Aunt Kaarin's Mojitos

...as purportedly served to Ernest Hemingway in Cuba...
(but not by her, of course! ;)

Fresh limes
Simple syrup
Fresh mint leaves
Rum
Club soda

Roll fresh limes on the counter to loosen the insides. Press and squeeze through lime press/juicer (or otherwise extract juice). Per glass:

2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp. simple syrup
4-6 fresh mint leaves, torn small

Muddle (or whir lightly with hand mixer) to get mint leaves in small pieces and mix everything together well.

Fill each glass with ice. Add 2 oz. white rum and stir. Top with 2 oz. club soda and do not stir. Serve immediately.

Kefir

You can read about the "whys" of brewing/drinking kefir here.

As for the "hows," it is super easy.  Here it is:

Get some kefir grains from a reliable source.  (I'd be happy to share some with you, if you need them.)

For regular (milk) kefir:
Place grains in milk.  (An amount equal to about the size of a quarter will culture about a quart of milk in 24-48 hours. Adjust your quantities of grains-to-milk to always allow for culturing in about this amount of time.)

Let sit at room temperature, covered lightly with cloth (or paper towel) and a rubber band, until done.  Stir daily with a wooden utensil during the culturing.  (No metal!)

It is done when the liquid is thickened.  Pour through a plastic strainer to remove the grains.  Store in a glass bottle.

To make "kefir d'uva" (a cultured juice drink that tastes sort of like "grape beer"):

Retain some of your spare kefir grains (once they've "grown" enough to need to be divided), to be converted--permanently--to kefir d'uva grains.  (They will turn purple and will not be able to be returned to culturing milk kefir.)

Fill a glass jar with a mixture of one third to one half water, mixed with the other part (one half to two thirds) grape juice. (Get the bottle of 100% purple grape juice, like is sometimes used for communion.)

Allow it to culture/"brew" for 24-48 hours with a tight lid screwed on, shaking daily.  The mixture will become fermented, and it is done when it is very bubbly, still slightly sweet, and not yet disgustingly tart.  You'll figure it out.  Store in a bottle with a tight-fitting lid to hold fermentation.  (I recommend the bottle from Lorina Sparkling Lemonade; just buy one, drink it, soak the label off, and re-use.)

For both kinds of kefir:  You can store grains, when not in use, in the refrigerator in filtered water.  They will "go dormant" if stored in this way, not at room temperature, and will take longer to "brew" once you bring them back out for use in room temperature culturing.

See the other blog post for more information.

Cheri's Yummy Homemade Limemade

Again, from my friend Cheri. I'll post for her...

So................your Sonic drinks put me in a mood for a limeade after you left and I was thinking I'd head down there for happy hour, not knowing it had already passed. Then I tried to get Tashia to get me one on her way home, but she was late for another outing and I couldn't even get my very adventurous neighbor to get her feet out of her pond long enough to run down there. I lost my motivation to head out, but found a great recipe. It's a bit different, but so lovely....I'm sure I'm hooked.

1/2 c lime juice (I used bottled)

2 c water

1/4 - 1/2 c sugar

5 or so ice cubes

1 1/2 c frozen fruit

Put all in the blender except the ice cubes. Add them one at a time after initial blending. The fruit I had was a mixed bag of raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, strawberry. I only had a cup of fruit and it was plenty. Yummmmmmmmmmmmm. I still served it over lots of ice.