Lusciousity

Thanks to The Fix for helping us see the luscious, if counting challenged, side of Pamela Anderson. Today’s money quote on how she for one plans to stay calm while getting hitched to Kid Rock: “I have two words for you: champagne.”

Our summer beverage series continues with the story of m____. The michelada, that is, a drink that answers the question, how do you combine the thirst quenching simplicity of cold cerveza with the pucker factor of a margarita, creating the ideal sip for a sub-tropical soiree?

Diego and Frida were kind enough to provide a personal introduction, early in June as summer heat was just beginning to be felt. The husband and I joined D, F, and two of their esteemed friends for a relaxing Friday night of chit and chat in their lush backyard. A whole chicken was on the barbie, fresh vegetables roasting in the oven, and a drink that I had never seen before waiting to be mixed in the kitchen. I watched the hostess carefully mix fresh squeezed lime juice and Negra Modelo beer in a salt-rimmed glass. Frida ever so kindly handed it to me, and, after one glorious taste, I just had to ask, what is this?

A chelada, she explained, also known as the michelada when you add spicy accoutrement such as Worcestershire  and Tobasco sauce. We stuck to the Zen simplicity of the chelada, but if spice is your thing NPR offers this recipe (finally, those tax dollars are working for us).
Because Frida and Diego are just well-connected like that, in addition to explaining how to make a chelada, they emailed their MacArthur grant-winning Mexican friend AG, who first introduced them to the beverage, and asked for recipe pointers. AG offered this advice: “Just remember that the real secret to superb cheladas/mi is to have REALLY COLD ICE AND REALLY COLD BEER. Otherwise all you get is watered-down sour beer. Also the texture of the salt helps. kitchen salt, by all means. and grind it a little bit before you frost the glass.” And that’s all she said folks, and she’s a prizewinning genius, which is all the encouragement I need to have at for the hot summer months still ahead.

Did you really think that we would abandon you through the entirety of the summer months? Really? Awwww, we wouldn’t do that. We wouldn’t reneg on our promise to provide you with the recipe for the magically thirst-quenching m______, or not tell you about the funky magazine that threatens to steal our niche but that is so cool you deserve to know about it anyway, or not update you on the travels of urban sophisticates Diego and Frida. We just wouldn’t do those things. So remember to click early and click often, we’ve got a lot of lusciousness to share.

We weren’t gone. We were only getting our beauty sleep.