Until about 2 years ago, I thought Cinco De Mayo was a holiday to celebrate the invention of the pinata. Or tequila. Or those make-you-wanna-kill-yourself hangovers that only come from a full day of drinking tequila. What?  

 

Peeps, I get it. When someone hands you a pint of Jose at 8 am on May 5th, you don't ask what you're celebrating - you put on a sombrero, plug your nose and take a swig. Then you do it again and again and again, screaming "Viva La Mexico!" and "I'm living la vida drunk-a" until the sun goes down and another fantastic drinking holiday has come to an end.

 

But, I was wrong. There is no holiday celebrating the birth of the pinata (though I think we should start some sort of online petition to get one going), nor is Cinco De Mayo a 24 hour celebration in honor of Jose Cuervo. Cinco De Mayo happens to be a somewhat important day in Mexican history to commemorate the day in 1862 that the Mexican army defeated a much stronger and better-equipped French army.

It also happens to be a minor holiday  and virtually ignored in greater Mexico. It's only a regional holiday in Puebla where this battle went down and they don't even celebrate with cocktails.

 

I'm not sure how it turned into such a drunk fest up here in the US of A and I'm not saying we shouldn't celebrate it (because any opportunity to get rowdy all day long must be taken), but maybe we should think about the history a little bit as we're downing a Tequila Sunrise over breakfast. Maybe we should pour one for our Mexican friends for overcoming their enemies. And maybe we should toast our margaritas to Mexico for more than being a great vacation spot for Spring Breakers.

 

So here's to Mexico! We love ya!  

 

Note: Mariachi's make everything better. Everything. EVERYTHING.   

 

 

Regularly: $105.00

Regularly: $55.00

The Sunset Margarita

Ingredients:
1/3 cup each tequila and triple sec
3 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons lime juice
4 tablespoons pomegranate juice
2 twists fresh lime peel

Preparation:
Put about 1 cup ice cubes in a pitcher. Pour in tequila, triple sec, orange juice, and lime juice. Stir well and divide between two cocktail glasses. Using the back of a large spoon, carefully pour 2 tbsp. pomegranate juice down the inner side of each glass. Garnish each with fresh lime peel, crushed slightly just before adding.