A Pink Affair

Yesterday, I realized that I'd forgotten to eat the strawberries I bought on sale at Central Market. 

Whoops. 

In an effort to save them in a creative way--i.e. drink them--I decided to make strawberry margaritas. I wanted to do something a little different (translation: I'm out of Grand Marnier).

I just made something up, and the drink was so simple and so tasty, I had two. Okay, three.

I named my drink a "Pink Lady Baby" in honor of the Cardinal babies that are flying around my house this spring, but it's so simple, I'm sure it exists out there somewhere under a different name.

The Pink Lady Baby

1.5 oz Silver Tequila (I used El Berrinche because that's what I had)

.5 oz St. Germain Elderflower liquor

1 oz simple syrup

1 oz Stirrings Grenadine

Juice of 1 good lime

However many pieces of strawberry you have lying around

I muddled the tequila, St. Germain, and strawberries, added the other ingredients, shook and poured straight into a collins with a salted rim.

Yum, yum, yum! Easy, refreshing, and perfect for spring. 

¡Salud!

Maybe that last shot was a mistake...

What I really needed today was a Corpse Reviver. But we're out of Lillet Blanc.

The next best thing, and my favorite remedy for the next-day-shaky-stomach that comes with too much tequila, is the Michelada.

Every restaurant does them differently, if they do them at all, so if you order one at ten different places, you're bound to get ten completely different drinks.

For example, at El Chile, Micheladas come with draft Dos Equis with a sweet and spicy chile salt. At Trudy's you'll get the bottled beer of your choice with a side of lime juice and a side of bloody mary mix to pour in your glass--no ice. At Vivo, along with your choice of bottled beer, you get a kosher salt-rimmed pint, chock full of ice, with lime, Clamato, celery salt, Worcestershire, Tabasco, and black pepper already in the glass. 

And at the grocery store you get this eerie concoction of Budweiser, Clamato, and lime... *shudder*

And to make things even worse, most Michelada enthusiasts have completely opposite ideas of how to define them. So how are you supposed to know how to order them?

A Michelada is a lot like any other drink--in that everyone thinks they know the way it should be made. But in all actuality, you can make it however you want--and therein lies the beauty of it. It's personal, it's therapeutic, and it will cure whatever ails you.

So, today, this is what I want in my Michelada. 

I want the spice to hit the bottom of my belly with a soothing slap, dissolving all remnants of the previous nights debauchery. It should be savory, smoky, and above all else--ice ice cold. I want salt, salt, and more salt, and lots and lots of Tabasco.

The Players:

Tabasco, Lea & Perrins, celery salt, freshly ground black pepper, and one good juicy lime.

Because I don't like ice in mine, I always make sure my glass and my beer are very, very cold.

I use good ol' kosher salt on the rim, but I've tried it with smoked sea salt before and it was amazing. 

Juice a whole lime in the glass and add the other four ingredients to taste. Then pour the beer of your choice in slowly and enjoy!

What's the best part about this recipe? It's actually even better with a freezing cold Topo Chico--for those days when you can't have a beer. And it's still just as effective and yummy.

How do you make your Micheladas?