drinko de mayo

Hola mi amigos! I hope everyone had a fabulous Cinco de Mayo. I certainly did! I get really into themes/holidays, and this weekend was no exception. My parents threw a party at our vineyard, and because I thought (incorrectly) that I was supposed to be home for work, I crashed that party with a friend and brought the average age down about 15 years (or more)!

For a while now, I've been seeing all sorts of awesome jello shots made in different kinds of fruit. I'm all for that kind of creativity, but I hadn't had an occasion that I deemed worthy of all that effort. However, when this recipe for lime margarita jello shots caught my eye, I was sold. 

Margarita Jello Shots

adapted from Brit.co

Ingredients (makes 24):
6-8 limes - 3 ounces fresh squeezed lime juice

1 ounce water

1/4 cup sugar

1 package Knox unflavored gelatin (2 teaspoons)

3 ounces  tequila

1 ounce Grand Marnier, Cointreau, or Triple Sec

sea salt and/or large crystal sugar, for garnish

To hollow out the limes: juice them as best you can. The trick is to get under the pulp and into the skin to get all of the fruit out for the cleanest possible rinds. We found that using a grapefruit spoon really helps with this. When finished, strain the juice to so you have no pulp, which would leave floaties.

I actually tripled the recipe....

To keep limes secure, place them in a mini muffin pan. Combine lime juice, an ounce of water and sugar to small saucepan. Sprinkle with gelatin and allow it to soak in a minute or two. Warm over medium heat, stirring until sugar and gelatin dissolve. Stir in tequila and Grand Marnier and pour into lime halves. I strained at this point as well because the gelatin seemed a little chunky to me.

Allow to refrigerate at least 4 hours, or preferably overnight. Once jello has set up, cut into wedges. Serve with salt and sugar for dipping!

Olé! 

These went over very well. Not that my parents and their friends aren't already inclined to booze and booze hard, but I'll just say there were regular jello shots there and people were just not pounding those. Seriously, I made about 100 of these bad boys and came home with maybe 10. Success!

When it comes to partying, you can't just put out a ton of booze and expect that to be a party. Oh no. You need snacks. The plan was already to have a fajita buffet, but I mean, come on. You need snacks before and after that! Other guests had volunteered options when they RSVPed, but as far as I knew no one was bringing salsa. No salsa at Drinko de Mayo?! That's basically a crime, if you ask me. Luckily, Serious Eats, one my favorite food blogs, had just posted a recipe for salsa that sounded simple yet amazing. I adapted it a bit to fit my tastes, but let me tell you, I may make another batch this evening and every week from here on out.

Roasted Tomato Salsa
adapted from: Serious Eats

Ingredients (
makes about 3 cups):

2 lb. roma tomatoes, halved

kosher salt

3 jalapeño peppers, halved

10 cloves garlic

1 medium sweet onion, quartered

1 c. fresh cilantro, chopped

Preheat broiler. Place tomatoes cut side up on baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Add jalapeños, onions, and 6 cloves of garlic to the sheet. Broil until slightly blackened, turning garlic as needed (roughly 20 minutes). Remove and let cool.

I'd like to grow all of this this summer.

 Seed all but one of the jalapeños. Roughly chop jalapeños, onions, roasted garlic, additional 4 raw garlic gloves, and tomatoes. Transfer to a food processor and pulse until desired texture is reached. Stir in cilantro and add salt to taste. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Doesn't that just make your mouth water?

Seriously, it couldn't be any easier, but it is SO addicting! Never mind the fact that my breath is just terrible afterward, it's worth it. Like I said to my mom while making this when she questioned the amount of garlic I was adding, if your "friends" don't like garlic, are they really you friends? I don't think so. They're probably vampires and are not to be trusted.

Overall, I had a great Cinco de Mayo. I had my first Beergarita, some BOMB mojitos, and an amazing drink my friend invented, which she called I'll Have Another (the racehorse, which, as well all know, won the Derby). She went to UK so it was only fitting. As soon as she pins that, I will try my hand at it and post it here. I think we had enough to go around:

Not pictured: 2 coolers of beer.

And with that, I will say, adios amigos!