BOOZY Watermelon Agua Fresca

I have described it as my "summer cocktail spirit animal" and it might be yours too. What is more "summer" than watermelon?? The answer: nothing. Bienvendio a la Adult Watermelon Agua Fresca!

We are meal planners. We like to stretch dollars and know what to buy for the week so we're not wandering around the grocery like idiots, spending god knows how much on things that distract our attention. I usually go during the day, buy everything I can at Trader Joe's and buy the remainder of our items at Whole Foods. Yes, the 4 or 5 items at Whole Food are almost as much as my entire bill at Trader Joe's, thanks for asking.

If I make it through another week of grocery shopping I usually buy myself two treats at WF:
1. a tiny thing of mixed Greek olives from the olive bar
2. A watermelon juice drink

Both treats are devoured on the drive home as we are not WF/TJ-adjacent.

The juice drink runs like $5 for 12 or so ounces of juice. FIVE DOLLARS!!! I keep thinking 'you know, this shit can't be too hard to make...it's what? watermelon and agave or something??' so this week, when I went to this magical place called Larry's Produce in Suisun City and found a giant melon for $5, I decided to give it a go.

Let me tell you this: it was a piece of cake to make. First, I made the fresca. I did not add even an ounce of sweetener as the ripe melon required none of that nonsense. If it were out of season I'd recommend adding a tablespoon of honey or agave per blended pitcher.

To make the fresca:
- cut the melon up into chunks
- Fill your blender and then add a cup of cold water and blend
- Then, use cheesecloth or a colander or whatever you've got to filter the junk out of the melon-water.
If you have a large watermelon you might need to do this a few times (fill blender with melon, add a cup-o-water, blend, filter).

Once the juice is made, this drink comes together quickly.

Recipe:
In a cocktail shaker, put:
1 jigger of vodka (use the good stuff, people)
several ounces of watermelon juice, depending on how strong you take your cocktails
1 Tbs ginger syrup
4 ice cubes

Shake it, shake it, shake it.

Pour in a glass and maybe add a splash of lime.

Holy. Crap. It's really good. The kinda cocktail that really sneaks up on you!