spring in the piedmont

 

From top: 1) Patrick Henry Highway in Nelson County, Virginia. 2-3) Blackrock Overlook in Wintergreen gives a beautiful view of the George Washington National Forest. 4-5) Hill Top Berry Farm on the Monticello Wine Trail produces fruit wine and mead. 6-8) Gravel Hill (ca. 1906), the Kelley family farm, looking lovely on a cool Spring day. 9) A beautiful old apple tree at Gravel Hill whose apples disappear so quickly once the deer realize they are ripe for the taking. 10) Raspberry mint margarita 11) With the arrival of sockeye salmon in Richmond comes a wonderful Spring dinner; citrus chipotle sockeye salmon, crab cake and couscous.

spring in the piedmont

(raspberry mint margarita)

ingredients:

patrón

one pint raspberries

2 cups freshly picked mint

 1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

Boil 1 cup water with 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup raspberries until mixture becomes a pretty pink color. Strain seeds from raspberry simple syrup and set aside. Muddle 4-5 mint leaves in the bottom of your favorite cocktail glass. In a silver shaker, prepare 1/3 raspberry simple syrup, 1/3 lime juice and 1/3 patrón over 5-6 ice cubes. Gently shake and then pour over muddled mint leaves. Bon appétit.