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You might know that we’ve been experimenting with margaritas.
Well, we’ve grown a little tired of them.

And as we have an abundance of mint in the garden, we’ve moved on to mojitos.
Plus, they’re about as perfect as a summertime cocktail can be.

(Did you know mint is very easy to grow? See hints below.)

Here’s how to make the best mojito, makes one cocktail:

Ingredients
1/2 oz simple syrup (see simple syrup directions below)
1 1/2 oz unflavored white rum
Juice of 1 lime
Soda water or 7Up*
A handful of fresh mint

Rinse the mint, and gently crush (saving one sprig for garnish)
Put the mint in a tall, clear, plain glass
Add the simple syrup, rum, and lime
Muddle
Fill glass with ice
Fill glass with soda water or 7Up
Garnish with the mint sprig

We recommend using a straw so you don’t get all that mint in your mouth.
Cheers!

Simple Syrup Directions:
Take equal parts sugar and water
Gently boil for 5 minutes
Let cool
Store in the fridge, up to 4 weeks

*Tom likes to use soda water. I prefer my cocktail a bit sweeter so I use diet 7Up.

Hints on Mint:

• Plant only in a container. If you plant it in your garden, it will take over the entire yard. And you will never be able to eradicate it.
• Try several different varieties. We like the standard spearmint & peppermint, but also pineapple mint and chocolate mint.
• The more you cut mint, the more it will grow. If the plant is getting leggy, trim it back. It will become more bushy (= produce more).
• If you’re not going to use the fresh mint you trimmed, you can freeze it. Just chop it, put a bit into each cube of an ice cube tray, cover with water and freeze. Once frozen, dislodge from the tray and store in a zippy in the freezer. The cubes are a great addition to your iced tea.

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Since the main ingredient of our signature cocktail is now out of season, Tom and I have moved on to experimenting with margaritas.

We’ve found three keys to margarita success:

1) Agave nectar (available locally at Sunshine)
2) Really good margarita mix
3) Serve them up (that is, shaken over ice, strained, and in a martini glass)

Here’s how to do it.

Ingredients
1 1/2 oz silver tequila
3/4 oz triple sec
1/4 oz agave nectar
Juice of one lime
3 oz Dr Swami & Bone Daddy’s Top Shelf Margarita Mix
Half of one lime, quartered
The other half of the lime, thinly sliced

Take one of the lime quarters and make a slit in the center of the juicy part. Put some margarita or kosher salt onto a plate. Grab your best martini glasses. Place the lime on the rim of the glass and coat the rim by circling the entire rim. Dip the limed rim into the salt.

Fill shaker half-way with ice. Add the tequila, triple sec, agave nectar, lime juice, and margarita mix to the shaker.

Be sure to use fresh lime. We found this nifty citrus juicer years ago at a restaurant supply store, but this one here also looks good.

Shake for about 15 seconds. Any longer is unnecessary and will only dilute your cocktail.
Pour the mixture into the glass and garnish with the sliced lime.

Serve with ceviche. We like to use halibut, but you can use almost any fish or shellfish.

Ceviche of Halibut Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients
1/2 lb super-fresh halibut fillet
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp jalapeño, seeded and minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
2 Roma tomatoes
1/2 small red onion
1 green onion
4 tsp chopped fresh cilantro

Cut the fish into small dice.

Combine the lime juice, olive oil, jalapeño, garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl and whisk to blend well. Add the fish and toss to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to overnight. Stir occasionally.

As close as possible to the time you’re going to serve the ceviche, prepare the other vegetables. Peel and seed the tomatoes and cut into neat dice or julienne. Cut the red onion into very thin slices and separate the slices into rings. Cut the green onion, white and green parts, very thinly on the bias.

Fold the cilantro into the ceviche and mound it on a chilled platter or individual plates. Scatter the tomato, red onion, and green onion on top of the ceviche.

Serve with good tortilla chips (i.e. thin, crispy, and fresh).

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Here in the Napa Valley, we drink a lot of wine.

But sometimes we just want a cocktail.

While Tom always sticks with the classics, I sometimes find a Gin & Tonic or a Crown & Seven just too boring. So, I’ve been through my Cosmopolitan phase, my Mango Mojito phase and my fruit Margarita phase. All are great cocktails–don’t get me wrong–but each can get, well, boring.

Enter the annual holiday fruit shipment from my folks.

Every December, they mail a big box of luscious, top-quality citrus fruits from a specialty grower out of Texas. The oranges glisten, the Ruby Red grapefruits titillate.

Two years ago, we had an epiphany and juiced some of the grapefruits. Not for breakfast mind you, but rather for use in making cocktails.

But here I must interject that I’ve never been a fan of the grapefruit. And I still am not. Except for these grapefruits. Especially this grapefruit juice in cocktails.

Well, this past weekend when I walked out to the front porch and spied the tell-tale holiday gift box, we grabbed the vodka, the cocktail shaker and the martini glasses.

While a cocktail made from grapefruit juice and vodka is called a Greyhound and is typically served on the rocks in a collins glass–we happen to have fancy new Riedel martini glasses we haven’t yet used much, so we’ve been serving them up this year. I am not certain this should still be called a Greyhound. If any of you cocktail purists would like to comment, that space is below.

So by the name of Greyhound or just Vodka & Grapefruit, this is the best holiday cocktail. Ever.

To get started, take a ripe Ruby Red grapefruit (you can try that pale yellow variety that you’ll find year-round in the grocery store, but it won’t be as good) and juice it.

If you’ve never juiced a fruit by hand before, it’s easy. Just cut it in half, then squeeze each half over a strainer propped across a bowl.

Tom likes to use a reamer. It is just an inexpensive little wooden gadget available in most any kitchen store.

Be sure to squeeze over the strainer so you don’t get seeds or pulp in your juice. You can run the squeezed-juice through the stainer a second time if need be.

Fill your cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in one shot of vodka* to four parts juice (you’ll acheive this ratio, roughly, with the juice from one large fruit).

Shake well. Strain into your martini glass. Makes one cocktail.

Lift glass to mouth, with pinky finger extended.

Happy Holiday Cocktailing…

Cheers!

*When mixing vodka with such a flavorful juice as this, you don’t need to use those super-expensive vodkas–something mid-range like Skyy works fine. 

“If more of us valued cheer, food and song above hoarded gold–it would be a merrier world.”  ~J.R. Tolkein

May your holiday and the year to come be merry and bright!