Date Night

My boys have decided that they don't need to go to bed at seven p.m anymore. Ah, I could mourn for a long time on this change!! But, every once in a while, the stars align just right, and they actually go to bed easily. We're committed to date night, though, and we have a bunch of little boys running around, which makes getting out of the house and paying for a babysitter more and more difficult. So, on Saturdays, we try to plan out our whole day to include an early bedtime. Sometimes (okay, often), the grownups in the house need an afternoon coffee in order to keep up with the energy of little boys, but it almost always works.

This week was no exception. We hit a parade, lots of candy, we ate out at a favorite family place for lunch, and we went shopping at the big international market.

By night time, the boys were exhausted, and they went to bed at six-thirty. Ah, quiet time with my man! And, this week's menu was one we were looking forward to.

I have a sweet spot for my hometown, and I frequently read their paper online. And, because it's a college town, there are no shortage of bars on every corner. This week, I was reading an article in the paper, and it mentioned a Cheerwine cocktail at a local bar. Well, I had Cheerwine in the house, and I decided this was the perfect night for it. Alas, the local bar has no website, so I had nothing to go on for ingredients. A quick google search turned up The Lee Bros. Cheerwine cocktail. It called for gin, which I had none of in the house, either, but hey, that wasn't going to stop me. The Lee Bros. have never led me astray--all of their recipes turn out well, if a little non-traditional and interesting. Long way to say, I added a little lime simple syrup and a bit of seltzer to Cheerwine, and a cocktail was born.

The color was beautiful, too, which is always a plus.

I'm still in my babymoon phase, and I'm not cooking everything from scratch. Boy, how I do love my freezer! I pulled out some smoked pork (already chopped, even), and I reheated it in a cast iron skillet. The edges got crispy like carnitas.Yum!

I also reheated some pinto beans.

To this, I just added everything I could find in the fridge--cucumbers, onions, corn kernels, and lime wedges.

The old staples--cilantro and hot peppers. And, delicious sauteed zucchini.

We ate this as burritos, on flour tortillas, with a tiny sprinkle of monterey jack cheese.

We even watched a cheesy movie about a country music singer before collapsing in exhaustion from trying to wear out our boys! Ah, fun times. My oldest son tells me that he gets more energy by running (he has "getting your energy out" confused with getting more energy). Maybe I ought to take up marathons. :)