Marmalades

Fresh fruit, no sour mix and decent tequila.  Simple mantra, right?  but what would you say if I said that using marmalades were ok?  Would you think any less of me?

Here's this simple Cabana Cachaca recipe from a few years ago using marmalades.  While intrigued with this new fangled liquor, I had to think, why not make my own marmalades and really do something great with tequila?  First you need to start with a recipe for marmalade.  This one seems to work just fine.  Anyways - start with the fresh fruit, sliced thin.  Then add sliced citrus (orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime) and bring to a boil with equal amounts of orange juice.  Once at a boil, add 2 cups of sugar and cook down to a thick viscous liquid.  Allow to cool and you're good to go.  Throw it in a jar and add pectin to preserve or if you're like me, just invite some friends over and start to crank out some drinks.

My favorite seems to be starting with a blueberry orange marmalade.  I admit though that I used fresh blueberries, orange juice and equal parts lime and orange slices....  I really laid the sugar on thick so when it was time to do the cocktails, it was as simple as 1-2-3.

Tequila, ice, marmalade.  Shake and serve....  Easy!

You know, I heard of this one cachaca company touting their 5 second caipirinhas....  they used sprite, cachaca and ice and figured that'd be enough to fool the american consumer.  can you imagine if I said, use sprite and tequila and its almost like a margarita???  Blasphemy, right?  But, I swear, by using artisan marmalades, you can do the 5 second margarita.  

Try it, I dare you.

Margaritas in Thailand

After a long hiatus, I've been able to escape and make my way back to reality, oops there goes gravity....  Can you imagine the shock when I was searching the web for interesting spots to enjoy a fresh fruit margarita and found this?  Apparently  Holiday-Rentals.co.uk is a really cool place to find homes in Thailand to rent for short periods of time.  I clicked through a few and found one just outside of Bangkok, which seems to be home of the only Margarita Bar in Thailand

I immediately clicked on the site and before I knew it, I was on my way to a fantastic adventure.  My trip started in Bangkok where I took advantage of a wonderful 3 bedroom house.  I took advantage of some traditional cooking classes and ............  BOOORING!!  Where's the margaritas, you ask???

Ok, here's the scoop.  I met up with this 6 1/2 foot dutch guy and his wife.  We quickly bonded and I explained my dilemma.  He nodded in complete understanding, and voila! his wife pulled out a bottle of don julio!  HEAVEN!  We scrapped up some citrus thingie called yuzu, some crazy fruit and a muddler.  He had no sugar or agave, so we used honey!  Man that was good.

The next morning we set out to a small village where we heard that we could ride elephants!  Of course, we put together a flask or 3 of our margarita concoctions.  I wish someone though would have told me about local law.  I had no idea that it was illegal to drink and ride elephants.  And, so I landed in jail!  Phuket to be exact.  I just got out last week.

And, anthony bordain I am not....  My butt is staying put for the next few years!  (especially since its a condition of parole!)  GOOD NIGHT