Success!

Determined not to be beat by the semi-failure of last week's Drink of the Week, I experimented with perfecting it. Molly (and Brandon) - - THANK YOU! Brandon suggested to Molly that I don't need to juice the cucumber (which I was absolutely dreading), but instead I should just muddle the cucumbers with the other ingredients and it would work fine. Fine? It was Perfect! I got out one of my nicest pitchers (I just knew this drink was going to deserve to be in a fancy pitcher) and filled it with cucumber slices, mint leaves and a little bit of sugar (I thought maybe the grit of the sugar would help with the muddling. No idea if that is true. I often do stuff like that) and muddled away. And then muddled some more, and some more. Then I squeezed half of a lemon over the muddled mess and poured tonic over the top almost filling the pitcher. I used tonic rather than club soda, since it has sweetness and bitterness - - just like me. A splash of rose's sweetened lime juice and a big hearty stir and we were ready to go. I took a test sip (uh - yum!) and popped it in the fridge. Now I was giddy with excitement. This was good. So much better. Dumb Mr. Q Cumber soda trying to screw up my Drink of the Week. I'll show you. Lisa and Jeff arrived about an hour later (plenty of time for the drink to chill to perfection) and I quickly served up a round of elixirs. Andrew said that he didn't want one quite yet, but I poured him one anyway. I was just that confident. For it is quite possibly the drink of the summer (I know it's not summer yet, but it was 92 degrees yesterday so that must count for something). We drank the whole pitcher quite quickly and then mourned the fact that I was out of tonic and cucumbers so we would have to switch to somethin boring like beer. I'll definitely be running out to the store today for more cucumbers, and you, my friend, should do the same.

New and Improved Cucumber Lemon Elixir

1 medium cucumber (not the fancy kind, the old school kind)- peeled and sliced
1 lemon
1 big handful of mint leaves
1/4 cup sugar (any kind will do, just don't use powdered sugar, silly)
1 liter tonic water
gin or vodka (tried 'em both and they both taste great)
rose's sweetened lime juice

In a large pitcher muddle the cucumber slices (make sure not to slice them too, too thin), mint leaves and sugar. Then add the juice of half a lemon (slice the other half for garnishes). Top off with tonic water and a splaaaaaaaaash (that's a bigger than normal splash) of rose's lime juice. Stir and chill.

To serve: Add one ounce of vodka or gin to an ice filled glass. Fill glasses with the cucumber mint mixture. Stir. Garnish with mint and lemon. Drink. Enjoy. And don't forget to eat the cucumber pieces - - they are delicious.