THE PERFECT MARGARITA

I recently thought to myself what is the hardest I’ve ever laughed. I giggle at a lot of things, appropriately timed or not, and have laughed so hard it hurt my belly dozens of times.

After digging around my mind for the best of times, one memory stood out to me.

It was the last day of Spring Break my senior year of college, and I hosted a dinner party with my boyfriend and two very close friends. We feasted on chips and salsa, lime chicken tacos and margaritas and after dinner we went out to my deck (because every college student has a deck with a view, right?? We were VERY lucky). We toasted to friendship, warm Oregon nights and our last few weeks of college.

Things quickly got a little crazier and our conversations more hilarious as we yelled down to friends below and told great stories. While standing at the edge of the balcony, resting our hands on the railing and looking over the city that held so many great memories, my friend quoted Sweet Home Alabama. Yeah, the amazing flick from 2002. We decided it wasn’t the quote verbatim so my friend whipped out her phone to prove it to us. Just as she was saying, “Hey Siri, Who says-” her phone leapt from her hands and fell… and fell and fell. 6 STORIES, mind you!

Rather then thinking about her most prized possession, lying shattered on the sidewalk, we all tumbled to the floor, eyes burning with tears, bellies cramping from contractions and faces contorted into that squinty eyed look you get when you can’t stop laughing. Not giggling, full belly laughing.

The best part was that her phone was FINE and came back to her without a single scratch. It was a flawless moment, meant to be.

To this day, if I remember the story just right or sip on the perfect margarita, I will giggle just thinking about our faces and reactions as the phone flew from the deck. Although we will never recreate that memory (hopefully), a good margarita can give the same warm and fuzzy feeling as a good laugh or a dinner party with friends. And who can say no to a good margarita?

Now that we’ve taken a turn off of Memory Lane, here is the recipe for what I consider the PERFECT margarita. Cheers, friends!

Ingredients for 4 Margaritas:

5 large limes (1 for garnish)

7 and 1/2 shots of good tequila (my favorite is Hornitos!)

5 shots Triple Sec

1/3 cup Club Soda

Salt

Ice

Tools:

4 Tumblers

Cocktail Shaker

plate for salt

1. Start squeezing limes into a measuring cup. With an open palm roll and press down on each lime to get the juices flowing then cut it in half and squeeeeeeze. (Hand cramps only mean you’re doing it right! A juicer is a fantastic investment but who says we shouldn’t work for it.)

2. After juicing every last drop, measure the tequila, Triple Sec, club soda and juice into your cocktail shaker. You may want to make 2 at a time if your cocktail shaker is a shortie like mine.

3.Add the ice and shake!

4. Grab your tumblers or whatever glasses you are using and run a small lime wedge around the rim of the glass. Pour about 3 tablespoons of salt on a plate, flip the glass over and immerse the rim in the salt. To get a nice clean salt rim, only run lime where you want the salt to stick or else you’ll get a messy, salty design all over your glass.