Reading my posts from the last two weeks one might think that I’ve spent my holidays gazing at the horizon and reminiscing about my childhood, sitting in lotus position on the beach and reading in the garden while eating home-grown peas and blueberries from the forest. This would be misleading. There has also been drinking.

I have generally become a very boring drinker, both in the sense of mostly not getting drunk enough to do anything interesting (which I realize is a good thing, but still, somewhat boring) and in the sense of almost exclusively drinking Gin & Tonics. So I decided to make an effort and come up with a more exciting cocktail. This pretty Watermelon Rose Martini is the outcome of that effort.

I hesitate to give any measurements, as people have very different preferences, but one part vodka, three parts juice could be a very general guideline. I used:
– Viru Valge Watermelon vodka
– fresh watermelon juice
– a little lime juice
– a tiny amount of rose water (you can also use rose syrup)
– agave syrup (optional)
– ice
– rose petals

Put everything in a shaker. Shake. Pour. Scatter rose petals artfully on top. Serve. The level of sweetness depends on the watermelon juice and you can adjust it by adding lime juice/agave syrup. If you’re using rose syrup, that will of course already make the cocktail sweeter. And as always with rose water, be cautious – it has a very strong taste that can easily overwhelm everything.

If you cannot get watermelon juice, other pink ones work as well – cranberry, pink grapefruit, blood orange, guava. It is completely OK with apple juice, too, pink liquid just looks better. And keep in mind that these martinis are sneaky – they almost feel like drinking an exotic juice, but remember that vodka? It works just as effectively as ever.