cool down in the heat

since it's been so incredibly warm the past week, i thought i'd throw in a recipe to one of my favourite summer chillers to sip on while you melt away in the sweltering heat.

CAIPIRINHA (pronounced kai-pee-rin-ya)

image taken from www.sambagrill.no

the caipirinha is the national cocktail of brazil, much as the mojito is to cuba and the martini to james bond. it is a delightfully simple cocktail to make, and tastes absolutely refreshing. it is traditionally made with cachaca (pronounced ca-sha-sa), the national alcohol of brazil (fast facts: there are over 4000, some say 5000 brands of cachaca in brazil; 1.3 billion litres of cachaca are produced in brazil yearly with only roughly 1% being exported) lime, and crushed ice.

to make your own cachaca, you'll need:

2 ripe limes
2 barspoons of sugar
50 ml cachaca
crushed ice

simply wedge the limes, drop them into your glass, add the sugar, muddle these 2 together, add the crushed ice and shake in a shaker, pour them out into a rock glass and top up with more ice.