With Father's Day a couple days off, I'm sure everyone's planning menus and getting the grills ready. We've got it a bit easier - my sister's hosting Father's Day this year, so I'm just bringing an appetizer. (Of course I still have no idea what I'm bringing, but the night is still young.) This weekend is also my Dad's birthday so there's plenty to celebrate. The weatherman is call for 90 degree heat so while the grill is getting hot, cool off with a refreshing mojito.
Mojitos are my favorite summer cocktail - I love the combination of lime and mint. When we bought our house 4 years ago, I planted mint just so I could make my own. I've experimented with the recipe over the years and I think I've got it right (I'll keep sampling to make sure!)
Before I get to the recipe, I have to say I'm more than a little annoyed this evening. It's gorgeous out so I went out to have dinner on the deck. My husband's not home so I took the latest issue of Bon Appetit for company. I was reading the BA Foodist column and a restaurant owner from California wrote in asking whether Yelp and sites like it might be the future of restaurant reviews - she was concerned she'd have to spend her time responding to a bunch of "semi-literate nincompoops". Really?! I use Yelp from time to time, I love Zagat and I also use the boards on Chowhound. So I really don't appreciate some restaurant owner in California calling me and those like me a semi-literate nincompoops.
I know many of my followers and tons of food bloggers and blog readers are actively engaging on the web today. I'm not pretending to outweigh a New York Times critic's review, but the name-calling is a bit much. I'm glad I don't live near that woman or her restaurant (North Shore Cafe in Fawnskin, by the way). Perhaps she should be reminded that we semi-literate nincompoops are her customers (or could've been!) And by the way, there are more of us than there are NYT restaurant critics. So perhaps using a public forum like Bon Appetit to call us names isn't the best idea. I doubt most of us are semi-literate - I happen to have a very good education and 10 years' experience in communications - and I know there are many wiser than me out there.
Tastes, as Andrew Knowlton puts it, are subjective. But all of us, literate or not, nincompoop or not, are ALL customers and should be treated as such. Anyway, I'm done ranting. Time for a mojito.
The perfect mojito
2 large sprigs fresh mint
1/2 lime
1 shot of white rum
2 tsp. white sugar
Club soda or seltzer
Tear the mint leaves into the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Squeeze the juice of the lime on top of it, the cut the lime into 4 pieces and add to the shaker. Sprinkle the sugar over the mint and lime.
Use a muddler to smash the mint leaves and lime together with the juice and sugar (the handle of a wooden spoon will work too if you don't have a muddler). Add the rum and stir.
Pour the entire mixture into a highball glass filled with ice. Pour soda over the top and give it a stir so some of the mint and limes move down in the glass.
Garnish with a sprig of mint.
This makes 1, but can easily be multiplied.
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