Yesterday, Dave and I celebrated our 4 month anniversary 🙂
Those of you out there who are married know how fast the big day goes by – you plan for weeks, months, years even, making sure every last detail is perfect. You lay awake at night (as your “not-stressed-about-the-details” fiance snores away next to you) wondering if it’s all going to go according to plan, playing it all out in your head over and over and over. Then the day finally comes and it’s a blur of aisle walking downage, photo taking, bite of cake eating, 2 bites of dinner eating, “thank-you for coming” repeating, dancing (if you’re lucky) and BOOM it’s over – like THAT!
For us, selecting the perfect signature drink for the night was a big deal. We did lots of brainstorming, and once we figured out what the perfect drink was, we did lots of research and experimentation – and the perfect drink was a Kiwi Mojito, a tribute to our honeymoon trip to New Zealand, a.k.a “kiwi land”. I remember at the wedding, seeing our perfectly planned out Kiwi Mojito in the hands of many guests, thinking “augh, man I gotta get my hands on one of those!” and then next day, as we reminisced over our wedding day, that we couldn’t believe had just come and gone, we both realized that we never got to try one of those damn mojitos! DOH!
So hey, better 4 months late than never, eh?
Kiwi Mojitos
INGREDIENTS
*yields 2 drinks – it is only Monday afterall!
2 kiwis, quartered
6 tbsp. kiwi/mint infused simple syrup
(recipe below)
2 shots of light rum
juice of 2 limes
10 mint leaves, chopped
seltzer water
(I used lime flavored)
FOR SIMPLE SYRUP
2 kiwis, quartered
6 splenda packets
1/2 cup water
10 mint leaves
1) To make the simple syrup: break up the 2 sliced kiwis with the bottom of a wooden spoon to release the juices, then add the 10 mint leaves, 1/2 cup water and splenda and boil over low heat until all the splenda dissolves. Drain the syrup through a mesh strainer and let cool.
2) Take the rest of the kiwi slices and blend in a food processor or blender.
3) In a cocktail shaker, combine the blended kiwi, 6 tbsp. of simple syrup, 2 shots of rum, juice of 2 limes and chopped mint leaves. Muddle with the end of a wooden spoon or muddler and then shake until fully combined.
4) Fill a tall glass with ice and fill half with the kiwi/rum mixture and top the remainder off w/ seltzer water.
Boy were these worth the 4 month wait! They tasted fresh and light, a great summer time drink that all in all, isn’t too bad for you either! Using the splenda in the simple syrup can really save some calories, but of course you can use sugar. It should also be noted that by mistake, I bought Gold Kiwis – which I didn’t even know existed! However, they tasted pretty much the same and made the drinks really pretty!
Gold Kiwis – who knew?
So Happy Monday, and cheers to 4 months!
Mojitos with umbrella straws on a Monday – oh and Dave wanted me to point out his mustache too
So I know, it’s Sunday – and I’m posting Thirsty Thursday’s cocktail – I’m a bad blogger! This weekend in Boston was AMMMMAZZZZZNG so I was trying to take advantage of the fabu weather (this is New England afterall – it could be snowing tomorrow).
BUT, I do have a delicious cocktail recipe for you guys, whether it’s for Thirsty Thursday or Friday or Saturday – or heck maybe even Sunday! Who said you can’t enjoy a cocktail on the Sabbath?
I had bought some herbs at a local farmers market, one of them being mint. I love the smell of fresh mint. It’s just so – minty. And this mint plant really seemed to take off all of a sudden! And I was afraid that if I didn’t start snipping it and doing something with it, it would die.
So what’s the first thing I think of when I think of great uses for fresh mint? MOJITOS, obvi! So I decided to make my own mint infused simple syrup. Most mojito recipes call for simple syrup and mint as well. So why not infuse the mint into the simple syrup?
The mint simple syrup was super easy to make – 3 ingredients (I swapped out the sugar with Splenda to save some calories) – splenda, water and mint leaves.
Mint Simple Syrup
Adapted from Epicurious.com
INGREDIENTS
1 cup water
1 cup splenda (24 mini packets – oof)
1.5 cups packed mint leaves
1) Chop mint. In a saucepan bring sugar, water and mint to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer syrup, undisturbed, 2 minutes. Pour syrup through a fine sieve, pressing hard on solids, and cool.
You can use this right away, or let it sit for up to a week. It’s so yummy!
Skinny Strawberry Mojitos
INGREDIENTS
3 strawberries, sliced
10 mint leaves, chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
1.5 oz rum
1 tsp. powdered strawberry drink mix, like Crystal Light
1 tbsp. mint simple syrup
Seltzer water or Club Soda
1) Take the strawberry slices, chopped mint leaves and the lime juice and muddle at the bottom of a cocktail shaker until combined.
2) To the muddled mixture, add the rum, strawberry drink mix and simple syrup to the cocktail shaker. Shake for about 10-15 seconds until the liquid is fully combined with the muddled fruit.
3) Fill a glass with ice – pour the mixture from the cocktail shaker into the glass and then fill the remainder of the glass with seltzer or club soda.
So, by the power vested in me, go – go now – make yourself one of these mojitos! I’ts Sunday, tomorrow’s Monday, so that means you need to live up these last few hours of the weekend as much as possible. And I would advise doing it with one of these in your hand (maybe in both hands! They’re skinny, so you can have two….or three…..or ten:))
It’s Thursday – and I LOVE Thursday – it’s like Christmas eve in a way, because the next day is FRIDAY, by far the best day of the week! It’s the only day where you know that the next 2 days are yours free and clear (well hopefully they are anyway).
In college, Thursday was the start of the weekend (well, for some Monday was) but for most, it was a great excuse to head out for a pre-weekend bevvie – or two – or ten. And so now even though I’m years away from college, I still get nostalgic every now and again and think “hey, just because I was in college so long ago that Facebook wasn’t even invented yet, I can still have Thirsty Thursday too!”.
So I know – our first post and I’m flying solo – but Dave has a hockey game tonight at some ungodly hour of the night, and refuses to have a drop of booze before his games, so I am going to take one for the team and tackle this first recipe on my own – I mean it’s tough, but for the love of our new blog 🙂
Anyone from Boston, I’m not sure you know of Orinocco in Brookline – I never considered myself to be much of a Latin food lover, but their dishes are interesting and simple enough that you’re not picking things out of it to make it taste like something you would normally eat. More importantly, their mixed drinks are TDF! (that’s To Die For – will be using often hopefully) I’ve been there twice and the Pineapple Mojito is on another level – so much so that I don’t mind sucking up mint leaves (which I sometimes get icke’d out by with regular mojitos) and pineapples are one of my most favorite fruits – so the marriage of the 2 is just beyond…
So tonight, on Thirsty Thursday, I’m doin’ it – I’m going to try to recreate this amazing drink that I have in my head too many times to be called normal, and while I’m anticipating that it won’t be quite as delish as it is having a handsome Latin bartender make it, I’m hoping maybe it will be a close second.
After doing some research, I’ve modified a recipe that I think will do the trick:
The Players
INGREDIENTS
6 or so 1-inch pineapple chunks
(you could use canned – but I’m fresh – so I like things fresh 🙂 also saves a few calories since canned usually has more sugar in it)
6-8 Mint Leaves
(I like to chop mine a bit, so they’re not so leafy)
2 oz Simple Syrup
(to save on calories, I bascially took 1 packet of splenda and dissolved it into 2 tbsp of water -equal parts)
Juice of 1 lime
3 oz. rum (2 shots)
(you could use pineapple flavored rum if you really want to do it up – I used plain though)
Splash of pineapple juice
(I used the Goya brand)
Splash of Polar Diet Orange Dry
(again, trying to save a bit on calories – you could probably use orange juice too!)
1) Muddle together pineapple chunks (which I threw in the food processor to make a little smaller, but it’s not absolutely necessary) and mint leaves.
You’ve been muddled
2) Add simple syrup, lime juice and rum and shake together to mix.
3) Pour mixture over ice in a glass and then top off with a splash of pineapple juice and a splash of Polar Diet Orange dry (again, used to save calories – you could use Fanta orange soda if you want a little ‘fizz’ or just straight up orange juice)
Research is tough
My very own pineapple mojito – maybe not quite the same as Orinocco’s, but mine was still delicious and refreshing and not too too bad for you if you weigh out the ingredients and their nutritional value (really the only source of calories coming from the pineapple juice and the rum).
So cheers to thirsty thursday and even more importantly – to FRIDAY!
And They Cooked Happily Ever After 