Wednesday Mojito Blogging

Those of you not in this area might not have heard, but globally warmed southern California blasted right past spring into summer this weekend as temperatures hit the high 80s and those of us with mint growing looked down and said, "Hey, that mint looks healthy; I'm hot and sweaty; it's mojito season!" I was never a big fan of rum, which was ok because I figure there's got to be at least one alcoholic beverage a person doesn't like, but mojitos changed my mind. Plus you get to muddle, and given muddling along is usually a bad thing, it's fun to redeem a word while hoisting one's drink.


Mojito ala Jorge

In a pretty glass that you inherited from your parents' swankier cocktail days, stir together the juice of half a lime and 2 tsp. confectioner's sugar. Strip the leaves from a sprig of mint (reserving the cute top leave cluster for your garni), dump into the lime-sugar, and mash with a muddler. You really want to bruise that mint and release its minty oils. Fill glass about 3/4 with crushed ice (you do have an ice crusher, don't you? you'll need one when the Derby rolls around). Add 2 oz of white rum. Stir so that the lime-sugar and most importantly the mashed mint leaves get distributed amongst the ice and rum. Decide if you need a bit more ice, as some will have melted and some will do something fantastically scientific and make the glass a bit frosty. Top off with a splash of carbonated water, and give another quick stir. Take a triangularish wedge of lime and rub around the glass's rim, then drop that in the drink. Artfully insert the reserved cute top mint leave cluster into the ice.

Try not to drink more than one.