Yummy Almeria

As some of you know I have been on a diet so when I have been allowing myself a sundowner I have been conscious of how many calories I am having!  Spritzers get a bit on the dull side and so I consulted my trusty cocktail book and decided that the Mojito was the diet drink of choice for last night!  (Mind you, only the one otherwise it is a bit of a pointless exercise!).

The Mojito was first made in Cuba where rum was served to slaves for medicinal purposes (no really) and mint, water and sugar was added for a pick-me-up.  It literally means “something a little wet” – Mojito sound nicer!

It is still hot until late into the evening and so this lovely cooling drink is just the thing and very easy (like a lot of cocktails).

Ingredients

1 tsp white sugar (or low calorie sweetener if you are really serious about the calories!)

a good squeeze of Lime juice (you can use lemon if you don’t have limes in the house)

a handful of mint sprigs (this is essential so if, unlike me, you don’t have a herb patch, you need to pop out and get some).  Don’t cut off the stalks because there is a lot of mint oil in them which enhances the flavour.

Soda water

50ml white rum

A dash of Angostura bitters (anyone who likes cocktails will always have a bottle of this strange stuff!!!)

Slices of lime to serve

138k calories per cocktail – yippee

Put the sugar in the bottom of a glass and pour the citrus juice over just to cover.

Add 2 long sprigs of Mint and gently “pound” with a spoon.

Add lots of ice and fill two-thirds full with soda.

Add the rum, stir and then add a dash of the bitters.

Throw in a couple of slices of lime and enjoy!

It is so hot at the moment and Mick and I have had a couple of days at the cortijo on our own.  We have been working hard and even when people leave there is always a lot to do to keep on top of everything.  At the end of the day, on occasions, we feel we deserve a sundowner (not every day of course!).  It is nice for a change to our usual tipple of a glass of wine or a G&T to make up a cocktail from one of our cocktail books or to experiment with new ones.

This one, however, needs no looking up as it is so simple and very refreshing on a sweltering evening by the swimming pool.  Also, it is not to potent as there is only one shot of alcohol (lots of our cocktails contain at least 2 or 3 different alcoholic ingredients!).

Try this one for yourselves – it doesn’t even need a cocktail shaker!

To make one cocktail

2 shots dark rum

A good slug of freshly squeezed lime juice

Coca Cola (I must say that no other cola will do for me – diet coke obviously reduces the calories)

Lime wedge to serve

Pour the rum and lime juice into an ice filled highball glass and top up with Coca Cola and Stir.  Garnish with the lime and a couple of straws if you like and sip away.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mick and I have decided to stay home for Valentine’s and cook dinner together before watching a movie under the stars!  Yes, it will be chilly tonight but we have patio heaters and fur blankets and Kevin and Digby (our hounds) will clamber up on the sofa with us and keep us warm!  Mick doesn’t like the fizzy stuff so I am making a pre dinner cocktail of Valentine’s Planter’s Punch – the only difference is that I will colour it bright red!  Our friends Rob and Nevenka brought us a whole bag of limes over on Saturday – they have 400 hundred lime trees!  If you want to have a go too you will need per person:-

50 ml Dark Rum

25 ml freshly squeezed lime juice

Sugar Syrup

Angostura bitters

Soda

Lime wedges

Fill your cocktail shaker with ice and pour in the rum and lime juice.  Add a dash of the sugar syrup (water and sugar boiled together in a saucepan and cooled). Add a dash or two of angostura bitters.  Give it a good old shake and stain into tall glasses filled with ice.  Top up with soda and garnish with a wedge of lime and a couple of straws.

Add a little red food colouring if you are in the Valentine’s mood.

Please forgive me for including something with pomegranates so soon but I have just scrumped another 4 kilos of the things and so thought I would juice some (as it is a super food of course) and include it in a cocktail (not included in the super food category I’m afraid).  As the juice is such a delicate hue and flavour, vodka is the obvious choice for the alcoholic bit – this may well already be a cocktail but I have never come across it. Only serve one before dinner though as it is, like many cocktails, subtle in its affect on one and it does need a good slug of vodka not to taste a bit like lolly water! We’ve called it a Pometini! Here goes

For two cocktails

One great slug of vodka (I would say 4 pub measures)

Juice of two large pomegranates

Juice of a lime

Splash of soda water

2 thin slices of lime

Put ice in your cocktail shaker and add the vodka, pomegranate juice and lime juice

Shake

Strain into cocktail glasses three quarters full

Top up with soda water or mineral water

Add a slice of lime

Voila!

Bank holiday Monday evening and Mick and I are alone again (apart from Kevin and Digby of course) – our 10 guests have left and it is eerily quiet – we sit at the bar waiting for a breath of breeze and drop in temperature of a degree or two.  Mick is making me my favourite sundowner – Margarita.  Ironic really as I am unable to drink tequila on its own since 1990 when I had one too many tequila slammers and threw up on Lesley Churnside’s new shoes – things were never the same between us after that.  Anyhow, let’s not dwell on it, dig out your cocktail shaker, smash some ice up and see what is in the drinks cabinet.  For this one you will need:-

50 ml of silver or gold tequila

25 ml of fresh lime (although I use much more than this as I love the taste)

20 ml of triple sec or cointreau

Sling everything in the shaker with the crushed ice, and here’s my twist, add some fresh mint too, it is delicious

Rub the rim of a chilled glass with a wedge of lime and then dip into a saucer of fine salt.

Give the cocktail shaker a good old shake and strain into the glass.  Sublime.  Happy bank holiday.