Cocktail hour

As previously mentioned, cocktail hour is serious business around our house. Most nights will find us sipping regular straight or mixed drinks - scotch, manhattans, martinis, etc. Catjjy is partial to the cosmopolitan, and I make a mean one. Just because Sex In The City isn't any good doesn't mean the cocktail stopped being delicious.

The drink of this summer is the gimlet. For the uninitiated, a gimlet starts with a martini's worth of gin - 3 to 5 shots depending on the size of your glass. Drop it into a shaker full of ice and add the freshly squeezed juice of one lime (hint: you'll get more juice out of your lime if you soak it in hot water for a few minutes before cutting it open). Throw in sugar or simple syrup (a pre-dissolved mixture of sugar and water in equal parts) to taste. Shake with vigor. Serve strained into an ice-cold martini glass. The result will be a light green, cloudy slice of summer heaven: equal parts sweet, tart, and herby (the picture above was taken after the first few sips). Though not quite as tasty, a vodka gimlet will do for those who don't enjoy gin. Using Hendricks gin instead of a regular gin will give you a cucumber gimlet – also yummy.

With enough sugar, a gimlet won't taste strong at all, and on a warm summer afternoon, it may seem the thing to do to knock back three or four. But proceed with caution. There is a lot of alcohol in these guys.

Weekends are for experimenting. Yesterday I cut open a fresh jalapeno and tossed two slices (with plenty of seeds) into the shaker with my gimlet. Kid duty interfered with my mixing, which allowed the un-iced mixture to stand for 20 minutes before being chilled and poured. The result – a gimlet picante if you insist on naming things – was fantastic. The jalapeno added a nice kick to the front that burned the lips and warmed the esophagus, but it mellowed the tartness of the lime. I highly recommend giving it a try.