the little pool

My mama is on a mission to ensure that Burke doesn't hate swimming... Last week, after hearing about Burke's aversion to the 'big pool' at the Jewish Community Center, she showed up with a little pool for him to practice in in our backyard.  He prefers to swim in the nude at this point, but we're not being picky.  At least he's getting in the water...

Next step?  An actual, big pool with a bathing suit and cold water (his little pool's water warms up pretty quick, which is part of the draw I think).  We'll let you know how that goes.

horchata recipe

In case you were wanting to try out Ben & Heidi's winning cocktail recipe:

The "Javier Bardem"

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

2 quarts warm water

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/4 cups milk

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup rum, or to taste (optional)

16 cubes ice

Directions

1. Mix the rice and warm water together in a bowl, and let stand for 1/2 hour. Reserving the water, drain, and place the rice in the bowl of a food processor. Add the cinnamon and process until a paste forms. Return the rice to the water and let stand at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally as the water turns milky white.

2.  Strain the rice through a fine sieve into a bowl or pitcher. Stir in the milk, condensed milk, vanilla, and rum, if desired, until evenly blended. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

3. To serve, divide the ice cubes between four glasses, and pour the chilled horchata over the ice.

cocktails & mocktails 2.0

As Adam and I were washing wine glasses and martini glasses and margarita glasses on Saturday night, we made a decision- THIS is our party.  We love Cocktails and Mocktails, y'all.  We love watching people go. to. town. in their drink prep and presentation (the Kims had a whole marshmallow roasting station set up to accompany their S'more Martini, and the Anglins had fried pickles and bacon scewers set out with their Spiked Sweet Tea... and those were just a couple of the fabulous set-ups), we love the laid back vibe, we love a whole night of just grown ups, we love all the yummy concoctions (as an added bonus, since everyone brings an appetizer or dessert to share, we end up with all sorts of delicious food to accompany the drinks!), we love having a party that we throw every year (the prep this year was alarmingly easy as well, which helps!), we just love it.

Ben and Heidi won (again!) with their  "Javier Bardem" (horchata) entry.  I'd be happier for them if they didn't beat out our Mango Peach Sangria by a mere 2.5 points.  But, I have to say, their drink was darn good (at least the mocktail version that I tried). I wish I'd taken more pics, but I was busy chatting with friends and sampling mocktails, so these'll have to do for now... Can't wait for next year!

ahhhh summer

Everything you need to beat the heat around here- a popsicle and a bee float.  Too bad Burke won't use the bee float in an actual pool.  We're working on that.