happy memorial day weekend friends. nothing says summer kick off like memorial day.

and my favorite summer fruit is watermelon. it has basically been baby’s number one craving since the beginning of my second trimester. for a while there i was eating one fourth of a watermelon A DAY. i suffered a few months of bad watermelon season but we have official turned that corner towards summer and the watermelon pickings are GOOOOOOD.

fresh, crisp, sweet watermelon is a special experience. but once your watermelon goes a little bit past its freshest or if the watermelon texture is mealy, blending it up for the juice is the PERFECT solution. with baby on board, i have been drinking watermelon juice straight. but for wesley, i’ve been whipping up this delicious vodka + watermelon cocktail for him to enjoy.

watermelon + rosemary cooler

serves: 1 cocktail

prep time: 3 minutes

active time: 1 minute

total time: 4 minutes

ingredients: 5 oz watermelon juice (i blended 1 cup watermelon and strained the juice from the pulp). 2 oz vodka. 1 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice. 3-5 oz club soda. 1 rosemary sprig. 2 cups ice. tall serving glass. shaker/strainer. optional: borage flowers or other blue edible flowers for garnish.

start by combining the watermelon juice, vodka and lemon juice in the base of your shaker with half the ice. remove the bottom two thirds of leaves from the rosemary sprig. smash and tear up the rosemary leaves and add them to the shaker.

shake vigorously for 30 seconds to combine everything and to release the oils from the rosemary. fill your serving glass with the remaining ice. strain the contents of your shaker over ice.

top the cocktail off with club soda.

stir well and garnish with the rosemary sprig and edible flowers. serve and enjoy.

xo, a

watermelon + rosemary cooler

serves: 1 cocktail

prep time: 3 minutes

active time: 1 minute

total time: 4 minutes

ingredients: 5 oz watermelon juice (i blended 1 cup watermelon and strained the juice from the pulp). 2 oz vodka. 1 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice. 3-5 oz club soda. 1 rosemary sprig. 2 cups ice. tall serving glass. shaker/strainer. optional: borage flowers or other blue edible flowers for garnish.

start by combining the watermelon juice, vodka and lemon juice in the base of your shaker with half the ice. remove the bottom two thirds of leaves from the rosemary sprig. smash and tear up the rosemary leaves and add them to the shaker. shake vigorously for 30 seconds to combine everything and to release the oils from the rosemary. fill your serving glass with the remaining ice. strain the contents of your shaker over ice. top the cocktail off with club soda. stir well and garnish with the rosemary sprig and edible flowers. serve and enjoy.

well folks, it is hard to believe, but i am just twelve weeks away from meeting our little nugget. when i was in the early days of my pregnancy, sick as a dog and wondering what the hell i had gotten myself into, days DRAGGED on. the idea of being in the final trimester was something i couldn’t even fathom.

for the first six months, my main concern was just feeling human again. there wasn’t a whole lot of time to miss cocktails or wine in between the barfing and the sleeping. but now that it is warming up and i’m feeling like a functional member of society again, i do miss sipping a cool cocktail in the sun.

this spritz with a twist is something i am very much looking forward to sampling come august. wes assured me it was as delicious as i thought it would be.

spritz with a twist

serves: 1 cocktail

prep time: 2 minutes

active time: 1 minute

total time: 3 minutes

ingredients: 2 oz vodka. .5 oz campari . 1 oz freshly squeezed orange juice. 5 oz club soda. 1 orange wheel for garnish. edible flower garnish optional. 1 cup ice.

start by filling your serving glass with ice. pour in the vodka, campari and orange juice. stir well to combine. top off with the club soda and give it all a good stir. garnish with orange wheel and edible flower if you have it. serve and enjoy.