(Virgin) Cucumber Mint Mojitos

I’m proud to admit that Cleveland is not a tourist location.  If you browse a Cleveland website, you’ll read about the pro sports teams, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Severance Hall, the Museum of Art.  After that, unless you’re a sleuth or have a local guide, you might miss the entire city.  It has taken Ari and me almost six years to stake out our favorite spots — from the view of the city from the Lakeview Cemetery’s Garfield monument to the beer-butter mussels at McNulty’s Bier Markt in Ohio City.  I’ll be surprised if we feel like we’ve wrung Cleveland dry of new things to do by the time we graduate.  Well, there’s always residency…

Here is a recipe for a Happy Hour, designated-driver drink created by a friendly waiter at the Lava Lounge in Cleveland.  When we were ready to order, he admitted that he was sick and tired of the happy hour specials, and offered to let us try his own creations.  You can add the white rum if you like, but the joy of a new discovery was enough of a mellower that evening.

Ingredients

• 1 lime, quartered
• 4 (or more) sprigs fresh mint leaves
• Simple syrup, to taste (boil 1 cup sugar in 1/2 cup water until dissolved, let cool, store in an airtight container in the fridge for use in many cocktails)
• 2 slices cucumber
• 6 cubes ice, or as needed
• 4 fluid ounces club soda
• 2 fluid ounces white rum (completely optional)

Squeeze the lime quarters into a glass, and drop the limes into the glass. Add the mint leaves. Muddle well with the back of a spoon or with a muddler (or a pestle). Place the cucumber slices into the glass, and fill with ice cubes. Pour in the rum (if you’re using it), simple sugar syrup, then top off with club soda. Stir gently and serve.

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