I know summer is officially here, not because it is Memorial Day weekend. I know this because it’s nearly 90 out already. And our air conditioner is broken. It started working perfectly fine. It’s the first time it’s been turned on this year. Then I hear my son turning it off. “I heard a popping noise and it smells like smoke.” Ah, wonderful and on a holiday weekend. Fat chance we’ll get anyone in to fix it. Won’t even bother calling. Good thing we have plenty of ice and mojito fixings.
In order to forget about the heat & the broken A/C, we will just have to eat a lot. In addition to the burgers and shrimp we’re gonna throw on the barbie, I made a couple of salads. One is the traditional macaroni salad but the other is something different. Remember when I did my “Guess The Contents” contest? Well here’s your chance to see exactly why I had bulgur wheat in my house. (Don’t listen to Peggy. It was not maggots!)
This is a little invention of mine – Tabbouleh, Italian Style:
I took an actual recipe and twisted it. This is what’s in the bowl:
bulgur wheat
balsamic vinegar & olive oil
pignoli nuts
basilico (aka basil, pronounced bazza-knee-goal if you’re in my family)
chopped up tomato
crumbled goat cheese
parsley
Personally I think it tastes good but we’ll have to test drive it when the rest of the family gets here. There will also be a full mojito report. If the report is not coherent, you’ll know we did a whole lot of experimenting.
Ooooh, that salad looks great, Monk.
Okay, that salad looks TO DIE FOR. Num. Anything with pignoli nuts is just fine with me; anything in the mediterranean/italian/greek family is not only fine with me, but preferred. I would, however, have a little problem with the 90 and no a/c. After much mojito experimenting, I would be the one most likely to make up a vat of them and jump in. What time do the festivities start?
It’s hot here. I’m going home! And I’m bringing the salad home with me.
The salad was pretty good. I like when experiments work out well.
The first batch of mojitos were made with simple syrup, lime juice and a combo of vodka & rum (but mostly rum), club soda and, of course, mint. They were okay but not great. Second batch we just used rum, upped the amount of simple syrup and put in less club soda. Much better. Still not even close to Kurio’s but good. I didn’t make enough simple syrup so further experimentation will have to wait.
Third batch we just used rum, left out the simple syrup and added just a little club soda. Excellent. Better than Kurio’s?
Fourth batch we just used rum, no simple syrup, no club soda. Superior. Who is Kurio?
Fifth batch, just gimme that fifth.
[quote comment="280"]Fifth batch, just gimme that fifth.[/quote]
Guess when you drive to San Antonio, you better make sure you have a fifth in the trunk, eh, Peggy?
Definitely don’t overdo the club soda.
Definitely don’t overdo the rum, for that matter.