About a year ago on a random trip to New Orleans with my sister I fell in love.  His name was Mojito.  He was cool, refreshing, and knew how to have a good time.  Here is a picture of him.

He's pretty cute don't you think?

I have never really been a mixed drink kind of girl.  They are too sweet or taste too much like alcohol.  But on this trip I wanted to like them.  There is something sexy about sitting in a bar in a strange town sipping a drink from a tall, sweating glass.  There is an essence of mystery or glamor attached to this image in my head.  Maybe it is because it is not something I find myself doing and I wanted to try something, be something else.  So I found myself ordering mojitos.

Like any good tourists we went for drinks on Bourbon St.  It did not take us long to be less than enamored with the scene.  And even worse it was pretty much impossible to get a good drink.  Horrified by the nasty cheap beer and horrible mixed drinks, we wandered into a darkly lit bar that had a sign out claiming they had the best mojitos in town.  The sign was right.  The bar was Napoleon’s Itch.  It had good music, cute bartenders, amazing drinks and a bit of class compared to what was just outside the front door.  I learned that night that the perfect mojito is all about more mint and less simple sugar – keep it just a touch bitter.  So I fell in love with a drink in New Orleans in a gay bar.

The problem with my new-found love is that he is expensive.  I decided to take matters into my own hands and make them at home.  One flaw with this plan was that by this time it was winter in the Pacific Northwest and you can’t easily grow mint in a frozen ground.  Plus it was impossible to even find a mint plant at the local nurseries in the dead of winter.

Once spring arrived I not only had plans for a vegetable garden but had been dropping hints that I would like a mint plant for my birthday.  I got two.  The one on the left is an orange mint and the other is a plain ole’ mint.

My newly planted mojito garden.

 They grew like, well, weeds.  In less than two months they were almost overflowing their containers and screaming to be made into refreshing mint beverages.  I found several recipes online to get me started and then just sort of created my own version.  I had my mint leaves, fresh squeezed lime juice and homemade simple sugar solution in the bottom of the glasses when I realized I was missing something.  I had no muddler.  I ended up using the handle of my potato masher as well as the handle of my carrot peeler.  Both were far from good.  But the results were very tasty.

The Moroccan mint in July.

Yesterday in the mail I received my muddler.  I am very excited to try it out and shall be heading to the grocery store today to pick up some limes.  Keep your fingers crossed for sunny weather, for tonight Husband and I will be sipping on some super muddled mint mojitos.  Cheers!

Here is the new addition to our home.