OK! Let's Talk About The Beach

Miss me? I know, I've been back for 2 weeks without hardly so much as word. Sorry about that. I'd promise to do better, and I'll try...but you all know how that goes. We have a lot of food and drink to talk about, so let's get started!

Tod and I spent 7 glorious days in Rehoboth Beach at The Cabana Gardens Guest House. It is our oasis in the middle of our summer. We eat, we nap, we drink, we tan by the pool, we always say we're going to make it down to the ocean and we never do.

We both pack our own bars for this trip. Mine usually includes the fixings for Mojitos and various other Rum drinks. Tod is more of a Vodka fan and his bar reflects that choice. For some reason this year, we were laying by the pool the second day and I got a hankering for a Bloody Mary. Well, I don't usually have this hankering, so I hadn't packed anything that would allow me to concoct a Bloody Mary.

Luckily, right down the street, within easy walking distance, is Bin 66...a delightfully appointed liquor store. So, on go the flip flops and the t-shirt (I know! Me shirtless, try to get that image out of your head!) and off I go. What I wasn't prepared for was the entire shelf of Bloody Mary mixes they had to offer. I eeny-meeny-miney-moed one that turned out to be pretty good. Sorry, I don't remember the brand or I would share it here.

Once I got back to the guest house I set to work mixing. Now, I am not a fan of Vodka, so I made my Bloody Mary's with Rum. Gasp all you want, but Rum is so much smoother. Here is my first attempt.

Pretty, but not what I was going for.

The mix was really thick! It took a lot of stirring to get things incorporated. Also, as you can see, I didn't leave a lot of room for stirring. If I were making this cocktail at home, there also would have been more garnish, but at the beach...you do what you can and I did have fresh limes. The second round went much better.

Bigger is always better!

First, I went with a larger glass. Then when mixing the drink I added the rum and filled the glass only three quarters full with the mix. I then stirred it all up to mix it and then topped it off with more mix. This accomplished 2 things. It mixed up the rum and then allowed for the melting of the ice. As the ice melted it thinned out the mix on top so the drink didn't become watery towards the end.

What's to come? I want to have a party with a Bloody Mary Bar where you fashion your own drink. Course a Bloody Mary is typically a brunch drink, so the first hurdle is that I'd have to wake up early enough to have that party. My mother has given me some of her home made canned tomato juice and I would love to create my own Bloody Mary mix for future use. I'm sure Pinterest can help me find some recipes.