The traditional Mexican tequila cocktail

Here is one of my favorite Mexican tequila cocktails, the Paloma.  It is traditionally made with grapefruit soda, Squirt!  But this version uses fresh grapefruit juice which I like because it cuts through the flavor of the tequila. It is a great recipe to increase to make a pitcher of Paloma for a party. You can combine all the ingredients, cover and refrigerate until chilled about 2 hours.
Use the grapefruit and lime to to crust the rim of a glass as described in the recipe below. 

2 oz of Blanco Tequila 

2 oz. fresh squeezed grapefruit juice

1 oz. fresh lime juice

1/2 oz. triple sec

1/2 oz. agave nectar

Sal de Margarita sea salt

TIP:  Take the grapefruit and lime out of the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature.

Pour in the tequila, freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, lime juice, triple sec and agave nectar into a pitcher and stir. Pour into a Sal de Margarita rimmed glass with iceand garnish with a slice of grapefruit.

Sal de Margarita rimmed glasses for a party

RECIPE FOR SALTING THE GLASS

Pour a layer of Sal de Margarita onto a small plate.
With a slice of lime, wet half of the rim of the glass. (Rimming just half the edge with salt, lets you control how much salt you taste with each sip.)
Dip the glass into the salt at a 45-degree angle and roll it from side to side. Be careful to not let any of the salt drip into the glass. 

TIP:  Salt the rims in advance of serving a margarita. It allows the salt to dry on the rim so that the salt won't drip into the margarita. It also saves time when preparing margaritas for a party.

Sea creatures meet Sal del Mar

We have added four new designs to our Sal del Mar hand-embroidered bag line. With summer here already, we thought Creatures from the Sea would be a perfect look and came up with whimsical designs that we named... “Inky the Octopus,” “ Star the Mermaid,” “Saucy Seahorse,” and “Sea Shells.”

We chose sea colors of greens and blues. We love the way the embroiderers made them come alive with their artistic way of interpreting our designs with their needle and threads.

They will make the perfect gift to take to all the summer barbecues.

See them on our Shop page with all of our other Sal del Mar designs. 

Design

Working on most anything with Sal del Mar is just plain fun!  But my favorite part is working on ideas for new hand-embroidered bag designs.  It is hard to know what inspires a design, but sometimes, it just starts with seeing something and then letting it evolve.  

Like noticing at early morning coffee...the blues on blues. The napkin, The edge of the painted tray.

Or the blue in the sky and the Sea of Cortez.

Sometimes, it’s just colors that become the design. We were dazzled by how the embroiderers used their different colored threads of blue to capture two Sal del Mar designs. They’re called: “The Cod” and “Blue Monotone.” They are available in our Shop.

Limes

I love limes. I love their bright green color. I love the way they smell when you cut into them. Sometimes I even buy them just as a decoration. And, of course, I love how they taste in a margarita. 

I realize I have become somewhat of an expert on limes.  I always want the ripest ones when I make a margarita. Limes mature from green to yellow, so I squeeze them when they’re between green and yellow. I also like my Mexican hand-squeezer, instead of an electric juicer. The hand squeezer crushes the skin and the skin’s oils mix in to make the juice more complex. 

It matters to me too that it is freshly squeezed and not store-bought. I have found that freshly squeezed lime juice actually mellows a bit so I don’t hesitate to keep it in the refrigerator for a couple of days after squeezing.

I guess that's why we made sure there was a lime on our Sal de Margarita hand-embroidered bags.

A Mother's Day gift idea

Our original design for Sal del Mar de Cortez embroidered bags are being featured in Bon Boutique  https://bontucson.com as a gift idea for Mother's Day... we are thrilled. The owners, Crystal Flynt and her mother, Bonnie, collect their favorite things to feature in their shop. "The two of us share a love of things that are well designed and well made. We like a mix... new and old, rough and refined, dark and colorful, east and west, fun and serious... the beauty is in the way it’s all put together." 

I am always amazed at the photographs on Bon's website.  Crystal shoots many of the photographs and I admire her creative eye. Her photographs of Sal del Mar show how she captures the symplistic beauty in everything.

A Ravishing Radish

We put together a flat of plants to show off one of my favorite “Very Veggie Sea Salt”bags... the radish! Our embroiderers have stitched the radish design and made it a work of art. It is truly amazing how they can stitch a design with a needle and thread and make it look like a painting.

We even named it “Ravishing Radish.  Others designs that the embroiders have stitched into works of art, we’ve named as well.... Pinup Girl Tomato and Endearing Corn. Our designs were inspired by the desire in today’s market for good, fresh, healthy eating. Our tag even explains how our “Very Veggie Sea Salt’ enhances the natural goodness of vegetables.

They make a great gift for anyone who loves Farmer’s Markets and other Foodies. 

Asparagus loves Sal del Mar

The subject of our photo shoots is, of course, our "very photogenic" Sal del Mar. At our photo shoots we love to get our creative juices going on how we are going to tell a story around our photograph. We chose an easy subject for this shoot...asparagus. It is such a natural subject with its regal look...their purplish plumes and stalks of vivid green.  

After the photo shoot, we made Ina Garden's recipe. because there's no better way that baking  them in the oven, instead of blanching them in water which diminshes  some of their flavor. 

INA GARDEN ASPARAGUS RECIPE

2 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus  
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Sal del Mar gourmet sea salt (of course)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
2 lemons, cut in wedges

If the stalks of the asparagus are thick, peel the bottom 1/2 of each.
Lay them in a single layer on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast in a 400 oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender.
Sprinkle with the Parmesan and return to the oven for another minute.
Serve with lemon wedges.
  

The Sal de Margarita spirit

We love every one of our Sal del Mar bags that we have designed over the past six years since we started Sal del Mar. Each of our bag designs have been hand-embroidered by a group of women in the small village in the Sierra Madre, Occidental, Mexico who benefit from the sale of Sal del Mar. What is amazing is that no matter how many they make, each one has been embroidered with special care and displays their artistic talent and craftsmanship.  The detail and colors are so exquisitely done. We think it captures “the margarita spirit.” 

We celebrate our Sal de Margarita... and on Monday celebrate National Margarita Day!