kibbutz watermelon cocktails

A hot Friday evening on kibbutz....

Tomorrow is our first day off in six days. Shabbat. Our

Friday evenings vary. Sometimes after the big communal

dinner, we simply melt back into our rooms and 

sit around, chatting, writing ideas for a 

scavenger hunt or volunteer game of "assassin".

Other nights, there's a driver, and we can go "out".

A member will drive a van to take volunteers

to one of the other kibbutzim, so we can go to their pub.

We don't have a pub on Fridays. Ours is Thursday and Saturday, but with

Saturday being our only morning off, we like to go to pub

on Fridays. On these nights, we congregate outside and

drink sweet, strong drinks of fruit nectar, and vodka that could remove your nail polish.

 At midnight, anyone who thinks they can make it out

(keep in mind, we've been awake since 6 am) goes to meet the kibbutz van.

On this particular night, we have not planned ahead. 

There will be a driver, and we have vodka, but no

juice to drink it with. Belinda, Dana and I lay around Belinda's

room, enjoying the air-conditioning, unsure what we'll do.

Jessie comes over and we learn that

one of the kibbutzim in the area is having a 

big party tonight- their pub is outdoors, and tonight is

the first night it's open.

All we have is a bottle of hair-raising vodka, a small watermelon, and 

some lemon. Fabulous. We work away, experimenting, tasting, making

a sticky mess, but we know it'll be worth it. 

We use knives  to mash the watermelon

into drinkable sized bits. We vigorously blend our

drink using a fork. Finally, when it tastes the way

we want, we rim our cups with sugar. 

"Que rico!", Dana breathes.

I take a sip. Heavenly.  We bring our drinks outside,

and soon enough, everybody wants watermelon cocktails.

We are more than happy to share. We sit in circles on the grass.

 Guitars and nargila come out, the stars turn, and we wait

for midnight.

 Watermelon Cocktails

This isn't really a recipe, of course. Just a drink idea for you to toy with this summer.

Ingredients

1 small watermelon

Sugar

2 lemons

Ice

Cold water

Vodka 

Preparation

Well, I am going to do this with a blender. But the story above proves that you certainly don't need a blender to make this drink. It will require you to hack away at the watermelon and use a fork to mix it and will take about six times as long as it would with a blender, but it works!

Anyway.

Halve, then quarter your watermelon and remove rinds. If you see any black seeds along your way, of course pop them out. Cut the pieces into chunks and throw into a blender with a handful of sugar. Blend.

Take one of your lemons and squeeze the entire thing in. Add a bit of cold water and mix.

Pour in your vodka. Give it a couple pulses, and taste. If it needs more of anything, add it! 

For the sugar rim:

Pour some sugar onto a small plate.
Cut the other lemon into wedges. Put a slit through the middle of each wedge and put one on the rim of a cup. Swirl it around the edge so the whole mouth of the glass is lemony, and then remove the wedge and turn the cup upside-down onto the sugar plate. Replace the wedge, and repeat with the rest.

Serve over ice.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy.