- First, now is the time of year to be drinking tequila out of hollowed out watermelons… so get on that.
- Second, nominations for Saveur’s best blogs (and Instagram now cause blogs are harder to come by) has begun. If you’re enjoying what we do, please consider a nomination for us! Best special interest, or drinks IG, or, I dunno, photography are all perfectly fine categories.
- Rosé all day… but without the booze?!
- This summer I swore I’d bring you all more boozy popsicles and… well, here’s some Frosémonade. It sounds dumb to say but I bet it tastes good.
- During the summer I dream about getting a cocktail down at a bar in Antarctica.
- Those Nick & Nora glasses on your shelf come from this on-screen couple.
- Who first appeared in this book.
- Counterfeit booze: if it smells like jet fuel, don’t drink it!
- Hey guys! Do you need a Hawaiian shirt that also nicely holds your beer? Yes, yes you do.
- And finally, an updated list all the places to buy specialty ice for you and/or your bar.
This post was made in partnership with Tequila Cazadores. Recipes and ideas are my own.
We’ve all seen those wacky watermelon kegs (ahem, I may have even enticed you to buy one on this site before too), but what if you want the watermelon experience and there’s only two of you? Get yourself a mini seedless watermelon and hollow half of it. Boom! It’s like a very convenient and way less expensive tiki bowl. Then you can use the insides of the watermelon flesh to make Spicy Watermelon Margaritas… for two of you. You don’t need to remove any seeds or even cut it into pieces. And that very recipe we have down below.
You know what’s also exciting? It’s National Tequila Day! Today, and maybe National Margarita Day, might be some of my very favorite drink holidays. I mean, I’m not waiting to have a Spicy Marg on just these occasions, but the reminder sure doesn’t hurt. I’ll be celebrating today with 
And to ensure my friends also will have something delicious to drink today, I’m sending out a few tequila bags via special delivery…which would be me in my car. If you head on over to my Instagram page today you can see those bags in action, literally (
Ok! Let’s go break open some watermelons!
Citrus Salt
*If you’d like to see how to make dehydrated citrus wheels, check out our 
I know, I know… “classic Daiquiri” is not usually in popsicle form, but since I’ve committed to bringing all of you more boozy popsicles this summer, you’ll just have to give this to me. And since today is National Daiquiri Day I thought, why not? The “classic” flavors found in a Daiquiri: rum, lime, and sugar are so delicious in frozen form (and trust me, I know a thing or two about frozen Daiquiris. See 
I really enjoy the floral sourness of limes, and here I wanted these to be extra… well, lime-y, so I zested a whole lime and added that into the mix in addition to adding a lime wedge to each popsicle. It gives the popsicle an extra punch of flavor, which is important when you’re dealing with frozen drinks/treats. Flavors tend to dull a bit when they are very cold, so you need to compensate for that.
Now, I will say that proportion wise, this isn’t really a classic Daiquiri, as you can only add a small amount of rum to each popsicle in order to get a good freeze. Otherwise you’re looking at a slushy on a stick, which is really just a mess on your clothes. The base of these is more of a limeade with a touch of rum, but since all of the flavors are still in the realm of Daiquiri… I get get to call them Daiquiri popsicles.
And now you get to make some!
Although dubbed a fad by many, the excitement waning for most diners, the techniques still hold a fascination with me. This probably has to do with my love of chemistry as a young person that has carried through decades later. Recently, for a 
So, that brings us to today’s recipe, made in partnership with our friends over at Kerrygold Irish Cream. When thinking about some fun summertime recipes to make, the idea of milkshakes came up, but here in Los Angeles, I’m more likely to run across a boba shop than a milkshake shop, so I thought, why not combine the two? However, we’re using some artistic license here and instead of the tapioca pearls found in your boba tea, we’ll be using flavorful strawberry spheres instead. Because, while some might like their stone fruit during the summer, it’s all about the berries for me.
I bring up the molecular gastronomy because you can, in fact, make these spheres, and I will list a few of my go-to resources below. However, because it’s summer and we don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen making spherification baths all day, I’m also listing where you can buy these strawberry spheres. So now you can follow your own adventure.
I’ve listed my resources for the reverse spherification process below the recipe if you’d like to try your hand at that!
Resources:
But why celebrate Bastille Day if you’re not in France, or not French? Because we just have a love of French food and culture. And we still have our 4th of July decorations up from last week (kidding). There’s also a lot of interesting history there as well. Personally, I am huge history buff and my favorite types of books delve into the intricacies of a country’s politics and culture. Bastille Day actual celebrates the storming of the Bastille, a prison, and the beginnings of the French Revolution and democracy in the country.
Interested to know a bit more? While there are numerous books one could read, recently I just finished the book 
But let’s get back to entertaining. First, go ahead and pour yourself a glass of wine. We’re pouring a Beaujolais and Mâcon-Villages Chardonnay from Louis Jadot. Both of the wines work well with desserts and are great party wines if you’re considering a spread of french foods like cheeses, seafoods, and light meats. The Beaujolais is 100% Gamay with juicy flavors of strawberry and black cherry with a little spicy black pepper. While the Chardonnay, made with 100% Chardonnay grapes, is more floral with apple and citrus aromas and slightly mineral notes. They are also both reasonably priced if you are looking for a few bottles or more to serve at your fête.
Now, the macaron tower. My biggest pet peeve about all the macaron towers out there is that the entire thing is not edible. Most are stuck on to a styrofoam tower, held in place with buttercream or a toothpick. While it can be impressive in height, I’d rather have a dessert tower that can be fully enjoyed by my guests. So, I decided to make this more of a “petit†tower, and have as my structure for the macarons to sit on be tiered vanilla cake. I mean, I wouldn’t be disappointed to be served a piece of cake with macarons covering it. This does mean baking a few small cakes (like, 3), but if you have the basic pantry staples around and a few small cake tins or even ramekins, this comes together quite quickly. And the macarons, while you most definitely can make those two, I just happen to have a favorite macaron shop here in Los Angeles I got mine from (and that is just far enough away I don’t visit them everyday… that would be dangerous for me).
If you’d like to make this taller, you can bake a larger base and build up from there. Height is totally up to you, but for me, I found three cake layers sufficient for a small party.
It’s been forever since I’ve handed out a Low Rent Cocktails to you all. So, I thought I’d throw you one for all the dads out there since we just celebrated Father’s Day. The dads just trying to get through the night with a sick kid. I bring you… The Dr. Dad.
So, do you have the summer sniffles? Are your allergies acting up? Do you suffer from male pattern baldness or shingles? This might not cure any of those things but darnit this stuff is tasty. And easy! Got a shot glass or juice cup nearby? You’re already halfway there.