This spring I discovered a new-to-me cocktail: La Paloma. I ordered one at a local restaurant and immediately knew that I wanted to try to recreate it at home. After a little googling and some discussions with multiple bartenders on our trip to New York plus some good old fashioned taste testing, I've zeroed in on a great version to make at home.

La Paloma has a tequila base and most often has lime juice plus a grapefruit soda. The first one I had was tequila, pink grapefruit juice, lime juice and tonic and I loved it. I tried this mix at home and the results were refreshing, but only so-so. The next one I had at another local bar was tequila, lime juice and Ale81 (a local soda, similar to Squirt). It was great! In New York, I had one with grapefruit juice, lime juice and soda - good, too. Emily had been making hers with grapefruit Izze, lime juice and a splash of soda. Jarritos is the traditional soda used south of the border. If you can get your hands on that, it might be worth a try. I couldn't find any locally so I went with San Pellegrino's Pompelmo. It is refreshing, grapefruity without being too sweet. Perfect for my taste. And while I have seen recipes that call for a salted rim on the glass, none of the ones I ordered in bars came that way and I like it fine without the salt. Below is my recipe.

Erin's La Paloma - Makes 1

2 oz. silver agave tequila (I like Dulce Vida)

2 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice (1 to 2 limes)

4 oz. San Pellegrino Pompelmo soda

Mix tequila and lime juice. Pour into a tall glass filled with ice. Top with San Pellegrino grapefruit soda. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Happy weekending to you all. Cheers!

Faced with an abundance of white peaches and little time to can them, I decided to make some ice pops. They turned out really well and were simple to make. I've made multiple batches this week and they are a hit with everyone in the house. I thought I'd share my recipe in case you have the desire to make some, too. Of course, your peaches don't need to be white. Regular ones will be just as delicious! Nectarines would make lovely ice pops, too. (The popsicle mold pictured below is this one by Norpro. I also have the Zoku popsicle maker and love using that, too.)

White Peach Ice Pops - makes about 10 pops

6 to 8 medium white peaches

1/4 to 1/3 c sugar (this is to taste)

Peel peaches by placing them in boiling water for one minute and then transfering them to an ice water bath immediately. After a few minutes in the ice water, the skin should slip right off. Chop the peeled peaches and place them and any juice in the jar of your blender until it is almost full. Pour the sugar on top and blend it all until smooth. You can strain the mixture by pouring and pressing the liquid through a fine mesh sieve, but it's not necessary. Pour the liquid into popsicle molds. Place in the freezer for one hour and then add the sticks. Continue freezing for another 4 hours or overnight. Remove the popsicles from the molds by running them under cold water until they release.

Have a safe and fun holiday weekend!

I'm pretty transparent and steadfast about the things I love. If you've been hanging around here for any length of time, you know that. I often spout about my love of the color green. And limes. And margaritas. And peonies. And champagne. And fabric. (OK - no fabric links...too many to chose from!) I could go on, but I won't.

For my 40th, I wanted food with Mexican flavors and margaritas. That's all. And because I'm picky (that may be an understatement) about my margaritas, I said I would make them. What I didn't know was how to translate my favorite recipe that yields one or two cocktails into the large volume a party requires without making them too booze-y or too sweet.

So, I hit Google. I typed in "big batch margaritas". I clicked on this recipe, looked at it and then adapted it to my tastes. I was planning on doing the same thing Jeffrey does: buy cheap bottled water by the gallon, use it to water the plants or cook pasta or whatever, and reuse the plastic gallon jug. There was some higher math involved as we extrapolated one recipe into five. But once they were made, with one taste, I knew it was close to my favorite recipe. Here's what I did:

Big Batch Margaritas, adapted from A Gallon of Margaritas by the Gallon by Jeffrey Morgenthaler

6 c silver tequila

2 1/2 c Cointreau

5 c freshly squeezed lime juice (10 - 12 limes generally yields about 2 c)

2 c simple syrup ( I used a 1 to 1 ratio of sugar to water)

Mix everything in a gallon container and then refrigerate. Serve on the rocks with salt and a lime garnish. (If you put it into an empty gallon water jug, you will need a funnel to avoid spillage.)

If you have leftovers (pshaw!), pour them into a freezable container and pop them into the freezer. Once frozen, you can have leftover margarita slushies as wanted. I know because we have 6 frozen quarts at the ready. Thank you to Alicia for that brilliant idea! I've got cocktails covered for most of the summer.

Happy weekending folks!

Thank you for supporting me and my shop, reading this blog, commenting on my posts and sharing in my crafty adventures.  I'd offer you all a baby cinnamon roll, but the girls and I polished them off after riding our bikes to the farmers market on Saturday.  We brought home some yummy greens and radishes and asparagus - almost all of which has been eaten by now.  The garden is growing fast and the CSA is right around the corner.  I love spring and the abundance of good things it brings.

I hope your weekend was filled with delicious treats, too.

We got this year's garden started on Saturday.  I started by working all the soil and adding a bunch of mushroom compost.  Then Jane, Fatty and I planted seeds for peas, swiss chard, spinach, arugula and mesclun.  We also planted six broccoli seedlings on a whim.  Sunday we had a soft, drizzly rain most of the afternoon - perfect!  I'll be forming some kind of trellis for the peas later this week.  We're getting an earlier start this year and I am hopeful it will work out well.  We are planning on building another raised bed for the tomatoes and herbs.  I have seed potatoes and once I find the right size container, those will be planted, too.  We also joined the CSA for the third year so what we don't grow ourselves will be supplemented with local produce.

Books that I have found useful are Garden Anywhere by Alys Fowler and Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail. 

I just watched the pilot of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  If you haven't seen it, you might want to check it out.  I am setting it up to record the series on our dvr so I can watch it with the girls.  I think there will be many good talking points as the series continues.