The half-full glass might have something to do with missing the boat on National Margarita Day by a few days. There is something to be said for testing and re-testing your recipes.
My infamous margarita recipe is one of a series of drinks recipes I “researched” during my days as a contributor to eHow. In addition to my fancy drink series, I also wrote an article about Making Life Changing Coffee in a French Press and one on the Differences between a Prairie Dog and a Groundhog and about 300 others all archived forever for the erudition of mankind.
Almost always served by the pitcher…here are some key factors to make your margarita as life-changing as my coffee in a French press is:
The main ingredients in a pitcher of margaritas is tequila, and like all cooking, baking and drinks making, the better ingredients you use, the better your margaritas will tastes. My recommendation is a 100 per cent un-aged silver agave tequila. The same goes for the other ingredients that go into the pitcher for this refreshing summer cocktail. Buy quality triple sec to give it that nice orange sweetness and use only freshly squeezed lime juice. Use lots of ice to make it frosty cold. Warning: Once you have tasted a real pitcher of margaritas with top ingredients you will forever shun the artificially-flavoured, pre-made margarita mixes.
Here is what you will need:
- Large pitcher
- 3 cups tequila
- 1 cup triple sec
- 2 cups fresh squeezed-lime juice (about 10 limes)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- Lime wedges for garnish
- 4 to 6 tbsp. additional lime juice for rimming the glass
- 4 to 6 tbsp. coarse salt
- Martini or other fancy cocktail glass
- Chill the tequila, triple sec and empty pitcher for a few hours in the fridge.
- Squeeze about 10 limes to make 2 cups of lime juice and reserve an additional 4 to 6 tbsp for glass rimming, chill in the fridge for a few hours.
- Mix 3 cups of chilled tequila, one cup of triple sec, 1/3 cup sugar and 2 cups of chilled, fresh-squeezed lime juice into the pitcher just before serving.
- Rim the glasses by dipping them in a saucer of lime juice and then in a saucer of coarse salt.
- Pour into prepared cocktail glasses, add ice and garnish with a slice of lime.
Fit is also key to the success of Shades of Linen. The designs are well-thought out in the first place to fit comfortably and flatter almost anyone and because they were made in- house, they can be custom fit, and the best part…custom fit for no extra charge. Who does that anymore? My mother-in-law is a typical customer. She saw a jacket she liked but wanted it in black. Voila, a few days later it was ready. Often this transaction happens through the mail where Diane will even send fabric swatches for customers to choose from.
If it looks like the gardens were deserted, it’s because they pretty much were. We were at Loseley for a piano recital by British pianist Emilie Capulet and the garden was ours for an hour in the early evening sun, perfect for photography.
…show, don’t gush…
A labour of love. Lots of labour…lots of love. The Handyman built me an English secret garden over the past five years. I can’t wait for spring so I’m jumping ahead a few months.
Handyman can do pretty much anything with some rental equipment. The garden is located on what was a hill. We, well…he raised it even more and levelled it before installing cedar fencing around the perimeter.
Stuff grows like Jack’s magic beanstalk with the good soil, proper irrigation and the protection from the wind. I’ve never seen anything like it. After moving from Calgary with its challenging gardening conditions its hard to have any discipline or order. I have a tendency to plant some of everything so it’s an editing work in progress.
“The Secret Garden was what Mary called it when she was thinking of it. She liked the name, and she liked still more the feeling that when its beautiful old walls shut her in no one knew where she was. It seemed almost like being shut out of the world in some fairy place.” Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden.
At Township 7 Vineyards and Winery on B. C.’s Naramata Bench, assistant winemaker Stephanie Norton Minnick told me she only had about two days off last year between Oct. 4 and Nov. 7.
She told me this after winemaker Bradley Cooper had hired me on as a part-time worker, but it might explain why he chose me just a few months before the grape harvest. He was clearly looking for help of any kind, and unfortunately the sort of burly guy with winery skills he was really looking for was making himself scarce.
Like many in the Okanagan, Township 7 is a relatively small winery (set up to produce about 7,000 cases a year) that uses every centimetre of space to make more wine (12,000 cases in 2008).
I learned a lot of things, like the winemaker’s mantra, “It takes a lot of beer to make good wine,” that working well together in a crew can be hugely rewarding, the crush smells good–and the purple stains eventually come off.
Anthropomorphism? I don’t think so. Dudley the pig is definitely smiling in the sun on this spring-like day at Andy’s Animal Acres on the Naramata Bench.
Andy learned her animal husbandry skills during a 10-year stint at Maplewood Farms in North Vancouver. She turned her property from weeds and dirt to home for more than 60 farm animals over a period of eight years, opening to the public in the spring of 2013. A labour of love, it costs her more than $900 a month to feed all the critters and insure her business. Then there are vet bills, heating lamps, equipment….and “constant, constant, constant labour.”
There are some great rewards though.
And a whole lot of love on the farm.
It’s all fun and games until a goat jumps on your back.
This 1976 stamp, just about the same size as the book, was tucked inside by my dad or mum.
naramata-blend 