Cocktail Hour: Bump Up Your Beer

Assuming the rain doesn't cancel it, today is the annual Congressional Baseball game here in Washington, D.C. If you've never heard of this event, Members of Congress get together and put any partisan sqwable aside to fight over what really counts, a win on the baseball diamond. For those of you in DC or if your even remotely political you need to get your butt down to Nationals Park tonight. Tickets are $10 and it's general seating, get them here!

Anyways, since this is a night where the Washington elite kick their feet up and relax, I figured a little cocktail hour is in order? Tell me what goes better with baseball than a cold beer? Besides a hot dog or a little shake shack? Well this cocktail is perfection for summer and the ingredients are pretty darn inexpensive, so you've got to love that!

I actually discovered this drink at PS 7 when it was still open, but alas, the drink lives on with us! 

Ingredients

• 5 oz light lager beer (i.e. Bud Light, Miller Light, PBR, etc.)
• 1 oz Ginger Liqueur
• 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 Tbsp fresh ginger thinly sliced (for garnish)
• Ice

Directions
Simply combine the ginger liqueur, beer and lemon juice in a tall glass. Add the ice and garnish with ginger. Enjoy.


It seriously couldn't be much simpler than that folks? Let me know if you try it! Happy Thursday!

{Friday Cocktail} Black Cherry Shandy

Whose excited about the Olympics? THIS GIRL. Since we are on an official Olympic countdown (21 days as of 9 am this morning) I wanted to get you all excited with the summery British inspired cocktail. A Shandy is a beer and juice based beverage. It's light and refreshing, and perfect for relaxing at the end of a long week. I have been enjoying more than my fair share of shandies lately, but mmm... are they good in this HOT weather. 

This one was dreamed up because of an abundance of black cherries and limes (post fourth of July). It's really easy to put together, and a great sweet tart combo. I present to you the...

Black Cherry Shandy

Ingredients

• 1 light beer (I used Yueling Light)
• .5 cup sliced black cherries
• 1 small lime (zested)
• 1.5 oz Tequila
• 1 Tbsp Simple Syrup

Directions

Muddle cherries, zest and half the juice from the lime in a shaker. Add tequila and ice. Then top with beer. enjoy.

Easy right? Don't forget to enter the Rocks Paper Metal Giveaway!

How is it Monday again?

Back to work... ugh. Where did that weekend go? I didn't really do anything, which was wonderful, but I also didn't accomplish ANYTHING so that's annoying.

I got off work early on Friday, swung by the grocery store to pick up some peeps and a six pack (what else do you need for Easter?). I had the house to myself Friday night which is always lovely. I love my roommates to death, but when you live with friends/roommates its always nice to get a little alone time. and I'm a girl who LOVES my alone time.

Saturday I hung out around the house some more. Did some cleaning, cooking, ran an errand or two, caught up on blogs, etc. Exciting life I lead. I finally got bored and took my roommate BW to explore our local neighborhood bar. We live in an area of DC that I'm not super familiar with. It's not the nicest of neighborhoods, but the longer I'm hear the more I love it. It's called Bloomingdale and is hipster-tastic. I'm certainly the preppiest person around, but no matter. I add to the diversity of the hood, right?

We popped over to a bar called the Boundary Stone and we immediately fell in love. It's a hole in the wall kind of a place. A solid list of craft brews on tap, well priced for dc ($5 a pint of a Saturday night sounds good to me)

The service was awesome! The bar tenders let us sample the beers before we ordered. Let us split a beer in half pint glasses (do bars normally do this? I don't think I've ever asked before), and were generally friendly and fun. Needless to say we tipped them well and told them we'd be back again soon. This could get dangerous.

Sunday was more lounging around. Easter brunch at home included: deviled eggs, salmon, potatoes, grits, spinach salad, etc. It was good.

Then I made the mistake of finally starting the Hunger Games (I know where have I been?) at 5:00 pm. Needless to say I took a 2 hour break to fold laundry and watch Mad Men and the season finale of Real Housewives of Atlanta (so sad it's gone). But I raced back to bed to do more reading before bed. Well. I read the whole darn thing. I turned off my light at 3:00 am, but my heart was still racing and I was thinking about whats going to happen in book two and three. I need to see the movie ASAP now. Anyone want to go with me?

Anyways, that's about it for me today. Hope everyone had a great Easter!