why hello there friend. i hope you are having a beautiful summer full of cook outs, pool parties and lots of gorgeous summer cocktails.

between business and pleasure, wes and i have been all over the place the past few months. between my baking and our catering, we had quite a few weddings and birthdays to cook for. we even hired a little bit of help now that we are growing and hopefully she is going to whip ME into shape and help me stay on track now that we have WAY too much going on.

then wes and i headed to idaho (on a road trip) for a dear college friend's wedding and had an amazing week off reconnecting with friends, nature and each other.

when we got home, we went right back to a crazy august full of more wedding cakes, more anniversary shindigs and some boobs (click HERE if you haven't yet seen what i'm up to in cakes lately).

which leads me to this moment. somehow twenty-eighteen has gone by in a flash and august is pretty much over.

which means summer is pretty much over. boo.

kids are already heading back to school. which blows my mind by the way. it should be a national law that school does not start before labor day. that is just insanity. children of today, i feel bad for you. it's terrible how they take those best days of august from you!

alright, alright. back to what you really came for. not the jibber jabber about what is going on behind the scenes over here. i know you just came for the friyay cocktail.

there is an abundance of peppers growing in our garden right now, so i'm packing them into all kind of recipes. if you like a spicy touch to your cocktails, you will LOVE this spicy, but cooling cocktail.

spicy screwdriver

serves: 1 cocktail

prep time: 2 minutes

active time: 1 minute

total time: 3 minutes

ingredients: 2 oz vodka. 3 oz fresh squeezed orange juice. 10 small (or 5 large) mint leaves, smashed with your hands plus an extra sprig for garnish. .5 tsp turbinado sugar. 1 serrano peppper, sliced thin. 2 cups ice. muddler. mixing glass. strainer. spoon.

start by combining all but 3 of the serrano peppers, the smashed mint leaves and the sugar in a mixing glass.

pour in the vodka and muddle the peppers, mint & sugar for about 30 seconds so all the oils release.

pour in half the ice, followed by the orange juice.

stir well to combine.

fill your serving glass with the remaining ice and strain the drink into your serving glass.

garnish with your mint sprig and the remaining serrano slices.

serve and enjoy.

xo, a