A Birthday & Whiskey Slushies

I was spoiled for this birthday. It was celebrated multiple times through pool parties, Sunday Family Dinner, going out, and a long lunch date with Meg. I actually got THREE cakes too - one made by Meg, cupcakes made by Amy (above - and yep, that's candied bacon on top!), and a cake in a jar sent from DC from Keeley.

Sunday Family Dinner had fresh seafood, including oysters and razor clams.

Razor clams are....pretty weird. Their shells are beautiful, but the actual clams themselves look pretty strange. They're really active. Greg joined us for dinner and suggested we flash boil some in an attempt to get them from moving so much (do you see the one sticking out hugging the bowl below? ew). That helped tremendously by being able to take them out and properly* clean and cut them to fry some.

*by properly cutting them, I mainly mean that I cut open every potential nook and cranny that might have some sand in it....leaving a destroyed clam that barely held itself together....

^ fried! (below: steamed in a lime & Sriracha broth)

The dinner was enjoyed with Whiskey Slushies, which I'm now in love with (recipe below).

Amy made them, but by her description, this seems nearly identical to her recipe:

Whiskey Slushies, adapted from All Recipes.com
Makes 10 servings

Ingredients:
1/2 can frozen lemonade concentrate
1/2 can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup strong brewed black tea
1/4 cup white sugar (recipe calls for 1/2 cup, but Amy cut her sugar down a lot and it was perfect)
1 cup whiskey
3 1/2 cups water
1/2 liter ginger ale soda

In a plastic container, mix all ingredients except the ginger ale. Allow to freeze for 24 hours. Scoop into a glass and top with ginger ale. (You could eliminate the concentrates and water and probably just use lemonade and/or orange juice.) 

P.S. Cupcake recipe here.