Homemade Sweetened Lime Juice and Sweet-and-Sour Mix

I am by no means a bar connoisseur, but I have been drinking vodka gimlets almost exclusively for a few years. OK, OK, maybe eight glasses of water a day and a few vodka gimlets to finish me off. OK, OK, just kidding. Maybe.

Gimlets contain only two ingredients, really: vodka and sweetened lime juice. Most bars carry the bottled Rose's Lime Juice -- the lime alternative to Grenadine -- for this sort of thing. However, gimlets made with homemade (bar-made) lime juice blow the bottled stuff away. They are less tart, more sweet and just great for sucking down.

Homemade Sweetened Lime Juice

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 1/3 cup fresh lime juice

Make a simple syrup by combining water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves and syrup begins to thicken slightly. Cool.

Mix syrup with lime juice and chill until cold.

Keeps for one week, covered, in the refrigerator.

or try

Homemade Sweet-and-Sour Mix

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup fresh lime juice
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

Make a simple syrup by combining water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves and syrup begins to thicken slightly. Cool.

Mix syrup with lime and lemon juices and chill until cold.

Keeps for one week, covered, in the refrigerator.

More tips:
The simple syrup can be made without boiling by dissolving the sugar in lukewarm water and shaking very well. The viscosity may be affected, yielding a thinner syrup that's probably just more of a sweet water. Same dealio.

For my dieting-while-drinking sisterhood here in L.A., substitute Splenda for the sugar in these recipes and play with liquid amounts to achieve a good sour-sweet balance.

Is It Mulled Wine or Spiced Apple Cider?

Having immigrated to the U.S. of A. and gotten together in the '70s, my parents owned a Crock Pot decorated with lovely brown detailing, like every other good, old, American family. And, as with every other useless appliance in our home, it was brought out no more than once a year, to remind us why we had a garage (remember those white, single-bladed hand mixers? or sandwich irons? ice cream makers?). I explain because this is why an innocent, second-generation Filipino child like myself would have grown up having hot, spiced apple cider around the holidays. Ahh, new American traditions.

But my parents have been keeping something from me. Apparently, one can substitute wine for the cider brewing in the slow cooker and it is a perfectly acceptable holiday beverage. Who knew? I first tried hot, mulled wine at work, of all places, when we were "testing" some comped Crock Pots. Sold, I researched recipes for mulling spices and brewed up another batch for a holiday party I hosted the next night. My addition of apple cider to the mix -- a tip from my coworker -- helps tone down the harshness of the wine as it heats up and becomes more potent.

Tip: Conveniently assemble this before your guests arrive so they can't tell you're dumping the cheap stuff in this. Trader Joe's Charles Shaw "Two-Buck Chuck" works perfectly!

Spicy, Hot Mulled Wine-Cider
(don't fret, all amounts are scrappable and flexible)

2 750mL-bottles of dry red wine, i.e. Cabernet Sauvignon
750 mL apple cider or apple juice, to taste
1/2 cup brown sugar, to taste
1 orange, sliced, rind reserved
3 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
20 whole cloves
8 whole allspice
4 peppercorns
pinch grated nutmeg

cheesecloth
4-quart slow cooker*

Pour two bottles of wine into slow cooker.

Add apple cider to slow cooker a little bit at a time, tasting to determine desired potency and flavor. Set slow cooker to high heat.

Peel rind from orange with a vegetable peeler, avoiding white pith, so it forms strips.

Rinse and wring a 12"x12" square of cheesecloth. Add orange rind, cloves, allspice and peppercorns. Bundle into a small sack, tie off with kitchen string or strip of cloth and add to slow cooker to seep.

Slice used orange -- or a new orange, to preserve the pretty orange-rind border -- into rounds and add, along with cinnamon sticks and pinch of nutmeg, to slow cooker.

Add brown sugar a little bit at a time to slow cooker and stir, tasting to determine desired sweetness.

Slow cooker may take up to 3 hours at high heat to sufficiently warm the liquid. Once mulled wine has reached desired temperature and flavor, turn heat to low and remove spice sack, respectively.

Makes about 20 mug-fulls.

*Can be made over low heat on the stove. However, take great care not to allow the wine to come to a boil, or you will lose all the warm, alcohol-y goodness.