Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun.
Kent Nerburn
We are officially at the halfway point of summer. How’s it going? Things for me have been So-So. I am still learning how to handle my MS diagnosis this summer. I learned a lot over the last year and this summer I have taken those things and have been able to implement them in my day-to-day life. However, summer comes with it’s own set of unique problems. The number one problem being, the heat. It’s funny I was talking to my WinnipegBesty the other night and she joked about how I left the cold for the heat and asked me how that was going? 😂 While the heat is absolutely soul sucking and drains every ounce of life out of me… It’s better than being cold. I can’t even take something out of the freezer because cold hurts my hands so much! The cold makes everything harder. Everything hurts SO much more and everything moves slower and I already move pretty slowly to begin with nowadays 😂. While I need to learn how to handle the heat, I feel like hot over cold is still my best option.
Follow up to my doctors and disability… We filed an appeal, but we haven’t heard anything yet. As I have previously written about, my neurologist believes that in is “all in my head” and there is nothing that we can do for my MS symptoms. He referred me to a psychiatrist, but this week I found out that I have been denied his referral because they are busy and don’t feel that I fall into the priority
category.🤨
As therapy is no longer an option, my doctor has suggested that the next step is a low dose anti-depressant. He believes that this may help with my fatigue and energy levels. I don’t like to use medicine as the first and definitely not the only, resource but
I think it is important to use whatever tools you have to treat an illness. Plus, my family doctor and I also believe that once we have shown the neurologist that I am willing to try all the options, perhaps he will take me a bit more seriously.MS is a neurological disorder. It literally IS in my head! Because of this, my doctor and I went through my disability tax claim line by line and he asked me ALL the questions…
Can you walk? Yes. Can you talk? Yes. Can you see? Yes. Can you get up without help? Yes.
Do you see where I’m going?
He then asked, do you have trouble with speech? Yes. Do you have trouble with memory? Yes, do you have fatigue? Yes. Everything is mental. Since starting the medicine, besides feeling nauseous after I take it, it has been fine. I do feel a little less fatigued and then I forget and I do too much and
then… I drop. This week I was feeling so good, until I wasn’t and then I spent Thursday afternoon and Friday in bed and didn’t get up until Saturday afternoon to greet my Bro and Niece.
It’s a learning curve. Thank you all for your support and for giving me a safe space to discuss the things I am going through. Hopefully you aren’t going through a similar situation but if you are, know that I am here for you too 💛.
Ninja and I have a podcast! Ha! Of course you know that and you can check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #339: Millions of Peaches HERE! But did you know that every week Ninja makes us cocktails for our date night?
It’s true! Ninja was a bartender way back when 😂 and he loves to try new cocktail recipes all the time! We have taken a few mixology classes and have done a few tours of local distilleries and we love a good mixed drink. I realized that I never feature his cocktails on the blog so I asked him to try a few summer drinks so I could share them with you! For YOU, I selflessly took the bullet and tried each and every drink to make sure it was worthy of sharing as my favourite summer cocktails 😂 So THANK YOU! 😂 And Thank You Ninja! He made and took pictures of all these tasty and refreshing drinks for me and I appreciate it so much 💛.
Strawberry Cucumber Elderflower Gin Spritz
Adapted from Martha Stewart
12 strawberries, hulled and sliced, plus whole berries for serving
12 thin cucumber slices, halved, plus whole rounds for serving
2 tablespoons sugar
3 oz. lemon juice
9 oz. gin
6 oz. St-Germain
Club soda and bitters, for serving
Muddle sliced strawberries, halved cucumber slices, sugar, and lemon juice in the bottom of a pitcher until fruits break down and release most of their juices and sugar has dissolved.
Stir in gin and St-Germain to combine.
*Make Ahead* Make the drink through until here. Refrigerate the pitcher for up to 8 hours. You can also slice the fruit for garnishing a little ahead of time, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Fill glasses halfway with ice. Divide fruit-and-gin mixture evenly among glasses.
Top each with 1 to 2 ounces club soda; stir once. Top each with a few dashes of bitters, whole strawberries, and cucumber rounds; serve immediately.
Strawberry Lemonade Aperol Margarita
Adapted from Half Baked Harvest
4-6 strawberries, sliced
2 oz silver tequila
1 oz Aperol
3/4 oz Cointreau
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz lime juice
1/3 cup ginger beer, for topping
1 slice lemon and salt for rimming glasses
On a shallow plate, add 2 tablespoons salt. Rim your glasses with the lemon and the salt, then fill the glasses with ice.
In a cocktail shaker, muddle the strawberries with the tequila, squashing everything to release the juices. Add the Aperol, Cointreau, lemon juice, and lime juice. Fill with ice and shake until combined.
Strain into your prepared glass. Top off with ginger beer. Garnish with strawberries and herbs.
Watermelon Cucumber and Lime Cocktail
Adapted from Creative Culinary
Adapted from Creative Culinary
4 oz Vodka
4 1-inch cubes of watermelon, no seeds
2 limes, diced
2 oz simple syrup
Lime Rim equal amounts salt and sugar combined with some fresh grated lime
2 watermelon slices
4 cucumber slices, separated
2 small mint sprigs
To make simple syrup, boil 1/4 cup water and sugar just until sugar dissolves. Add 1/4 cup ice to cool. Refrigerate leftovers.
Combine vodka, watermelon, 2 slices of cucumber and lime in a cocktail shaker. Muddle all ingredients well. Add simple syrup, fill with ice, cover and shake until ice cold.
Rim the glasses with a cut lime and dip in the lime rim mixture.
Fill the glasses with ice and pour the ingredients from the shaker into the glasses.
Garnish with a watermelon slice, a cucumber slice and a mint sprig.
Pineapple Jalapeno Margarita
Adapted from A Flavor Journal
6 chunks fresh Pineapple 1″ cubes
2-3 slices fresh Jalapeno
tiny pinch salt
4 oz. Tequila silver
2 oz. pineapple juice
2 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. Triple Sec
1 teaspoon honey
For the Rim
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Muddle the pineapple chunks, jalapeno slices, and a tiny pinch of salt in a cocktail shaker until the pineapple is broken down (about 20-30 seconds.)
Pour in tequila, pineapple juice, lime juice, triple sec, and honey. Fill the shaker with ice, secure the lid, and shake vigorously for about 20 seconds.
Stir the rim ingredients together in a shallow bowl or on a small plate. Run a pineapple wedge (or lime wedge) over the rims of two glasses, and dip them into the rim mix. Shake off any excess and fill the glasses with ice.
Strain the margarita between the glasses, and garnish with a fresh pineapple chunk.
Peach Aperol Spritz
Adapted from Bits and Bites
6 oz. Prosecco
4 oz. Aperol
2 oz. Peach Liqueur
2 oz. Club Soda
2-4 Peach Slices
Adapted from Bits and Bites
6 oz. Prosecco
4 oz. Aperol
2 oz. Peach Liqueur
2 oz. Club Soda
2-4 Peach Slices
In 2 glasses over ice, pour in all 4 of your ingredients.
Give the drink a stir. Garnish with peach slices.
Frozen Pineapple Coconut Dream
Adapted from Pizzazzerie
4 cups frozen pineapple chunks
1 1/2 cups ice
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup rum
simple syrup
Combine pineapple, ice, lime juice, coconut milk, and rum into blender. Blend until smooth.
Garnish with a pineapple and a lime.
Raspberry Maple Gin Fizz
6 fresh raspberries
2 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
2 oz gin
3 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 can soda water
Muddle raspberries, maple syrup, gin and lemon juice in a shaker. Shake well.
Strain into a tall glass filled with ice. Top with club soda, raspberries and a lemon.
Spicy Raspberry Paloma
Adapted from Heather Christo
2 teaspoons red chili pepper, roughly chopped
1/2 cup raspberries
1 cup grapefruit juice
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 ounces Tequila Blanco
1 cup club soda
fresh raspberries to garnish
1 cup grapefruit juice
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 ounces Tequila Blanco
1 cup club soda
fresh raspberries to garnish
In the bottom of two large glasses, divide the raspberries and chili. Muddle well until you have a raspberry-chili pulp.
Fill both glasses with ice.
Fill both glasses with ice.
Add the grapefruit juice, the lime juice and the tequila and stir. Top with the chilled club soda and stir well. Garnish with raspberries.
This week was busy! I purchased a few pictures from the Kid’s past dance performance and I love them! My Bro and PPea got ready for their BC adventure by buying us a TON of kube 😂. We are dogsitting my Sis’s doggo, HBear is doing weekly drum lessons, and we had a wonderful time vintage shopping together. SBean enjoyed a week of gymnastics camp, HBear had a sleepover at her Besty’s and dyed her hair blue, we visited with Ninja’s 3 Aunts and his Uncle who were coming through from Texas and Calgary and then my Bro and PPea got in on the weekend! We ate BBQ and pizza and went to Platinum Bench Winery for a tasting and some fresh bread and cheese! We checked out the giant fire burning in Osoyoos 😞, picked peaches, and went to Tickleberry’s. We ended the week with HBear working at the library, SBean spending the day with Uncle & PPea and a visit from our wonderful friends from Winnipeg, my BossaNovaBesty, his partner and their 2 boys. Actually, his 2 sons are with my cousin! That was a weird family party when my younger cousin showed up with my friend from high school on her arm!! He’s now with an awesome woman that I’ve only met a few times but feel like I’ve known forever! 💛 It was a fabulous and busy week. Only 1 more month of holidays left 😔.
2 thoughts on “1 Month In & 8 Summer Cocktails!”
That strawberry and cucumber spritz does look WOW. Pinned it
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