The Varley Margarita

I mentioned a margarita, and people ask me for this "recipe" all the time. I credit it to Anna Varley. My first year in grad school, I went to a party at Anne's house. Anna was going to make margaritas, but got distracted by something and asked us to do it. "What do I do?" "Pour in one bottle of tequila, one bottle of triple sec, and then squeeze these limes into it," she said, handing me about five limes.

oohhhhhhhkay.

I remember trying to drink the first one and thinking it was awful.

That's one of the last things I remember clearly. I have fuzzy visions of Anne singing "Love is a Battlefield" into a broomstick, and Anna teaching us how to shake our asses, Latin-style, in the livingroom. 

So Anna Varley gets the credit for this one and it is so named, in her honor, the Varley margarita. Despite my first "it was awful," it turns out this is one of my favorite drinks. I rarely get a margarita as good as this. It is, by the way, on ice. None of that blended stuff.

You'll need

tequila

triple sec

limes

ice

When I make this by the glass, I tend toward

2 shots tequila

2 shots triple sec

1 fresh lime, squeezed 

I very much like my hand juicer -- just a little plastic deal you can pick up from Walmart, Target, or a cooking store. It gets A LOT of juice out. If you're having people over, buy at least 9 limes.

I don't tend to make these by the pitcher -- I think they're better by the glass -- but I'm guessing it's somewhere around 

2 parts tequila

2 parts triple sec

1 part fresh lime juice

You can make it with not-fresh (bottled, or in that tiny lime-shaped thing) lime juice, but honestly, it's not nearly as good.

Somebody JUST asked me for a tequila recommendation, and my favorite right now is Hussong's. It's in a little black jug. About $38 bucks a bottle or so.