End of Summer Drink

Ingredients:

- 1 shot of white rum

- 1/4 cup pineapple juice

- 5 fresh mint leaves

- apple juice

Directions:

Pour the rum and pineapple juice into a glass.  Smash the mint leaves into the bottom of the glass.  Fill the glass with ice, and pour apple juice over the ice.  Stir and enjoy.  

This drink is a great summery drink, and the rum is barely noticeable, so I bet this would be terrific without the rum too.  I love a good drink mix that can double for people who drink, and those who don't.  Though I suppose it could be dangerous with kids around.  They might think mommy's drink is the same, and get a bit loopy.  Anyway great drink, and I love how it looks like a summer ale.  The mint adds a nice subtle hint of freshness.  

Today was our kick-off luncheon for the fall season at work.  Which means from here on until the holidays I'll be busy busy busy.  Aaron and I are going on a little date night out to a local brewery restaurant.  It's over in Downington, Pennsylvania, called Victory Brewery.  We've never been, but Aaron enjoys their beers, and I've heard good things from a couple I work with.  We are excited to check it out!  Hope ya'll have some fun weekend plans, and happy DIYing, chris!

Kiwi and Cherries Cocktail

Happy Thirsty Thursday!  For this weeks edition I made a Kiwi and Cherries Cocktail.

Ingredients:

- A shot of white rum

- 1 kiwi

- Cherry 7up

- 2 maraschino cherries

Directions:

Pour a shot of white rum in a glass.  Cut up the kiwi into bite sized pieces, and dump into the glass. Smoosh the kiwi slices into the bottom of the glass. Fill the glass with ice, and pour the cherry 7up over the ice.  Top with two maraschino cherries.  Stir and serve.  

I used an older kiwi, and it has a strong flavor of kiwis.  Sweet and tropical. 

Things have been stressful with the house, and I'm ready to move past this phase.  I want to be moved in there, and thinking about furnishing not construction.  I know eventually things will come together, but on some days it's hard to remember that.  I'm so busy with the house and work and the blog all the time, I have this ever growing list of things I'd like to read, and it's just growing larger and larger.  Well maybe I'll go read a little, and enjoy my drink.  Have a lovely evening, and happy DIYing, chris!

Cherry Rum

Happy thirsty thursday! I hope you love cherries as much as I do.

Ingredients:

1 shot of white rum

half shot of grenadine

5 fresh cherries

cherry 7up

Directions:

Pour the rum and grenadine into a glass.  Cut the cherries in half, and remove the pits.  Place cherries in the glass, and mash into the rum and grenadine.  Add ice, and pour the cherry 7up over the ice, filling the glass.  Stir and enjoy!

This was so good, I'm thinking about making a second right now.  I rarely go for a second, so that says a lot.  Hope ya'll are having a fantastic thursday, and happy DIYing, chris!  

Kiwi Nectarine Cocktail

Happy Thirsty Thursday!  Today I have another white rum cocktail.  I have a habit of wanting to use up whatever I have before I buy new stuff.  I've wanted to branch out of just making white rum cocktails, but that's what I have, so that's what I'm using.  I'm not really one to have a stocked bar.  Maybe now that we are homeowners, we might change that.  :)  Anyway, today I made a Kiwi and Nectarine Cocktail.  

Ingredients:

- half a kiwi

- half a nectarine

- a shot of white rum

- a half shot of simple syrup

- 7Up

Directions:

Cut the fruit up.  Pour the white rum and simple syrup into the glass.  Then smash the fruit into the bottom of the cup.  Add ice, and fill up with 7up.  Stir, and drink!  

Yum!  Like Aaron said you can barely taste the rum, but yet it's not super sugary either.  Another perfect summer cocktail.  Fruit and white rum always equal a win in my book!  Now I need to go relax, and enjoy my cocktail! :)  Happy DIYing, chris.  

Plum, Kiwi, Pineapple Cocktail

Happy Thirsty Thursday.  I got so wrapped up in work, and then my house I almost forgot about today's post.  So after dinner I had to run out to get some supplies to make a drink with.  I didn't have ANYTHING in the house I could use.  I knew I wanted to use fresh fruit, and this is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

- half a plum

- half a kiwi

- two or three chunks of pineapple

- white rum

- 7up

- simple syrup

Directions:

Chop the fruit up into small pieces.  Pour a shot of rum, and half a shot of simple syrup into a glass.  Drop all the fruit in, and mash into the bottom of the glass.  Put a few ice cubes in, and then pour in the 7up.  Mix, and now you have a tasty refreshing summery drink.  

This drink is the perfect mixture of fruit and alcohol.  It tastes like a tropical island,  but not in an overly sugary way.  

I'm so glad I randomly grabbed this yummy fruit.  Just the kind of cocktail I like to end my week with.  Happy Thursday, and happy DIYing, chris!

A New Series: Happy Thirsty Thursday!

Last week I shared my recipe for a Cherry Mojito on (thirsty) Thursday, and it got me thinking this might make an awesome regular series.  So here we are, Happy Thirsty Thursday!  Mint grows like wild fire, and I keep thinking up new mojito recipes to put it to good use.  We had some fresh strawberries, so I decided to give them a try.  

Ingredients: (for one Strawberry Mojito)

- half a lemon

- half a lime

- mint leaves (7 - 10 leaves)

- a couple strawberries

- half a shot of simple syrup

- a shot of white rum

I started by picking some fresh mint.  I used about ten leaves.  I rinsed those off, plus a couple deep red strawberries.  I dropped the mint into the bottom of my glass, and sliced a strawberry up, dropping the slices into the glass as well.  Then I squeezed half a lemon and half a lime, removed the seeds, and poured the liquid into the glass.  Next, I poured in a shot of light rum, and a half shot of simple syrup.  If you would like to make your own simple syrup, check out my recipe here.  I mashed all that stuff together in the bottom of my glass, making sure to break up the strawberry slices, and smoosh the mint.   Once it was nice and flavorful looking I filled the glass up with ice, and poured my club soda over the top.  I used the wild cherry club soda I had leftover from my Cherry Mojito recipe, but I'm sure this would be great with regular club soda too.  

To finish off the look I sliced up my other strawberry, and tucked the slices in around the ice.  I saved one slice to spear with the top bunch of mint leaves, and float on the top of the drink.  I didn't realize how simple it is to make layered drinks like this.  All that red on the bottom is sooooo pretty.  Be sure to stir before you take you start drinking though, because other wise all the rum and favor will stay on the bottom, making your last sip beyond strong.  Ha!  I made this last night, and looking at these photos this morning makes me want to make one right now!  This drink is dangerous, you totally can't taste the rum in it at all.  Yet at the same time it's not overly sweet tasting.  The lemon and lime juices balance out the sweetness of the strawberries and the simple syrup, and it makes for a super refreshing light summery drink.  

While you're reading this I'll be hanging out on LBI with one of my favorite buddies from college.  I'm going by myself, which isn't something I do often, but it's nice to have some girl time.  I love Aaron, but I'm pretty sure I love him even more after a day or two with the girls.  :)  I wish I had more girlfriends that lived near me, so I could have girl nights more regularly.  i don't have too many friends that live close by.  The few awesome buddies I do have, don't know each other, so it's usually Aaron and I, and another couple hanging out together.  Maybe one day I'll invite all my lady friends over, and do lady things together.  Like painting our nails, and talk about hair, and boys.  :)  

Hope you have a lovely thirsty thursday, and happy DIYing, chris!  

Cherry Mojito

It's still super hot here.  Heat wave central. Hello, Summer!  I know a great way for (adults) to cool off on these hot summer evenings.  A nice cold alcoholic beverage.  I don't drink much, and when I do it's usually a Jack and coke.  I say coke but I prefer pepsi, and every once in awhile I'll reach for a ginger ale instead of a pepsi as my mixer.  I've also been know to mix my whiskey with root beer, which I know is completely bonkers.  Also, I'm not too brand specific on my whiskey, nothing that's cheaper than Jack Daniels, which really isn't anything special.  

Wow, that was a little rant about my go to alcoholic beverage!  Anywho ... in the summertime I enjoy a good cocktail.  I get more adventurous with my adult beverages, and I start experimenting more.  Today I came up with a Cherry Mojito.  MMM!  I definitely dig a good mojito.  The mint and lemon lime flavor is so crisp, and refreshing on a super hot day.  I didn't want to mess with that classic flavor too much, but I figured I like all cherry flavored things, so how could this go wrong?  I'm so happy I tried this, so super tasty.  I think I'll be making this again!  

What You'll Need:

- white rum

- simple syrup (or water & sugar)

- fresh mint

- half a lemon

- rose grenadine

- maraschino cherries

- cherry soda

Directions:

I started off by making some simple syrup.  I made a small batch, by boiling 3/4 cup of water in a saucepan, and then I lowered the heat and added 3/4 cup of white sugar.  I continuously stirred the two ingredients together until the sugar had completely dissolved.  This only took about five minutes at most.  I funneled this into a small bottle, and chilled it in the refrigerator.  I went through some extra old junk mail, and catalogues, while that cooled down for a bit.  

About an hour later I picked some of my orange mint, and rinsed that off in the sink.  I placed about five to seven leaves in my pint glass.  Next, I squeezed the juice of my half lemon in the glass.  I poured in a shot of rum, a half shot of the simple syrup, and I mashed that all together.    Then I poured in a half shot of rose grenadine, added some ice, and filled the glass with some store brand wild cherry soda.  Mixed it up, added some mint, and a maraschino cherry for garnish.  

It's fantastic!! Not too sugary, not too fruity, not too rummy.  A great spin on an old favorite.  Hope you enjoy, and happy Thirsty Thursday! :)  Oh, and in case you're more a beer person, the glass I'm drinking this out of is from a brewing company called Twin Lakes.  It's brewed right here in my home state, Delaware.  I'm not a beer person, but Aaron is, and he says their beer is great.  Happy DIYing, chris.