The Moscow Mule

Last week my photo shoot was in the Little Italy neighborhood of Chicago, just south of my alma mater, The University of Illinois at Chicago. It was a gorgeous day that still felt like summer - sunny, warm, breezy. Little Italy is an interesting mix of an old Italian-based neighborhood, tony condos and townhomes of the medical professionals at the Illinois Medical District, and cheap student apartments.

After shooting for a few hours, we had lunch and cocktails at Rosebud, one of Chicago's landmark Italian restaurants. The patio seating was lovely for people-watching and soaking up the last of the year's warmth. I ordered my first Moscow Mule, partly because it sounded good and partly because it reminded me of one of the most recent episodes I've watched of "Orange is the New Black". This is the episode where we learn more about the Russian cook Red's criminal history.

Anyway. A Moscow Mule is a classic 1950's cocktail of ginger beer, vodka, and lime juice. It's classified as a "buck" or "mule" drink, which is any cocktail with ginger beer and citrus juice. Aren't you glad I looked that up for you?

It's a really refreshing drink for summertime, or a day when you're not quite ready to let go of the warm weather and settle down into winter. This isn't a strong drink, but if you don't like alcohol, you can get almost the same flavor from our Homemade Ginger Ale recipe.

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz. vodka

1 oz. lime juice

4 oz. ginger beer

1 lime slice

1 sprig peppermint

Directions

Fill a highball or rocks glass half-full of ice cubes. Pour the vodka, lime juice, and ginger beer into the glasses and stir gently. Garnish with the lime slice and mint sprig.

Ваше здоровье! - [vashee zda-ró-vye] – Your health! Or, Cin-Cin, when you're at an Italian restaurant.

Makes 1 6-ounce cocktail.