Wasted Away in Margaritaville

I love that song - Jimmy Buffet is awesome.  I  looked for him several years ago during a trip I took to to Key West but only found his bar.

You can listen to him here with Alan Jackson while you read on......

The smell of the sea and the flowers and the tourists! what a great place.

I shopped, went scuba diving,  saw Ernest Hemingways house, the Audubon house, the treasure Mel Fisher recovered from the Atocha ship wreck, several restaurants, an equal number of bars, cigarette boat races, scuba diving and the Fantasy Fest. Did all that in  5 days. 

Whew! Exhausting.

But I digress. 

The reason I mention Margaritaville was our monthly ladies club get together.
  A group of nearly menopausal lovelies get together and eat, drink, gossip and bond.  Thursday night was Brigitte's turn.
The evening always starts at 6:30 - appies and drinks followed by dinner and drinks and then dessert and drinks.
Briggie's theme of the evening was lime.
Lime Margarittas, lime and pepper chips, veggies with lime chipolte dip.
Grilled frenched lamb chops with a spicy lime garlic sauce Chicken breasts with Chili Lime dressing.  And for dessert Key Lime Pie.

I suspect we will not have to worry about scurvy for the next few weeks. 

Everything was delicious. 

Particularly the Margaritas which I had to try several times just to be sure.

Margarita
1 (12 oz.) can frozen limeade concentrate
12 oz. tequila (choose a good brand because the flavor will come through)
6 oz. Cointreau or Triple Sec
12 oz water
12 oz.beer
2 Safeway Select frozen Lime Bars
ice
1 lime, cut into wedges

Put limeade, tequila, Cointreau, water, beer and frozen lime bars into a large blender and process til the frozen limeade and bars are crushed up. Add plenty of ice and blend until slushy and the large ice chunks are sippable sizes. Garnish with lime wedges. Adjust with additional water, if needed .
We did not dilute - that might have been where we went wrong.



Spicy Lime Dip for the Lamb Chops
1/2 Cup fresh Lime Juice
6 Tbsp Fish Sauce
1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
3 Jalapeno Peppers chopped very finely (B used canned)
2 - 3 cloves Garlic chopped finely
1 tbsp Rosemary fresh and finely chopped
Mix well and let sit for at least 4 hours

Serve on grilled but still rare chops cut from a rack of spring lamb


Chicken with Chili Lime Sauce
 4 boned Chicken Breasts sliced into strips
shake on  Chili powder until the chicken is well covered

In a separate bowl mix:
Zest and Juice of two Limes
1/3 Cup olive Oil
2 - 3 crushed Garlic Cloves
1/4 cup finely minced Onion

Put Chicken and Marinade into a zippered bag, squeeze out the air and let sit in fridge all day (or at least 4 hours)  Stick skewers through the chicken, place on a tray, pour marinade over top and bake in a 400 deg oven for about 20 minutes but this depends on the size you made your strips watch closely and I am sure this is not so delicious if the chicken dries out.

So yesterday I suffered lime overdose but I think the previous evening made it worth every painful moment,.