Trying to drink a cocktail with a mask on was not something I planned on dealing with this year. Both of my kids starting school full time, renovating our house, fitting into a bridesmaids dress, these were what I thought would be my most challenging issues when 2020 started. And yet, here we are.
I will not break down how this year has been challenging; I’m late to that game and frankly rehashing all of it will not be therapeutic for me or for you dear readers. And it’s been done. Over and over a million times now, and it’s not even over yet.
So where will this site go from here? Well, for a start, I never planned on taking such a long break. I think the longest break I took from writing on here was about three months years ago. Next year will mark 10 whole years of Stir and Strain and that feels monumental, and maybe what brought me back here to say hello.
I’m going to take some time to shuffle through some posts and put together some resource guides both for use at home, and where you can help out in the wild (from the safety of your home). It’s in the works but with my current workload of full time virtual school for two youngins, the pace over here has slowed down considerably.
As always, I appreciate you stopping by and showing support reading these recipes. Please feel free to say hello! I’m still here but I might not answer you for a week (or more).
This post was made in partnership with Tequila Cazadores. Ideas are my own.
Even though Cristalino is clear, like their Blanco expression, it’s not for mixing. In fact, the suggested serving vessel is a wine glass, like how you see here. A wine glass also signifies you’re not shooting the stuff and chasing it with a lime. Just don’t do that. It’s meant to be sipped.
You’re still getting aged wood, vanilla, caramel, and apples, but there’s also this soft, floral nose to it as well. It’s just so delicious and I loved each sip.
This post was made in partnership with Tequila Cazadores. Recipes and ideas are my own.
Last month I wrote about making squash, a syrup whose liquid content is comprised primarily of juice, for 
What I wanted to do here is recreate some of those sweet and flavorful citrus notes without watering down my Margarita to the point of making it a breakfast drink. That’s when I thought that a squash syrup might work in this case. And then I could celebrate National Margarita Day on February 22 with a big batch of these! Oh yeah, it’s that wonderful time of the year already!
Like I mentioned above, a squash uses a high ratio of juice to water in making a syrup. So, you can do 4:1 juice to water, or 1:1 juice to sugar with no water, something like that. Then you either shake it up until the sugar dissolves (cold process), or warm your mixture until the sugar dissolves (hot process). Today I went a step further and reduced the syrup down almost by half to get a thick, viscous syrup to use in drinks. By doing this, it’s the consistency of a rich syrup, and there are deep, caramelized citrus flavors while still also tasting tangy and bright.
I am using mixed citrus here since I also had a delivery of Meyer lemons from my grandparents I did not want to let go to waste. Honestly, any mix of lemons, oranges, or other citrus could be used here so feel free to experiment.
Mixed Citrus Margarita
For those of you who have been around here since the early days, you may recall that we were going to build a bar in what is now my studio area in the house. And if you’re new here, well, that bar never happened. Fast forward almost a decade later and we are now finally ready to start building out what will be our new outdoor entertaining area. And tucked away within will be the home bar we’ve been dreaming about for a long time. But before we even start, we have a lot to figure out, and one of those big decisions has to do with appliances.
The area we are allotting for entertaining space, including the indoor/outdoor bar and alcove is not huge, so we’re looking for small, compact appliances to put in. We’d really like as much bang for our buck if you will… And that’s why I’m loving this 
PROS:
Currently our 90 Can Beer Fridge is hanging out amongst the patio furniture but as we build out the deck and start turning our dirt floor, unfinished ground story space into a usable entertaining area, we are considering bringing the fridge either into the indoor/outdoor counter space, or maybe giving it a home near the grill. Stay tuned this year as we look to YOU with help picking out ideas for this space! And big thanks to NewAir for letting us try out their new premium line fridge.
For more information on NewAir’s entire line of products, check them out 
