Cheers to the Weekend!

I’m going to let you in on a little secret about the cocktail recipes I share on this blog. In order to get good photos of them and have them ready to post on Fridays, I have to assemble them Thursday afternoons. So really, Thursdays are a much wilder night around these parts than Fridays (harkening back to the olden days of Thursday night frat parties, only with less dancing and more falling asleep on the couch!).

Yesterday, I had high hopes to make the Strawberry Rose Spritzer I linked to last week. (I didn’t actually make it before I posted it but a friend made them for a 4th of July party and said they were a hit). After a long day of work appointments and a drive from Santa Barbara to LA to San Diego, I went to BevMo, bought Aperol and rose and came home ready to make and photograph the drink before the sun set, only to read in the recipe that you have to infuse the wine with strawberries for at least three hours. Oops! I could prepare it to drink tomorrow, but since my mom will be visiting and she has a garden FULL of the most delicious blackberries, I decided we’ll be bbq’ing with this summery drink instead. Simple, not too sweet, and best of all, total time to assemble is just over ten minutes!

Blackberry Gin Fizz

from Bon Appetit, serves 8. Image credit Chris Gentile.

1 6 ounce container of blackberries (or approximately one cup)

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups gin

1 cup fresh lime juice

Club soda (I like Fever-Tree, which is available at BevMo or Whole Foods)

8 sprigs Thai basil or sweet basil

Puree blackberries and sugar in a blender. Let stand, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved, about 10 minutes. Strain puree into a fine mesh sieve over a pitcher (should get about 3/4 cup), discard seeds. Stir gin and lime juice into pitcher. Divide drink among ice-filled glasses, top with soda. Garnish with basil sprig.

What are you up to this weekend? We’re spending time with family, celebrating the little guy’s birthday, and hoping to talk my stepdad into helping us assemble closet systems while he’s in town.

*Totally unrelated side note about drinks: while rose wine is wildly popular here in California, it apparently isn’t big at all in the Midwest. My Minnesota cousins were only familiar with white zinfandel, and the one bottle we found in liquor stores near where we stayed was a Skinnygirl Rose (blech!)