Cucumber Cocktail

Some members of The Clock had the good luck to enjoy an early version of this elixir during the otherwise unfortunate Moshiso Incident in late August.

Kemp's Cool-As-A-Cucumber Cocktail

1) Chill some Highball or Old Fashioned or Martini glasses in the freezer

2) Coarsely chop 8 ounces cucumber. (This is about half of a large one.) Reserve some slices for garnishing the serving vessels. Note: I peel the cucumber first, though I honestly don't know if this makes a difference.

3) Put the cucumber into a blender, along with:
4 good-sized leaves of mint OR 8 leaves of basil
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup Smirnoff Lime vodka

4) Process until liquefied. Strain through a fine sieve into either:
a) a cocktail shaker full of ice. Shake until your arm tires and then pour straight-up into Old Fashioned or Martini glasses. Or,
b) Highball glasses, 3/4 full of ice.

5) Garnish with a slice of salted cucumber

6) Consume until you're inebriated, and the rapidly approaching close of summer is overbearingly poignant. Try not to think of this as a metaphor for the finiteness of our lives, as the sun plummets toward the horizon on one of these ever-shortening days, because this can be a real buzz-kill. All we ever really have is today, and our summer is not quite over yet.

Updated recipe:

1) Chill some Highball or Old Fashioned or Martini glasses in the freezer

2) Coarsely chop 8 ounces of peeled and seeded cucumber. (This is about half of a large one.) Reserve some slices for garnishing the serving vessels.

3) Put the cucumber into a blender, along with:
2 good-sized leaves of mint and 4 leaves of basil
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup Smirnoff Lime vodka

4) Process until liquefied. Strain through a fine sieve and:
a) pour into a cocktail shaker full of crushed ice; shake until your arm tires and then pour straight-up into Old Fashioned or Martini glasses. Or,
b) dilute 3:1 (water) and pour into highball glasses, 3/4 full of ice.

Continue as before.