Beer Cocktails!

I made up some beer cocktails last night for Cinco de Mayo.

I saw a link on lifehacker.com that recommended beer cocktails for lighter fare. Check out the post here:

http://lifehacker.com/5240670/try-a-beer-cocktail-for-cinco-de-mayo

The beers I used were Pyramid's Hefeweizen, Brooklyn's Pilsner, and Young's Double Chocolate Stout.

The lighter beers were used for what is sometimes called a Shandy or Radler. These drinks are a mix of light beer and lemon-lime soda or lemonade. The ratio I used was 1 to 1. I opted for lemon-lime soda, 7-Up specifically.

The Radlers turned out pretty great. Light, refreshing, with an interesting taste. The carbonation in the soda helped keep it bright and light. Lemonade or a higher quality italian soda would probably result in an even better taste. This drink is perfect for anyone that plans on engaging in any physical activity any time after consumption.

The beer floats were a bit heavier fare. Perfect for desert. Young's Double Chocolate Stout is a delicious beer on its own, but paired with Karamel Sutra it was next to heavenly. I would advise you to eat lightly if you plan on having one.

Shrimp Tacos with Xec

It started raining right after I lit the coals, but that didn’t deter me.

Tonight I made grilled shrimp tacos with a Mayan salsa called Xec. I got the idea from Mark Bittman. His blog is amazing and is a huge inspiration for me. He writes a column for the NY Times called Bitten.

Check it out:

http://bitten.blogs.nytimes.com/

The salsa is a citrus salsa with very few components. I used grapefruit, lime, jalapeno, salt, and cilantro. You can vary it a ton of different ways. Add blood orange, or bitter orange. Use habanero instead of jalapeno. You get the point.

I added a bit of cabbage for some crunch.

The shrimp were lightly seasoned with salt, pepper, and a bit of chili powder and grilled.

Not much else to it.