Drink of the Week: Margarita

Please don’t hate me because I love margaritas. I know I tend to go on about them and recently blogged about a Prickly Pear Margarita, but they really are just the right combination of sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Plus, it’s Cinco de Mayo tomorrow — voted one of the Top 10 booziest holidays by Time magazine — so what better excuse do you need to rim a rocks glass with salt, juice some limes and shake up the best party cocktail ever?

It’s a party in a glass, but way classier to drink than shooting back tequila poppers all night.

Margarita

• 2 oz 100 percent agave reposado tequila (I like Casa Herradura)
• 1 oz Cointreau (or Controy if, like me, you’ve recently returned from Mexico with a couple of bottles)
• 1 oz fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 1 tsp. (or to taste) agave nectar or simple syrup
• Coarse sea salt to rim glass, if desired
• Lime wheel garnish

Rim a margarita glass with sea salt and then fill with crushed ice. In a shaker, combine tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and syrup. Shake with ice then strain into the margarita glass. Garnish with a lime wheel. Repeat (they’re like potato chips: you can’t have just one).

Go ahead, dive right in! Mmmm … margaritas …