All joking aside, my absolute favorite thing to drink is a margarita, and my favorite thing to eat is guacamole and chips.  Give me that combo and I am the happiest person alive.

My friend Jenny and I studied abroad together in London, and made it an adventure to find the best Mexican restaurants while we were over there.  England isn't exactly known for it's Mexican cuisine, so anytime we found one that we liked, we would get way too excited about it. Now, anytime she visits me in NYC or I her in Boston, it is our tradition to go get Mexican.

When we were roommates in college, my friend Stephanie and I would often make a huge batch of guac, turn on a movie, and sit and eat the whole thing for dinner.  Was this a healthy dinner choice? Not at all. But it was so damn good that we didn't care.

And that's only two guac/ margarita stories out of the many that I have. Do you see how much I love Mexican food?

Stephanie has since shared her delicious guacamole recipe with me, and now every time I make it, it is met with enthusiasm and appreciation. And now, I will share it with you.  Along with my favorite margarita recipe, with a nice, zesty, chipotle-salt rim.

You ready? Here we go!

Stephanie's Guacamole

-4 avocados -1 tomato (I like to use beefsteak or roma) -1/4 white onion -1/4 red onion -1 clove garlic -1 lime -1 jalepeño -1 tsp. cumin -a few springs of cilantro -salt & pepper to taste

Here's what to do:

1) Cut your avocados in half, remove pit and scoop out into bowl.  Mash up halves until smooth and creamy, leaving a few chunks. 2) Dice your tomato and add as much as you'd like to the bowl with avocado.  I typically like to add 1/2, but add more if you like it tomato-ey! 3) Finely chop your white and red onions, and garlic and add to bowl with avocado and tomato. 4) Cut lime in half.  Squeeze the juice of one of the halves into your bowl with other ingredients. 5) Cut a few slices of your jalapeño.  Remove seeds from inside and dice the outer round of the jalapeño.  Add as much jalapeño as you'd like, depending on how spicy you'd like it. 6) Add tsp of cumin, and large pinch each of salt and pepper and stir. 7) Dice 6-10 cilantro leaves and add to mixture.  Mix again. Add salt and pepper to taste.

FREAKIN YUM.

Ok, now onto the margaritas.  I used to be a frozen margarita kind of gal, but now with more experience in drinking and also the fading of my sweet tooth, I am all about the classic, on the rocks, with a salted rim.  I also love some spice, so i decided to try making this with a chipotle-salt rim.  I tried this while out on one of my many Mexican food adventures and fell in LOVE.

Here's what you need:

-tequila (I prefer Patron silver) -5 limes -simple syrup -cointreau -ice -cocktail shaker -chipotle salt

Here's what to do: 1) Take your limes and fresh squeeze 2 oz of juice. Add to your cocktail shaker. Also add ice to shaker. 2) Measure out 2 oz. of cointreau and 4 oz. of tequila into your shaker. 3) Add 1/2 oz. of simple syrup to shaker.  Shake up all ingredients. 4) Take a lime wedge to the rim of each of your glasses to wet them.  Pour a layer of your chipotle salt onto a flat plate.  Place your wetted rims on the plate of chipotle salt and turn, to rim your glass.

5) Garnish each glass with a lime wedge and fill with a few cubes of ice. 6) Pour mixture from cocktail shaker into each glass, dividing evenly between then two.

BOOM!

Feel free to add more simple syrup or tequila, depending on how strong or sweet you would like your drink.  Pair this margarita with the guacamole and you've got yourself a spicy and festive situation.

Cheers! See ya next week.