Tomorrow is my dad’s 80th birthday and he’s been gone just a hair over 9 years.  He shared his birthday with another notable man, George Washington and liked to say that George chopped down the cherry tree to make him a birthday pie.

Obviously, he had a misconception about how fruit is harvested, but he did love a cherry pie!  On the occasion that my mom would make him a cherry chocolate cake instead, he enjoyed that, too.

As it just so happens, tomorrow is also National Margarita Day and I’m here to help you celebrate both.

 

A toast to my dad

In a shaker, muddle 12 dark, sweet, pitted cherries* along with the juice from one sorry sized lime like you find in grocery stores this time of year.  Squeeze it good; you need every last drop!

Add 1.25 fl oz of tequila.  I used Patron reposado because that’s the only tequila I’m currently on speaking terms with.  Also, tomorrow is Monday and a full moon; go ahead and use a heavy hand.

Add .75 fl oz of dark agave nectar and .5 fl oz of triple sec.

Along with 12 fresh ice cubes, shake for a long minute.

Prepare any shaped glass you want by rimming it with another, un-muddled cherry and dipping in sugar.  Add fresh ice cubes.  Don’t let the haters tell you that you can’t drink a margarita out of a martini glass.

Sit back, enjoy your drink, and think about my dad.  Or your dad.  Or yourself.  And whether you’ll live to be 80 or not, and hope that you do because you’re already more than halfway there and you’ve not had enough time to figure out all the things you want to do yet.

Cheers!

 

Special alternate ending

Did you feel a stirring in your loins when I mentioned cherry chocolate cake?

Me, too.

Mix 1 tsp Hershey’s Special Dark, 100% Cocoa powder, 1 tsp vanilla sugar, and a pinch of salt. Wet your rim with an un-muddled cherry and dip in this delicious mixture.

*If you live in an alternate reality or hemisphere, maybe you get really good cherries in February.  Where I live, we don’t.  Frozen, but thawed cherries are perfect for muddling and drinking.  And they’re already pitted.  Just make sure they aren’t packaged with sugar.  Cherries should be the only ingredient in the bag.  Or box.  Or food capsule.  I don’t know how they come in your world.