We finally made it back home! Ridiculous amounts of fun in Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, and Vancouver. Hurray Western Canada! Next up is the West coast.

I’m not sure if the heat is finally getting to us or what, but for the past year we’ve been totally cocktail obsessed. Slowly building up our liquor cabinet one drink at a time reminds me of collecting hockey/baseball cards as a kid. New spirits are like rookie cards, but you get to drink them instead of just dinging the corners. Looking for all the bottles for a new drink can be like trying to collect every player on a single team. This would of course all be easier if Laredo had a liquor store with a more diverse selection, but unfortunately we’ve been forced to do most of our booze buying on trips out of town. Here are the recipes for a few of the cocktails that we’ve found ourselves drinking the most often this summer. — David

Last Word

I could drink a Last Word every day.  I could drink ten Last Words every day.  Its pretty, it smells like happiness, and it tastes like you’ve been punched in the face with freshness.  I need to stop writing so that I can go make one now. — Nicole

• ¾ oz dry gin
• ¾ oz lime juice
• ¾ oz green Chartreuse
• ¾ oz maraschino liqueur
• Shake well with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Shut up and drink. [source]

In order to escape the Texas heat and visit friends/family back home, we once again embarked on a month long road trip up to Canada. On this first leg our main stops were Forth Worth / Dallas (eating at Lonesome Dove, Samar, + more) and Kansas City (Celina Tio’s Julian, Extra Virgin, and Oklahoma Joe’s BBQ). Next up Canada!

When we bought the pig skin we had this wonderful mental picture of crispy chicharrones in a nice puffy gordita with a tangy tomatillo salsa.  We got 66.666666666 percent there.  I’m not going to lie — the skin was super gelatinous and a little weird.  Tasty, but definitely a texture that some would find a wee bit nasty.  The gorditas on the other hand were pure awesomeness and surprisingly easy–even for people who are dough challenged like us!  Go gordita making!  Woot woot!

We’ve been in Texas for two years now, but this was oddly only our second time making the not-so-bad 5.5 hour drive from Laredo to Houston. We extended the drive by an hour or so on the way home, so we could swim in the oil-spill free part of the Gulf. We’ve been really cocktail obsessed as of late, so for me the highlight of the trip was definitely Anvil Bar & Refuge, but we really love all of Houston and can’t wait to go back!