Arp and I have loved mojitos ever since we discovered them, quite a few years back. When we lived in Manhattan, we’d have to scour the local markets to find some decent mint. It was sometimes hard to find, which was irritating when we had the urge for a Mojito.

Since we’ve lived in our current house in the exurbs, I’ve invested some effort in growing our own mint. My favorite variety for mojitos is chocolate mint. The first year, I listened to all the warnings about mint taking over the garden, and I contained the mint plants in huge buried buckets. Well, we drink a lot of mojitos in the summer, and we quickly exhausted the supply of my bucket-bound mint. The next year I threw caution to the wind, dug up the buckets, and let my mint taste the full freedom of my herb garden. Holy mojitos! We were in heaven!

But something has happened this year that is totally unexpected. Arp and I both admitted to each other the other day that we are a tiny bit bored of drinking mojitos. We still wanted the mint, but we needed it to be something a little different, more exciting.  The garden is overflowing with mint, of course.

Now, the great thing about Mojitos is that they don’t have any fancy ingredients. Rum, seltzer, sugar, lime, mint. How easy is that? We get a big ole jug of rum and we are set as long as the mint in the garden lives and we remember to buy the limes occasionally at the supemarket. When we whipped out all our drink-making books the other night, all the recipes seemed to include odd-sounding liquors that we most certainly didn’t have. (Before we had kids, our liquor cabinet was stocked with quite a few interesting concoctions, but our supply has dwindled. We are now at rum and tequila.)

Tell me, dear readers – what exciting drinks can I make with mint?