It's noon (and summer) somewhere...

I am currently doing a load of socks in the washing machine. Why just socks? Well, what with the recent snomg! in DC, I have worn all of my tall wool socks, which are the only thing I will wear with my hiking boots out in the snow. And with the promise of another 10 inches (of snow) tonight, I need all of my wool socks available for duty. (My favorite name for the second storm is kaisersnowze.) Usually I like comfort food and spiked hot chocolate (with marshmallows) to see me through the winter, but when it gets to be this ridiculous, its fun to pretend you're somewhere else. Like Florida. Drinking a martini. Fresh from a visit to the Turtle Hospital. Plus if you have enough of these cocktails, you might even forget the deathmatch you witnessed at the grocery store between two neighbors battling it out for the last loaf of bread.

Key lime martini, adapted from GreatGrub.com
makes one drink

2 ounces vanilla vodka (see recipe below, or use store-bought)
1 ounce Cointreau*
1 ounce lime juice (I used Nellie and Joe's key lime juice)
1/2 tablespoon superfine sugar (made by putting regular sugar in a clean coffee/spice grinder - but don't make it into powdered sugar - although it's just a cocktail, I'm sure it will go down the gullet fine either way)

Pour all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice, and then strain into a martini glass.

*We have a large bottle of Cointreau gifted from my parents' dog, who stayed with us a few months ago and threw up in the living room. (From being nervous, not from drinking martinis.)

Vanilla vodka
makes about a pint, takes 3 days

1 vanilla bean, split open
1 pint vodka (moderate quality works great here)

Put the vanilla bean in a pint jar. Cover with vodka. Let it sit three days. We threw the vanilla bean away, and kept the vodka, but you could keep the bean in there and keep adding more vodka as you use it. It will continue to intensify the longer it sits.