ROBIEWANKENOBIE

mr8 may possibly be excited about school. he's a quiet one, so there is no telling. mr6 is NOT happy that he won't be in his kindergarten class EVEN IF he needs to go to first grade because it his turn. his teacher is ms. harrison not ms. g...arrison - so his best friend is in another class. he tells me that he only knows one kid in his room and he is NOT a friend of his. there were tears. also? this makes mommy sad.:(

the photos are on flikr, so friend me, and you can get photo goodness. also available are a few harry potter parties and mr8's self portraits.

in other news, i now have the perfect mojito recipe, from mrAofawesome.

Its a pretty basic and the most classic recipe. The key is fresh everything, good booze, and proper technique. Using a highball type glass makes it easier too, though I used to use pint glasses.

Start with a crapload of mint (more than you think you need), fill up the glass a good third to half loosely with mint

Juice half a lime in the glass on top of the mint, the citric acid will start to break down the cellulose membrane of the mint leaves and release moisture as well as leech some oil off the surface.

Maybe a teaspoon or so of sugar. This sugar doesn't sweeten as much as provide some friction for tearing and crushing the mint.

Get a muddler. I recommend a finished wooden one as they are cheap (I've seen metal ones but I would think they could damage a glass easily). It should be finished so it doesn't absorb (and then leave behind) weird flavors. Find a restaurant supply store. I used to use a spoon or the handle of my wooden whisk but not only does that not particularly suave or cool, it also doesn't work as well. Muddle the ingredients in the glass (you can do this in a shaker which will let you then be able to strain out the larger leaves if you don't like them, but I do). Some places muddle with crushed ice in the glass, which shreds up the mint. This is incorrect. Muddling is crushing into paste not shredding. You get different flavor and different consistency. Muddling will bring out the mint flavor more. Muddle the leaves until you've crushed and mushed them down into small pieces and appear like a little pile of mulch at the bottom of the glass.

Add maybe and ounce-and-a-half to two ounces of WHITE RUM (not spiced, not brown, I recommend Jamaican, like Appleton's). I put on a pour spout and give it like a second and a half pour. Actually, its more like a "one-and" count. In musical terms, two eighth notes or a "down-up" as my band teacher used to say. The real amount changes based on the size of the glass, but if you go by counting, it generally works out.

Now fill the glass around half to two-thirds full of ice. The bigger the ice, the more you use. If you use crushed ice, then use less. By putting the ice in after the alcohol, you have less melting. Melting ice means water and watery drinks are bad.

Pour in maybe a teaspoon of heavy simple syrup. Simple syrup is made by adding two parts sugar to one part water. Its best to just make this up and keep it on hand in the fridge. This is what really sweetens the drink and probably the easiest way to screw it up is to make it too sweet. You don't want to overpower the delicate flavor of the mint or the lime, but you need to sweeten the soda water you add at the end. Until you know exactly how much you want, use less. You can always add more later.

If you're mixing in a shaker or pint glass, you can now shake to mix. Shake twice. That's all you need. Shaking more means you're transferring kinetic energy to the ice which then, according to both
Newton and Einstein, has to go somewhere. It becomes heat which melts your ice more. Again melting is bad. It is for this reason that I mix in the highball glass itself and prefer not to shake but to stir after I've added the club soda.

Add club soda. Enough to basically fill up the glass, which equals about half or a third of the total volume of the glass. Stir the mixture a few times to mix the mint up with the soda. Even though it looks pretentious, one of those long twirly spoons actually helps and is worth having. Get it at the restaurant supply store when you get the muddler. Its always helps having the right tool for the job.

Stirring enough to get the mint up off the bottom of the glass makes it look prettier. Besides tasting good, a good cocktail should be pleasing to the eye. Part of the reason mojitos are popular is because they look cool with all the bubbles and the bits of green floating amongst the ice, reflecting light as it passes through. Add a few sprigs of mint and maybe a slice of lime on top for extra elegance and enjoy. The lime is both pretty and functional as the recipient can make their mojito more limey if so desired. You can also sweeten it a bit more with the syrup if necessary. Once you make a few, you'll get a good sense of how much to use.

Alton Brown has a good episode of Good Eats that goes over a bunch of this that helped me understand why it matters when you add the ingredients together. Understanding some of science behind stuff helps me. The upside of sitting in bars for a long time with no one to talk to is that it is a good way to pick up ideas on technique without having to sit at home and make fruity drinks for yourself until you fall asleep. I try to get something worthwhile out of all of life's experience. Making a good drink is indeed a noble pursuit.

Good night and good luck.