Lemonade special enough for a birthday

My friend and fellow food blogger South Austin Foodie celebrated her birthday today with a fabulous party at The Flying Carpet, a fun South Austin eatery that has both inside and outside dining spaces as well as some pretty terrific Moroccan food.  My favorite was the chicken, lemon and green olive tagine that hit all the right notes.

Part of what made this evening's revelry so much fun was meeting the bloggers behind some of the blogs I enjoy reading.  Kisses to Mad Betty and Girl Eats World, whom I spent the most time visiting with.  I so enjoyed our talk about professional gambling, the Myers-Briggs, fast vs. slow metabolisms, Indian food and career prostitution.  Thank you!

The other part of the fun was making a new cocktail in honor of South Austin Foodie's birthday.  I did what I normally do when I'm experimenting: I don't taste the finished product unless I have other people tasting with me.  And we all agreed Vindaloo's Moroccan Lemonade was delicious, fragrant, refreshing and fun to drink.  It's a great cocktail for warmer weather.  I'll be making it again.  And again.

Moroccan Lemonade

     This lemonade gets its pedigree and its Moroccan influences from orange flower water, which you can find at Fiesta Market or online.

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup limoncello (or substitute citrus vodka and adjust sugar to taste)
1/2 cup vodka
1/2 cup sugar
4 1/2 tsp. orange flower water
ice
cold seltzer water or club soda, about 32 oz.
1 lemon, sliced and seeded
fresh mint leaves

Combine lemon juice, limoncello, vodka and sugar in a large pitcher.  Stir until sugar is dissolved.  Add orange flower water and stir well.  Fill tumblers with ice.  Pour in enough lemonade mixture to fill the glass 3/4 full; add seltzer or club soda to fill glass.  Garnish with lemon slices and fresh mint leaves.  Makes six drinks.