Lost shaker of salt ...

Yes, I'm wasting away again in Margaritaville. Tonight's drink is tequila-licious, offering me (and, by extension, you) a bit of the tropics in a cold December rain. (My shiver just now might be the chill, or it might be the near-miss Guns 'n' Roses reference. Brr!)

Ah, the margarita ... commenting on my martini post, Mad Hatter noted that she always thought of me more as a Margarita girl. And yes, she would know. That's right, Cinnamon Gurl, unaware of each other's blogginess, it turns out that Mad Hatter and I have only this week happened upon each other in the momosphere, but are actually already well known to each other in real life (as it were) for almost a decade. We first met in 1997: she has been a mentor and a friend to me in the offline world, and we have lived as close as 3 blocks from each other, and as far away as 3 time zones. She scared the bejesus out of me here when she coyly called me out, and asked me to figure out her identity: how relieved I was to pop over to Under the Mad Hat and to realize who she was! Obviously, mommy bloggers blog about personal details of their lives: if you happen to know a mommy in the offline world, and you happen to trip over her blog online, she'll likely be pretty easy to identify.

Fortuitously, we 'met' online just as she was heading to my part of the world to visit family. So this morning it was a meeting of the bloggers, the babies, and the husbands. Here are Miss M and Miss Baby, chillaxin' on the couch:

While the children are thus occupied, let me tell the tale of the Margarita. It was actually Mad who introduced me to this drink: indeed, I must confess that I bought my bartender's guide to match her own, largely to get this recipe. I told you she was a mentor! A dress-up party at Mad's former abode was the scene for my introduction to this extremely boozy concoction. It was so tasty! But so strong! I was totally bombed after two drinks, and wobbled around on my high heels, giggling, while feathers detached from my boa and insinuated themselves into every corner of Mad's apartment, to the extent that every time she vacuumed for the next several months, the feathers continued to fly ... Sorry 'bout that :-) But it was a great outfit, non?

So in honour of a renewed friendship, and of dishing about life in the blogosphere, and of healthy and happy babies, and of Mad's family's hard Christmases hopefully now well past, I raise a Margarita:

Margarita:
* 2 oz tequila (silver gives a nice green drink; gold a slightly browner drink)
* 1/2 oz triple sec or Cointreau (any kind of orange liqueur, really)
* 1 oz lime juice
* lime wedge or slice
* coarse salt

Combine tequila, triple sec, and lime juice in a shaker half filled with ice cubes. Shake. Strain into a Margarita glass (um, or a cocktail glass) that has been rimmed* with salt. Take off feather boa and high-heeled shoes. Drink.

Please note this is no frilly margarita: no sugar, no slush, no (ugh) strawberries. This is not a drink for the faint of heart. You've been warned.

* to rim the glass: rub the lime wedge around the rim of the glass to moisten, then dip glass into salt (put the salt in a thin layer in a saucer, to not waste as much salt ...)