Favorites on Friday--Sunset

And I don't just mean here, with the sun sinking down into the Caribbean Sea, dancing up off the water in riotous shades of orange and aqua. I don't love it just because whenever we are here, this is the time of day I come home from my beach run and rinse off, and depending on the wind direction, we spray the kids with OFF and fire up the blender for Tingaritas, and we marvel as people have done from the beginning of time, as the sun slides down the sky. (What are Tingaritas? See recipe below.) The boys wrestle on the beach or perfect their sand stops, we chat with friends and wave to the last snorkelers making their way home. We plan dinner, the evening ahead as the light paints everyone and everything in the most flattering shade of peach, and the waves break, the tinkling of shells and corals and sea glass on the tidepools.

At home, there is sunset ritual as well. There is something calming about the transition from day to night, the shift for us at home from being mom+kids to reunited family. It is the time when we five-o'-clock-fling clean the house, shuffling the debris of the day back to its place. It is when I usually try to catch a quick run, to the crest of the hill where cars park for the view of the sun behind the Pennsylvania treeline. I cherish these moments alone that leave me recharged for the evening routine and ready for dinner, hungry to come back to my family.

tingarita in CaymanTINGARITA RECIPE

(not to be confused with Tingolayo, one of Quinn's favorite songs about a Caribbean donkey)

Note: If you are like my sister, and prefer your recipes full of things like measurements and details, I am sure the internet or the back of the Jose Cuervo bottle or someone at the liquor store can help you find a good sunset cocktail recipe involving tequila. This is more of an approximation, a suggestion open to creative interpretation. And the best part is, even when they're bad, they're pretty good.

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 bottle of Ting, Jamaican grapefruit soda (Bigga will work as well). Down here, these are in the gas station, and along with an Island Taste beef patty from Four Winds Esso, were a regular staple of our diet circa 1996-99. Not easy to locate stateside, but at home I have found them in the West Indies section of Wegmans Supermarket. 

- some Cointreau

- some silver Cuervo tequila, about double the amount of the Cointreau, but half the amount of the Ting.

-ice

-salt and sugar

-wedge of lime or grapefruit

Put liquid ingredients and ice in the blender. Salt and sugar the rim. Garnish with whatever fancy tart citrus you have handy. Serve with sunset.