Strawberries and mint are two things that grow plentifully in our gardens, and the end of May is prime picking time for both. Mint will keep growing strong until the first (or second) hard frost, but strawberries have their heyday in late spring/early summer.

My sister’s down visiting from Brooklyn. I happen to have gin in the freezer and those freshly picked strawberries are beckoning, not just for strawberry shortcake (we’ve already had that, thankyouverymuch), but for something like a cocktail. We love ordering and making cocktails these days, which is funny, because we used to only drink wine. But cocktails are fun!

I still like wine, too. Don’t worry.

Back to the mint and the strawberries. We decided that muddling strawberries and mint, along with a splash of gin (though vodka would be a decent substitution, too) and some lemonade would be quite satisfying. Delicious, actually. Divine, even.

I made my son go out We were able to pick a pint of strawberries from the gardens this afternoon. We then cut them into chunks and dropped a few atop small handfuls of fresh mint sitting in the bottom of mason jars.

Next, we poured in a shot of gin, and then muddled it all with the handle of a wooden spoon.

Ice was added to the mason jars, then we poured lemonade over-top until they were almost full, and lastly gave a good stir.

And, voila! Strawberry Mint Lemonade Cocktails. Delish!

We both thought we’d miss the fizz (I love carbonated cocktails), but we didn’t! This was refreshing, and the flavors melded together like an old classic.