Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Pipes frozen again? Might as well have a drink!

We have been experiencing some brutal wind chill factors lately (down to about 25 below!), so I have been staying up all night, stoking the fire, checking on the heaters, and monitoring the pipes. I made the mistake of taking a three-hour nap on the couch at 6:30 this morning, and when I awoke, the hot water in the kitchen had frozen just as the cold water had done two days before, despite my vigilence. Not to panic, I employed a brilliant but very complicated system of pipe thawing that even professional plumbers can't fully appreciate. Observe my Pots and Pans and a Hair Dryer Methodology (patent pending).

Suffice to day, Old Man Winter has me frustrated and completely exhausted. Other than ripping up the kitchen floor to get to the currently inaccessible pipes that keep freezing up on is, the most immediate solution simply must involve a cocktail. I hardly ever drink, but when I am driven to it by the torments of home ownership and vicious weather, my poison is a an icy, tart, citrusy margarita. And I declare the official margarita of this bleak midwinter and frozen plumbing: The Blood Orange and Ginger Winter Margarita.

The recipe comes from Honest Cooking, and it is simply delicious. Now that interesting citrus is plentiful, you can easily find fresh blood oranges for this drink. I would also recommend that you use a high-quality, microbrewed ginger beer for this. I love Maine Root's Spicy Ginger Brew, which has a real kick to it, and just might defrost your wintry disposition.


Blood Orange and Ginger Winter Margarita
(Source: Honest Cooking)
 
For garnishing all drinks:
1/4 cup blood orange juice
zest from one blood orange
1/4 cup granulated sugar
slices of blood orange for garnish, optional

For each individual drink:
ice
2 ounces blood orange juice
1.5 ounces tequila
juice from 1 wedge of lime (I use half a lime)
3 ounces strong ginger beer

Place 1/4 cup blood orange juice into a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine blood orange zest and sugar. Dip the rim of a glass into juice first and then into the sugar mixture to coat the rim evenly. Fill the glass with ice.

In a cocktail shaker, combine one cup of ice with two ounces blood orange juice, one and a half ounces tequila, and the lime juice. Shake vigorously. Pour into the prepared glass and top off the glass with ginger beer. Stir and enjoy!


3 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello! I'm featuring your Chili's enchilada soup recipe on a website I write for. I'd just use your pic (with proper attribution) and link them to your site for the recipe. If you want more info or would prefer I didn't, you can email me at heather at hire heather dot com (don't want to post all the info in the comments is all).

Unknown said...

It seems like a good reward after tackling your frozen pipes problem. In any case, it can be really frustrating to deal with frozen pipes. It would be nice if people would have a sure-fire way of dealing with them, so they can get to the reward part faster. Haha! Anyway, thanks for sharing!


Traci Romero @ Harris Plumbing

Stevie Calloway said...

Frozen pipes and a citrusy margarita. I thought I would never see the combination. I understand your pain. Home ownership can be testing at times. I what you did with the hairdryer though. I may have to try that. I live up in Northern Canada and as you can imagine our pipes get frozen fairly often. I have spent several nights stoking fires and checking water lines. Maybe next time I'll make a citrusy margarita for myself. Good read.

Stevie Calloway @ Infinity Plumbing Services