Melon + Basil Vodka Martini

You know that depressed, sinking feeling you experience when the end of a vacation is approaching? Well…I think its severity is directly proportional to the length of your trip, because I can’t seem to stop daydreaming about and making plans to return to mi querida (my beloved) Costa Rica. I am aware of my extensive gawking over the place, but I can genuinely say I’ve never experienced a culture or a country quite like it. Traipsing down scarcely populated, pristine beaches scattered with shells and sand dollars, but never a trace a garbage (sorry, Texas beaches), lounging underneath the shade of the lush, towering canopy, and meeting some of the most beautiful, easygoing souls I’ve had the pleasure to know were merely a microcosm of my favorite memories. And while I continue to feel homesick for a place I don’t even call home, I also take heart in the fact that all I experienced and enjoyed in Costa Rica is now a part of me. I can take all that I learned, the importance of living simply, of just being, of la pura vida, and allow it to permeate my life and my outlook wherever I find myself.

So now, back in the bustling city of Austin, Texas, I realize, once again, that I am blessed to call this place my home. Just yesterday, while perusing my favorite farmer’s market (and following a small fit of vacation-sickness due to the sweltering heat), I had a little epiphany. I stopped. I listened. I saw. I felt. There was a live salsa or merengue band (I’ve never been good with Latin music classifications) playing at the Plaza, a woman with blonde dreadlocks speaking in French to her barefoot son sucking on a slice of melon, a man and woman losing themselves in one another and the tune of the music. It was a mesh of cultures and people so unique, yet sadly uncelebrated. We are all so beautifully diverse, yet terrifically united and interconnected by the One who so creatively crafted us. From Costa Rica to Austin and everywhere in between, we’re not all that different.  So, wherever you find yourself today, whoever you encounter, show gratitude; show compassion. Celebrate one another!

Oh! But I guess you may find yourself in need of a drink with which to accompany the celebration. Try this killer combination of a martini. The sweet, sugary melon (which I purchased at the aforementioned farmer’s market) and the basil-infused vodka make for the simplest, yet most refreshing cocktail. ¡Buen provecho and Happy Birthday Mom!