rita for my best friend who I can now happily announce is preggers! Welcome Jamie, my first guest blogger!

Here's the breakdown, lemon-basil marg.. no thank you! I successfully made it for the challenge, but it was too strong and nearly a shot of basil flavored tequila. Meyer lemon marg was very sweet and delicious... I would make it again. I sipped it in the sun for quite a while. It was very crisp and light.

The bitter lemon was way too bitter... I could barely finish it! It's a lip pucker'er! Haha.

The Shirley Temple Rita was Amaaaaaaaazing! Jamie chugged it and I loved the fruity flavor! The grenadine and cherries were the perfect addition to a sweet drink. Jamie had the best idea to add tequila soaked cherries to make it an adult beverage. "It reminded me of a cherry limeade. It was delicious. It hit my margarita spot, that I won't be able to touch for a while," says Jamie.

Lastly, the Mojita Rita... as a non mojito lover, it was a very minty flavor. Someone who loves mojitos or mint flavored anything would love this drink. It may be my last experimental recipe this evening, but I might need to make one more drink to get the taste of mint out of my mouth! Hmmmmmmmm... possibly a margarita?!

The Flu

Drinking has been postponed due to the flu! It will resume this weekend!! Sorry for the delay!

Big News!

I have big news! ... Not only am I drinking one of my favorite margaritas so far in my life (I'll get to that later), but I have exciting news to announce to the blog world. The author of, 101 Margaritas, Kim Haasarud, is NOW following MY blog! Having never done anything like this before (blogging I mean, God knows I've drank margaritas before) that is pretty cool! She asked me if she could share it with her friends, publicists, and publishers as well. So, welcome to some new followers across the country! We're going to have a great summer! ... Now, on to the margaritas...

I am currently enjoy the Chambord Margarita, which I thought I would like, but that is an understatement! After shaking it, and pouring it into a margarita glass, it swirls with a beautiful, dark pink (thanks to the Chambord). I would have taken a picture of it, but to tell you the truth, it was too much damn work right now, and also it didn't last very long in that glass.

I think my favorite part of making any cocktail, is putting all the ingredients into a metal shaker with a bunch of ice, and listening to that sound of flavors coming together with the ice. THEN while you're shaking it, you can feel the cold from the ice creep up the metal shaker all the way to the top. A little crazy, I know, but it is amazing.

So, I went into the liquor store today, and I bought a bunch of little bottle of various alcohols for the upcoming weeks. It turns out I don't feel like less of an alcoholic when I buy small bottles, only more so!

Cheers until next time!

Margaritaville

So, after a very long day at work and the “wonderful” spring weather we're having (which means that I haven't seen the sun in about 5 days) I decided the best place to go is Margaritaville. After two drinks, I really didn't give a rip if the sun was out or not! Two more drinks down on this dreary Thursday evening and there would definitely be another one or two if I had the right ingredients!

The Low-Carb Marg, I would love to say that it was delicious and that I could save a few pounds during my summer challenge, but NOPE, it was awful!! It was basically lime juice, tequila, and splenda... not anywhere near a good combination. I even iced a Lift Bridge Beer glass to help improve the taste. It didn't help any!

The Lemon Meringue Margarita was a very different recipe, but yum, yum, yum! This is a perfect dessert drink. I definitely couldn't have more than two of those. The weirdest thing in this recipe is egg white. Oh, but it was yummy. I mean, come on, take a look at that picture!! I served it in an old-fashioned, beautiful cognac class, and for the finishing touch I added powdered sugar to the rim and a lemon!

Happy Birthday to me!

#3 Platinum Margarita... I believe that this is the exact recipe of the Applebee's perfect Margarita. The secret is out!!! Although I didn't have a worthy contender from my recipe book on my actual birthday, I did have a few margaritas! Thank you to Nacho Mama's restaurant in Stillwater for the birthday drinks. But today, I had the Platinum... the special ingredient is a splash of orange juice, along with the Cointreau and Grand Marnier. It tasted a bit sour, so I added more orange juice. I paired it with delicious taco and enchilada leftovers!

I am no where near sick of margaritas yet! 98 recipes to go. I think I just might do this thing! But I can't do it alone! What recipes would you like to enjoy with me?? I've got some reserved for friends, such as a blue curacao recipe, a ginger recipe, a limoncello one, and a mint one! Who is going to drink up with me?! I hope you let me know!

I was just thinking about what my followers want me to be telling them. So, tell me. What should I blog about to make this informational and highly entertaining?

Day 1 and 2 Down

On my pre-birthday celebration with my family, we started with margarita, numbers 1 and 2 in the book. My family surprised me with a wonderful belated Cinco De Mayo birthday party. Margaritas all around. There were even decorations!

#1: Classic Margarita
#2: Grand Gold Margarita

The classic used a small amount of Cointreau. And can anyone guess the expensive liquor that was in the Grand Gold??? Yep, that's right... it was Grand Marnier! Both were delicious, which is half the reason I took some Tums and put on my pajamas only a few short hours after this picture was taken. The Grand Marnier, although delicious, had a strong, bitter taste for a such a small margarita. I must have to have a bigger one next time, I guess! Oh well.

The key ingredient for both cocktails has to be the simple syrup. I'll be using that pretty much all summer long in the majority of my recipes. Who knew something so amazing could come from water and sugar?! More to come soon, with the next post entitled "Happy Birthday to me!"

P.S. No After pictures yet! And 99 Margaritas to go

I Got the Good Stuff!

Did you know that top shelf liquors are actually on the top shelf? Well... I discovered that when I had to ask for help to reach the right bottle! I got all my purchases made today for the first full week of margaritas! I bought Cointreau and Grand Marnier, and I'm not even going to mention how much that cost! May 6th, which is my birthday dinner with my family, is the official start to this entire charade.