Meyer Lemons...

Can't wait for this to ripen, I think just another week and I'm going to be happy! I make a drink (more often than I would like to admit) that involves Simply Limeade, Patron Gold, finely crushed ice, and some lemon and lime slivers. I thought I had cornered the market on this and needed to run for a patent until I was informed by someone else that they, too, drink this and suggested a splash of Grand Marnier (tip for those who are running out for the ingredients: you can even get a big bottle at Costco for a good price!) My drink is known around this neck o' the woods as "horse show lemonade." The kids all know it's off limits, has it's own special container and they all just ROLL their eyes.

Here is how it acquired it's name. My daughter (and also photographer extraordinaire in this blog!) and I spent most of 2006 and 2007 traveling throughout California (and Oregon) with her quarter horse to horse shows. Five in the morning, loading up the trailer, half awake, thermos of very strong coffee in hand, arriving, getting horse ready, the kid ready...see where the stress comes in? We were known to butt heads on more than a few occasions (friends that are reading this, STOP laughing). She is strong willed and feisty, which I always say will make for a good tough chica when she's an adult. Sure enough, by 8 a.m. when the classes start and you send them off to the gate, the moms break into the horse show lemonade. Makes the morning nice and numb, relieves jitters (for the moms, anyway) and as long as it's put away by noon, by 6, ready to load up and go home (or back to hotel!) I would pre-mix into jugs so there is no muss no fuss. Even though her showing days are over for now and a thing of the past, the horse show lemonade still lives on. When I'm stressed and things get me down, I break into it with joy. It's my trademark...I can't wait to make some with some slivers of the fruit of my Meyer Lemon tree tossed in with some mint.