Bittersweettoast

Cinco de Mayo. Even if you never studied Spanish, you know this means that day in May when we eat Mexican food and drink Margaritas. What you may not know is why. Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army's  victory over France at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. You see, the year before this victory, Mexico was in financial ruin and needed to default on some loans from Europe. Britain and Spain were able to negotiate with Mexico, but those pesky French saw this as the perfect opportunity to finally grab a chunk of land on the other side of the Atlantic. Late in 1861 a large French fleet arrived and stormed the Mexican shores at Veracruz, forcing President Juarez to retreat. But in a great David and Goliath turn of events, Juarez put together a rag tag army of 2000 who, on May 5, 1862, fought a French army three times its size and won. Although the war went on for six more years before Napoleon III gave up and returned home to his cafes and croissants, this impressive battle lives o

I went skiing this past weekend, and although I should have been exalting over the ten inches of new April snow that unexpectedly fell, I couldn't help but think of all the recent Facebook posts I had seen over the past week from friends vacationing in Hawaii. My heart was not in the snow, as nice as it was. Instead it was seeking a warm, sunny beach, blue skies, and the scent of beautiful plumeria blossoms. Perhaps this is why, as I pondered the subject of an overdue blog post, my mind veered towards the Mai Tai. Call it a lame attempt to summon tropical breezes in 50-degree weather, but I've been thinking about Mai Tais for a couple of months now. I had one last summer, umbrella and all, on the island of Maui, but to be totally honest I was not enamored by the drink. Despite my love for fresh pineapple, I don't actually like the fruit in any other form, so my pineapple-laden drink just wasn't hitting the spot. Rum is also not my favorite spirit. So why on ea