cucumber gin mojito

It's Saturday. I was up real late and up real early helping my best Stockhomies move from their rented apartment just two blocks away, to an apartment they bought on the other side of town. It's a good thing, a really really good thing, it really is. It's bittersweet to not be able to pad up the hill in my pyjamas with a glass of wine in my hand just to whine about my day for a couple of minutes whenever I want to. Now I'll have to leave the island we live on and pedal my bike for about 15 whole minutes to get to their new (actually really old), incredibly beautiful apartment. It's cool, I've already got my keys to the new place. I'm just going to have a mojito and deal.

A while ago I had a bit of gin and soda with a slice of cucumber and a squeeze of lime. I pretty much thought I was a genius and had invented the best drink ever. I don't like sweet drinks, so it was a perfect cocktail for me, and I loved how the cucumber and gin flavours sparkled together. I googled it to see exactly how much of a genius I was, and turns out, there are zillions of other geniuses out there too. Duh. Then, I decided to throw in a little mint, a pinch of sugar, do a little muddling, and call the concoction a mojito. Right? Also, I recently invested in a Soda Stream water carbonating system, so I've got carbonated water on demand whenever I want, no more sad half flat bottles of day old soda. Thus, I hereby declare this the summer of the gin mojito! I'll be mixing mine up in mason jars, screwing the lids on, and pedaling the 15 whole minutes to my friends new pad. I'll survive.

Cucumber Gin Mojito Recipe:

I really don't like sweet drinks, so this recipe uses only just enough sugar for the granules to help bust up the mint and cucumber during muddling. If you like a sweeter mojito, by all means add more sugar.

Makes one mojito.

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3 slices cucumber

3 wedges lime

5 mint leaves

½ teaspoon granulated sugar

1 ounce gin

soda water

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Squeeze 2 lime wedges into a glass and drop the spent wedges into the glass. Dice up 2 of the cucumber slices and add to the glass, along with the mint leaves and sugar. Use a wooden spoon or muddler to bash everything together for 30 seconds or so; it should be smelling nice and fragrant, like mint and lime. Add gin, stir, and fill up with soda water. Top up with ice, garnish with remaining cucumber slice and lime wedge, and enjoy!

Know what you're eating: It's not food, it's a drink. Let's be kind to our livers and drink responsibly, right? Moderation is the key here, as it so often is. Cheers!

All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2012