Summer Cocktails

Several years ago at my physical my doctor asked me how many alcoholic drinks I have per week. He did not seem entirely pleased with my response of 1 - 2 beers or glasses of wine per night, so since then I have been careful to low-ball my estimates. What he doesn't know won't hurt him, and I am convinced that, in this area at least, it won't hurt me, either. I once had a landlady who had reached the ripe old age of ninety-three, and every night she and her husband (who was even older) had two 7 & 7 cocktails, one tall and one short. They didn't seem any worse for wear, so I am just following their example, though I think that I measure out the alcohol more carefully than they did.

I generally gravitate to wine, and somewhat less frequently to beer, but recently I have also been drinking the occasional cocktail. My plan to sample a new cocktail every week never materialized, but lately I have been trying my hand at mixing new things, like the Leland Palmers we had last week on Memorial Day. I made something similar for myself tonight, essentially a grownup lemonade. I am sure that there must be many versions out there, but here is the one that I mixed.

Lemon-Lime Fizz

Juice of half of a lemon

Juice of half of a lime

1 teaspoon superfine sugar

1 oz. limoncello

1 oz. vodka

ice

club soda

lemon slice

Muddle the sugar with the juices in a highball glass, add the spirits and ice, top with club soda, and garnish with lemon slice.

It is very refreshing, and would probably also be good with gin in place of vodka for a variation on a Tom Collins, which is itself a nice break from the ubiquitous gin and tonic. It's going to be pretty hot tomorrow, so I'll probably need something like that after all of the weeding that I'll be doing.