Pink + Blue Mojitos

Hello Friday!

We are in the middle of a move. Since we already moved all the way to Scotland, you would think that I pretty much have this moving thing in the bag.

Not so much.

I will spare you the drudgery of listening to me whine about how I cannot be bothered to pack things up to move two miles away, so I am throwing duvets, legos and spatulas willy-nilly into the van and then vomiting them all over our new digs, insuring a sense of TOTAL OVERWHELM on the other side of this move.

Forget about it! It’s Friday and I have a new drink to share!

I have long been a fan of the basic mojito. If I close my eyes and sit right next to the heater, when I taste that little bit of mint, I can imagine I am far, far away from tiny lego pieces, stray socks and gray skies.

But adding a little color to the mojito? Well, that’s just crazy fun. Taido and I had our own two person party last weekend for Valentine’s Day and this drink played a starring role.

Simon had a scouting event on the evening of Valentine’s Day, so I went with Taido to drop him off for the event. We thought we would run and have a drink or a bite to eat together for the hour or so that Simon had to be downtown. But when we got downtown we could not find Simon’s scout leader anywhere at the meeting place. Or any of the other little scouts. After about half an hour, I looked the event up on my phone and ahem, it was actually March 14th, not February 14th. Did I mention that it was dark and rainy? None of us wanted to be out. We stopped at the store on the way home and bought the ingredients for this drink + ice cream for the kids. PARTY!

Pink + Blue Mojitos for Two

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup rum

Juice of 2-3 limes

1/4 cup cranberry juice

1/4 cup blueberries

12 fresh mint leaves

Dissolve brown sugar in water. (There are several ways to do this. We usually keep a mason jar of simple syrup (1 part any sugar dissolved in 1 part water) in the fridge. We use brown sugar or maple syrup when making drinks with whiskey or rum because I think it makes for richer flavor. If we don’t have the simple syrup already made, then Taido sometimes just stirs the sugar with a whisk in the water until it dissolves, easier to do with maple syrup of course.)

Mix simple syrup, rum, lime juice and cranberry juice together in a small pitcher. (We used a 2 cup liquid measuring pitcher.)

Fill two glasses with ice. Crush 6 mint leaves into each glass and divide the blueberries between the two glasses as well. Pour the mojitos over the ice, blueberries and mint leaves.

Of course, it goes without saying that you could multiply this recipe and make a pitcher of it ahead of time for a party, in which case I would go ahead and add the mint leaves to the pitcher but still reserve a few for serving.

Happy Weekend Friends!