Blueberry highball

Recently, a friend gifted me a week's share from her CSA - she and her husband were out of town on their scheduled pick-up day, and instead of letting the bounty of fresh fruits and veggies go to waste, it went to me.

And oh, what a bounty it was. I don't personally participate in a CSA, because though I'd love to, I find they provide me with just too much food. There are only two of us in our tiny apartment, and we already have trouble fitting everything into our "European-sized" refrigerator. Week after week of giant bags of fresh produce would simply be overwhelming and unnecessary. BUT that doesn't mean that I don't love receiving the occasional share! This is now the second summer in a row in which a friend has gone out of town and asked me if I wanted her share, and I have to report that it is just the right amount for my life. Especially when the fruits and veggies are as beautiful as they were this week.

This is only a small selection of what I received. There was also a bag of green beans, a head of cabbage, about ten times more swiss chard, and a few zucchini. What will I do with it all? I have no idea. That's a post for a different day. But what did I do immediately after I got home (and after obsessively photographing everything)? Naturally, I made a cocktail.

I'm not gonna lie. I took one look at those blueberries and thought, "time for a drink!" It didn't hurt that I had been having A DAY and that it was almost 6pm on a beautiful Tuesday evening and all I had wanted all week was to relax on my balcony with a drink in hand, but that's besides the point. I'd been meaning to start incorporating muddled fruit into my drinks for some time now, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

I made this drink using a ginger ale syrup instead of ginger ale soda. It's a crazy-concentrated flavored syrup that when mixed with seltzer, tastes just like ginger ale but with none of the calories. It's made by these guys in upstate NY, and we pick it up at our weekly flea market (can you say hipster?), and it's addictive. No worries if you don't have the syrup - just omit the seltzer water and use your favorite ginger ale soda instead, adding as much as you like to get your drink's desired strength.

Begin by muddling three blueberries in the bottom of your glass. I didn't actually have the right tool for this (add it to the list), so I used the blunt end of a butter knife, which seemed to work just fine. This recipe uses a 1:1:2 ratio - so pour in 2oz. of your favorite bourbon (we're Maker's Mark people), 2oz. of the ginger syrup, and 4 oz. of seltzer. Add a giant ice cube and garnish with whole blueberries, find your favorite chair, and sit back and rellaaaaxxxxx ;)