CROSSING THE BEVERAGE BARRIER….
Nancy Kessler and Tim Cahill prepare their signature “Yelapa Sols” with serious soul!
By Nancy Kessler
(Written at Deep Travel workshop in Mexico, January, 2018)
It is said necessity is the mother of invention, but sometimes the spark of creativity is driven by want, such as in the desire for a drink.
And, you never know when or where the need will hit.
We are staying in Yelapa, a small sunny and warm pueblo costera (coastal town) in Mexico, una ensenada (cove) catering to tourists and my fellow writing workshop participants. Our hosts, Anna and Christina, kindly left us a bottle of tequila reposato, or aged tequila, and a bowlful of lovely, tiny, bright green, sweet and tangy limes in our room, knowing my sweetheart, workshop leader Tim Cahill, enjoys indulging in an after work cocktail.
I, on the other hand, have a wary respect for the blue agave, earned many years ago, many, many miles north, in a place many, many degrees colder. That night, I met some girlfriends for a Christmas drink after a long week of work, needing only to finish packing for my trip to another snowy holiday destination before leaving on a 6 a.m. flight.
Our local taverna, El Buho, or The Owl, was often frequented by my friends for a drink called “The Fishbowl,” a softball-sized and -shaped glass, which the infamous bartender Dana (but that’s another story) would fill with ice and straight tequila, topped with a squeeze of lime.
I had never indulged in a Fishbowl, but Kelly and Gloria encouraged me to live large and kick off my vacation with a kick. And so I did, and did again, and again, and… After five Fishbowls, I crawled home happy, packed my bag with alacrity, and crashed at 11 p.m.
At 3 a.m., I bolted upright in bed, wide awake, still past tipsy, and asked myself, “What the hell is in that suitcase?” I pulled it over, flung it open, and discovered that for my ten-day visit home, I had packed 23 sweaters, and not a single pair of socks.
I have limited my tequila-drinking ever since.
Tim knows I rarely drink liquor straight, so he kindly asks Mr. Google for some tequila beverage recipes – not margaritas – that we might easily make in our casita with ingredients found at the local tienda. Nothing quite fits the bill, nor can we find all the mixings at the store, so I improvise on the spot, picking this and that in hopes the blend would be potable.
Later that day, I try my newly invented cocktail, and find it to be not only sabrosa, fresca y refrescante – tasty, cool and refreshing – but good enough to deserve a real name, and worldwide acclaim. Tim too finds it to his liking, and helps devise the perfect moniker to celebrate the potion and the place.
We call it Yelapa Sol.
Herewith, fellow workshoppers, the recipe:
Fill a tall glass with ice
Add 1-2 shots of tequila (to taste)
Fill the rest of glass with ½ Seven-Up and ½ agua minerale (club soda)
Add squeeze of lime, stir and sip
Repeat as desired
Feel free to share the formula, demand it at your local tavern, and help give it the fame it so tastily deserves. A tu salud!
Enjoy Yelapa Sols with a view!
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