summer chillers

After seeing the excellent and deeply moving film Beasts of the Southern Wild with one of my close friends, two “little beasts in a big world” wiped the tears from their eyes and left the theater in search of a libation. Not sure where we wanted to bend our elbows, we walked for a few blocks right into McCormick and Schmick’s. Now serving is a tasty sangria made with what I think starts with muddled cucumbers and strawberries mixed with Bacardi Limón and finished off with Prosecco over lots of ice.

Very refreshing, I drank three! I will be back but plan to attempt making it myself along with another recipe…

Watermelon Cooler

1C watermelon cut in chunks
1/2 banana (if you want cold w/o adding ice, freeze)
3 ice cubes
1/2 C coconut water
Juice of 1/2 small lemon or lime (2 tbsp)
3 mint OR basil leaves
Combine all in blender adding little more coconut water if needed. **

That’s the version I read in a magazine, but here’s my twist on it….lose the banana and add a splash or two or whatever you feel of iced vodka, blend then serve over crushed ice. Now that’s a Watermelon Chiller! (I did a search and found several recipes for watermelon coolers with various ingredients with and without alcohol so have some fun experimenting).

Iced tea, not of the bar kind, never fails to chill me down when I'm in summer heat. I prefer home made however cracking open an iced cold bottle will do me just fine and on that note…

keep your peepers open!®

ps - go see the movie...

**pps - I actually made the watermelon cooler later today according to the original recipe...coconut water is quite dominent, so I added more melon, couple more chunks of frozen banana and yes, a hefty splash of Kettle One, yum :)