Rest: Sangria Saturday

Saturday was my friend Jose's birthday, and his fabulous girlfriend Rhiannon (who happens to be one of my closest friends) threw him a party... at Mr. Wonderful's house. It was kind of awesome. Since it was at the boyfriends house we could get as drunk as we wanted and invite anyone we wanted, but we didn't have to prepare anything or clean anything. How cool is that? I highly recommend offering your house as a party venue... as long as you only rent it out to responsible hosts. If you get free beer, or shoot, if you charge them rent, then more power to ya.  Rhi was an amazing host and made pasta, cake and [trumpet sounds] SANGRIA! I just love sangria.

Being the sangria connoisseur that I am, I made a recipe suggestion to Rhi, and she ran with it. It not only added some extra charm to the night, but it was delicious. See, sangria is like nonalcoholic beer, but opposite. You think you're drinking some delectable concoction of juice, but you're actually getting wasted. What an amazing trick! So if you're in the mood for sangria (and I know all of you athletes let loose once in a while...) try this little recipe. In the winter, I add about a teaspoon of cinnamon and it's quite yummy.

3 tangerines, thinly sliced
2 lemons, thinly sliced
1 lime, thinly sliced
1 pear cored and chopped
2 kiwis peeled and sliced
1 cup of fresh strawberries, sliced
1 cup of fresh rasberries
1/2 cup of white sugar (or less if you don't want it too sweet)
1/2 cup of Cointreau or another orange liqueur
1 cup of white rum
1/2 cup of coconut flavored rum
2 cups of orange juice
2 bottle of dry, cheap wine
1/2 cup of frozen pink lemonade concentrate
1/2 cup of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of lime juice
Lemon lime soda, to taste (I use about 2 cups but I like it real spritzy)

Enjoy!