Summer Drinky-Poo

Because I'm posting this on a Saturday, and it's a beautiful warm day, I'm of course going to post something alcoholic. But, when it's warm, and you want to be social without turning into a slobbering fool, you want to be careful with the hard stuff. With that in mind, I give you: The Sparkling Pomegranate Cocktail. Yes, it's been done before, and no, I don't think I'm being original. What makes mine special? The GARNISH! Check it out:

For One Pitcher:

1 glass pitcher

2 ice cube trays

1 lemon

1/2 bottle sparkling wine, chilled

8 oz. pomegranate juice, chilled

This is going to take a bit of advance planning, but other than that, it's easy.

Run your pitcher under some cold water, wetting thoroughly, and put it in the freezer, preferably not touching anything.

Fill the ice cube trays with cold water. Peel your lemon, attempting to keep the peels around the same size, cutting them if you have to, so you end up with enough small pieces to put one into each ice cube tray. Put them into the water-filled trays, and put the trays into the freezer. It'll take a couple hours to freeze, so make sure you have plenty of time before your guests come over.

When the ice cubes are frozen, dump one tray into the pitcher. Add the pomegranate juice, then slowly, slowly, SLOWLY...pour in the sparkling wine. If you do it fast, it'll bubble over and you'll lose some of the sparkling wine, and a waste of alcohol is just tragic.

Serve!

You'll notice we have another tray of ice cubes, half a bottle of sparkling and some pom juice left over, right? That's for your next pitcher! Enjoy!

***Other Garnish Idea: You can go with an organic pomegranate juice, which impresses the eco-crowd, or you can use a fancy sparkling if you're having grown-ups over. And, if you want to get really crazy, use Meyer lemons.