The Cosmopolitan

I don't care if it's pink. I like pink. I don't care if you think it's a "girlie" drink. I'm a girl.

And one of my old standby cocktails is the Cosmopolitan. I've probably made more of these than any other drink.

Now if you do an internet search, you'll find a wide variety of recipes. Most agree that the main ingredients of the drink are vodka, cranberry juice, an orange liqueur (Triple Sec or Cointreau), and lime.

But as for other ingredients, none of these should ever, EVER be included:
-Sugar syrup
-Grenadine
-Rose's Lime
-Lemon
-Citron vodka
-Crème de cassis

My usual recipe goes something like this:
-1 oz cranberry
-1 oz vodka (Smirnoff or Stoli, usually)
-juice of 1/2 lime
-1/2 oz Cointreau, sometimes Triple Sec

Shake with ice, pour into a cocktail glass, garnish with a twist of lime.
The twist is pretty important here, as it complements the color nicely and give a nice strong lime aroma impact when first sipping.

I tried this recipe last night by not shaking with ice, but using the vodka in the freezer and a frozen cranberry juice ice cube in order to get the cold. I actually prefferred this version, as it didn't get too watered down with the ice. I hate having a cocktail that won't fit in the glass, as sometimes happens when too much ice melts in a recipe that already has about 4 oz of fluid in it. So far I'm very happy with the juice-cube idea!

I also tried a non-alcoholic after-sports refresher drink with a couple of mixed juice cubes in a glass of club soda. I drank it a bit fast and ended up with a little fruit slushy at the bottom, which made me think that just throwing the cubes in a blender to make a granita-y smoothie would be good, too.