if you have been watching my instagram story, or you know me in real life, you know that my current obsession is my passion fruit vine. it was a gift from my mother-in-law nancy, and it has been growing in our garden for about two years now. it started off slow, but in the last year has grown to become a full on covering over our side yard. and it is COVERED in hundreds of purple passion fruits. since we have had it, it has produced some fruit here and there, but nothing like this season. this season it took off. the fruits have been sitting on the vine for months now, just teasing me as they slowly start to change colors from green to purple before they finally fall to the ground.

well, it is finally happening. the fruit are falling and they are falling in mass. i've woken up to as many as eight at a time littering the garden floor. no joke, i feel like a kid at christmas. but now that i have them all and then are starting to ripen left and right, it's time to put them to use. and before i did anything fancy, i just wanted to enjoy some passion fruit in all it's glory. and for me, that means with vodka. i'm keeping it simple this week. passion fruit and my favorite cocktail. a classic vodka soda. no muss or fuss here. just delicious, refreshing, tropical fruit and crisp vodka soda. 

passion fruit vodka soda
serves: 1 cocktail
prep time: 2 minutes
active time: 1 minute
total time: 3 minutes
ingredients: 1.5 oz vodka. 5 oz club soda. 2 passion fruit. 1 tsp sugar. 1 cup crushed ice. edible flower for garnish.

start by slicing both your passion fruits in half. reserve 1 half for garnish scoop out the pulp and seeds of the other 1.5 passion fruits. combine the fruit and sugar and mix well.

then pour your vodka over ice in your serving glass. 

add in the sweetened passion fruit pulp and seeds. 

top off with the club soda. 

garnish with the remaining half a passion fruit, edible flower if you are using and serve. 

enjoy!

xo, a

passion fruit vodka soda
serves: 1 cocktail
prep time: 2 minutes
active time: 1 minute
total time: 3 minutes
ingredients: 1.5 oz vodka. 5 oz club soda. 2 passion fruit. 1 tsp sugar. 1 cup crushed ice. edible flower for garnish.
tart by slicing both your passion fruits in half. reserve 1 half for garnish scoop out the pulp and seeds of the other 1.5 passion fruits. combine the fruit and sugar and mix well. then pour your vodka over ice in your serving glass. add in the sweetened passion fruit pulp and seeds. top off with the club soda. garnish with the remaining half a passion fruit, edible flower if you are using and serve. enjoy!

hallelujah. 

we made it. to say i'm happy it is friyay would be the understatement of the year. now that i've got a beverage in my belly and some time in the ocean under my belt, i'm finally starting to RELAX. 

in the last two weeks i've taught two dozen spin and yoga classes, a dozen swim lessons, made a dozen cakes and catered for a dozen girls. and i capped it all off this morning, teaching yoga to a class that include my studios founder. i can't lie, i was heavily feeling the nerves. but it is over, it went great, and i survived the marathon of dozens. 

after the madness, it was drink time. my girlfriend nicole is in town from colorado and she is loving shirley temples these days, so we made a twist on the classic lemon lime soda + grenadine drink. 

dirty shirley
serves: 1 cocktail
prep time: 10 minutes
active time: 2 minutes
total time: 12 minutes ingredients: 5 oz lemon lime soda (sprite or 7up). 2 oz vodka. .5 oz campari. .5 oz grenadine. 5 bing cherries. basil sprig for garnish. cup of ice. 

start by breaking up 3 of your cherries and soaking them in the vodka, letting the vodka infuse with the cherry flavor. you could soak these for ten minutes, up to overnight if you like. after the cherries soaked, strain out the cherry chunks. 

in a glass with all your ice, pour in the grenadine and campari. 

pour in the cherry infused vodka.

top off with lemon-lime soda. 

garnish with basil and the remaining cherries and enjoy. 

xo, a

dirty shirley serves: 1 cocktail
prep time: 10 minutes
active time: 2 minutes
total time: 12 minutes ingredients: 5 oz lemon lime soda (sprite or 7up). 2 oz vodka. .5 oz campari. .5 oz grenadine. 5 bing cherries. basil sprig for garnish. cup of ice. start by breaking up 3 of your cherries and soaking them in the vodka, letting the vodka infuse with the cherry flavor. you could soak these for ten minutes, up to overnight if you like. after the cherries soaked, strain out the cherry chunks. in a glass with all your ice, pour in the grenadine and campari. pour in the cherry infused vodka. top off with lemon-lime soda. garnish with basil and the remaining cherries and enjoy.