The mint incident.

We all have our favorite summer drinks, right? Whether it’s boozed up or non-alcoholic, we just don’t tend to crave the same beverages in the summer as we do in the winter. In the winter I drink loads of hot chocolate, tea and slow cooked hard cider. In the summer, however, it’s nice to keep things on the lighter side.

My chipped-mug friend, Sherri, enjoys a good mojito. She and I are nerds at heart, so one evening we set up the laptop and googled mojitos. We evaluated, cross-checked and compared every way possible to make the number one mojito until we agreed upon a perfect mix. (One of the reasons why it’s a perfect mix is that it eliminates the extra step of making simple syrup.)  Here’s the recipe:

• 2 mint leaves muddled in the juice of ½ a lime
• handful of ice
• 2 ½ oz. Parrot Bay key lime rum
• 2 ½ oz. club soda

The next day Brian and I headed out to round up the ingredients. After splitting a grocery list, we divided and conquered. Brian insisted that we didn’t need to buy mint because apparently we had mint growing at our house. This was news to me! Not only can I NOT tell one plant from another, I definitely do not have a green thumb. I’ve been responsible for the death of 2 aloe plants and a cactus. In fact, if I just look at a plant the wrong way, it’ll die. So apparently the mint was thriving in my ignorance. The rest of the ingredients (and a few other groceries) were purchased and we headed home. On the way back Brian had a suspicious change of heart and said, “We need to go to Safeway. I think we need to buy some mint.”

Me: “You just said that we had mint! I don’t understand. Did you think that it was mint and it was actually parsley or something?”

Brian: “No, it’s mint.”

Me: “Then why do we have to buy it? It’s going to be so much more expensive at Safeway; and we were just at the Grand Mart!”

…wait for it…

Not making eye contact, but looking straight ahead with both hands on the wheel, Brian said, “I think I may have peed on the mint.”

Hold. Up.

“You may have peed on the mint?!”

See now, this is the difference between a man and a woman. A woman wouldn’t pee on her produce. So I learned 2 things that afternoon: We have mint; and my husband pees outside sometimes.

Fabulous.

Me: “So, did you? Do we need more mint?”

Brian: “I don’t know. I’ll have to check the spot.”

Oh, now he has a spot.

We went home. He checked “the spot” (which, I would like to mention, is not in the back, but in the front of our house). Fortunately his morning aim had missed a majority of the mint; and so, with an extra special washing just in case, Sherri and I were able to make our mojitos while enjoying a hearty laugh.