the spring gods are shining down on us. it’s supposed to be in the high seventies/low eighties all weekend long in orange county and i am foot loose and catering free. so i will be enjoying this glorious weekend with an easy drinking, warm weather cocktail. and what says sunny weather more than a margarita?

nothing.

cooling cucumber makes this margarita go down really SMOOTH. be careful, the first one will practically drink itself, so you may just need to make two.

cucumber & cilantro margarita

serves: 1 cocktail

pre time: 3 minutes

active time: 2 minutes

total time: 5 minutes

ingredients: 2 oz tequila. 2 oz cucumber juice (i juiced 1 cucumber and got about 6 oz of cucumber juice. if you do not have a juicer, you can purée the cucumber and strain the juice with a mesh strainer. it took me about 2 minutes). 1 oz triple sec. .5 oz orange juice, small orange wedge for garnish optional. .5 oz lime juice. 15 cilantro leaves + an extra sprig for garnish. 2 cups of ice. shaker. muddler.

in the base of your shaker, combine the tequila and the cilantro leaves.

muddle until the cilantro is smashed to bits and the tequila is green in color.

pour in the triple sec, the juices and pour in half the ice. shake well till everything is well combined and chilled.

fill your serving glass with ice and strain in the contents of the shaker. into the glass.

garnish with orange and cilantro.

serve and enjoy.

xo, a

cucumber & cilantro margarita

serves: 1 cocktail

pre time: 3 minutes

active time: 2 minutes

total time: 5 minutes

ingredients: 2 oz tequila. 2 oz cucumber juice (i juiced 1 cucumber and got about 6 oz of cucumber juice. if you do not have a juicer, you can purée the cucumber and strain the juice with a mesh strainer. it took me about 2 minutes). 1 oz triple sec. .5 oz orange juice, small orange wedge for garnish optional. .5 oz lime juice. 15 cilantro leaves + an extra sprig for garnish. 2 cups of ice. shaker. muddler.

in the base of your shaker, combine the tequila and the cilantro leaves. muddle until the cilantro is smashed to bits and the tequila is green in color. pour in the triple sec, the juices and pour in half the ice. shake well till everything is well combined and chilled. fill your serving glass with ice and strain in the contents of the shaker. into the glass. garnish with orange and cilantro. serve and enjoy.

spring has sprung and i am thrilled. i love the rain, and it’s been so wonderful having a wet winter (we needed it), but i am a summer girl and i'm ready for warmer weather.

now that it is lighter longer and we cut back the passion fruit vine that had taken over our yard, we are sprucing things up in the garden. wes spent the last two days reorganizing the whole yard and reinforcing all of our planting spaces and it looks amazing. a very far cry form the six foot tall bed of weeds we inherited when we moved in here together almost six years ago.

to assist in the garden spruce up, i headed to our local nursery to pick up some bee favorites, herbs and edible flowers. and the beautiful fresh basil i got had to go into today’s super refreshing paloma.

basil paloma

prep time: 3 minutes

active time: 1 minute

total time: 4 minutes

ingredients: 2 oz tequila. 3 oz fresh grapefruit juice + a small grapefruit wedge for garnish. club soda. 4 freshly chopped basil leaves + extra for garnish. 2 cups ice. shaker. edible flowers optional for garnish.

start by combining half the basil, the tequila and grapefruit juice in a shaker with half the ice. shake well to combine about thirty seconds, till the basil is beaten up and the oils released.

fill your serving glass with the rest of the basil and ice. pour the contents of your shaker over ice.

top off with club soda.

garnish with grapefruit wedge, basil sprig and edible flowers and serve.

xo, a

basil paloma

prep time: 3 minutes

active time: 1 minute

total time: 4 minutes

ingredients: 2 oz tequila. 3 oz fresh grapefruit juice + a small grapefruit wedge for garnish. club soda. 4 freshly chopped basil leaves + extra for garnish. 2 cups ice. shaker. edible flowers optional for garnish.

start by combining half the basil, the tequila and grapefruit juice in a shaker with half the ice. shake well to combine about thirty seconds, till the basil is beaten up and the oils released. fill your serving glass with the rest of the basil and ice. pour the contents of your shaker over ice. top off with club soda. garnish with grapefruit wedge, basil sprig and edible flowers and serve.