My whole family came to town for Easter weekend. We celebrated and feasted, it is always fun having them around. Half way through Saturday we ran out of oranges and bourbon (we’d been drinking old fashioneds, obvi). We did not run out of gin and I had a stubborn grapefruit still sticking around in the fruit basket, a remnant of winter citrus recipes. Gin and tonics, while a classic, can be very vanilla and we wanted something slightly more interesting. So, Joe peeled off a section of the grapefruit, lit the oils on fire and added some bitters to his gin and tonic and voila to make a new favorite drink: grapefruit gin cocktail.

Over eleven thousand people have pinned my memorial day cocktail blog. The Long Island Ice Tea seems to be of particular interest. Because of this, I’ve started working on a small ebook of classic cocktails everyone should know how to make. And one day soon, maybe before Marston graduates high school, I’ll finish it. One of the cocktails will be the Lemon Drop Martini (one of my personal favorites) so I’m sharing it with you all today as a little preview!

We’re in California right now visiting my favorite in-laws. You can’t walk farther than the mailbox without being assaulted by all the citrus. Everyone has citrus trees. In their front yard, back yard, side yard, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE. My in-laws have a lime, lemon, a Meyers lemon, tangerine and an orange tree. And all these trees are about to snap in half with all the fruit hanging from their limbs. You can plan on seeing twelve different citrus recipes over the coming weeks, lucky you.

Today we’re starting off with a kumquat gin cocktail. It’s low(er) calorie and very refreshing. You will love it.

What do you drink on those cold winter nights? Before I knew about sipping chocolate, I always had plain old hot chocolate. I still love plain old hot chocolate, of course, but for the times I need a little more oomph, I drink sipping chocolate. Also when I want to drink a candy bar.

Mostly when I drink I like beer. It’s refreshing and I can have more than one. But towards the end of both of my pregnancies I have craved Cosmopolitans. Perhaps its a throwback to my early twenties. Cosmos were the first drink I learned to make as a bartender. My friends and I used to get in the hot tub and drink cosmos after a long shift. Maybe my swollen ankles and weepy self remember late evenings spent relaxing after a hard days work, because I promise you, post-baby, it is one of the first things I will be doing!

My favorite thing to do in the summer is to play corn hole and sit on our porch with friends having a drink watching the sun go down. We call it sundowners and we do it every Sunday. Here’s a delicious whiskey and lemonade cocktail that is perfect for sipping on a warm summer’s eve.

Beer is a no brainer when you’re grilling out. But the dancing really starts happening once the cocktails hit the scene. Here are three tasty drinks to celebrate and remember with family this coming Monday.

We leave in an hour to go pick up my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my grandmother-in-law and her fiancee(-in-law). When we get home we’ll toast their arrival and to the next two weeks of fun tromping through Europe. Here’s a recipe for our French champagne toast.