Yesterday, in a shining example of ritualistic synchronicity, our nation celebrated both George Washington’s birthday and National Margarita Day.
An able Revolutionary War general and America’s first president, George Washington is often referred to as the Father of our country.
A tart mix of lime juice (and, often, other fruit juices), and tequila, the margarita is often the forerunner of good times.
Celebrating both on February 22nd has an innate logic that really appeals to me. And it has inspired me to have what I consider to be a brilliant business idea, one of many I’ve had no one will ever put into practice, although they should (someday ask me about my London nail salon chain or the bagel store I wanted to start in Jerusalem after visiting a friend on her junior year abroad there who asked that I bring her a bagel from the airport–the breakfast staple was what she missed most about the US).
The current brainstorm is as follows: we should create a drink that celebrates both events, a cherry-flavored margarita, garnished with a hatchet-shaped swizzle stick. The cherry is in memory of the apocryphal cherry tree a young Washington is said to have to cut down; it was his father’s favorite and when the elder Washington demanded to know who desecrated it, little Georgie ostensibly owned up to his crime, explaining, “I cannot tell a lie.” The tequila is for tradition, and also to help with the pain and inflammation GW must have suffered as a result of his primitive false teeth (I bet it would help my hip bursitis as well, although that is much better since my aunt took the Evil Eye off me).
All that’s left is for someone to develop the exact recipe, and a name (the Washarita? The 2/22, in honor of the date? The George and Marga?), and then we’re ready to cash in with pre-made margarita mixes, brand name cherry syrups, etc. Future bartenders of America, work with me!
