One of the outstanding perks of the Winter season is the abundance of citrus in supply. I’m lucky that my parents have numerous trees around their home in Florida – although many of them did not survive the harsh freezes of 2010. Luckily, my mother has salvaged a large beautiful ruby-red grapefruit tree in her backyard. We took advantage of it over the Christmas Holiday making my favorite cocktail, the Greyhound. To me, there isn’t anything better than fresh grapefruit juice and vodka. I convinced my good friends, Michael and Tommy, of this while we were in Florida and they ended up purchasing a juicer for this very reason when they returned to Chicago.

I gave my parent’s David Tanis’s new book Heart of the Artichoke for Christmas which provides details on the difference in Greyhounds and Salty Dogs. Same cocktail yet one has a salted rim – I’ll let you guess which one. This came in handy when we were in discussion on the topic.

I brought home two giant bags of grapefruit from Florida. I’ve been enjoying fresh and tart bright pink cocktails since.