I was invited to a tasting event at Earls Campus location last week, to which I said yes too, then had to bail on the day of because life happened. So that was the end of that, or so I thought.

I received a message from the event coordinator, cate (I type that in lower case, as that is how it appears on her business card), asking for my mailing address because they wanted to send me a package.

A package? For me? Indeed. A semi-perishable package at that.

Intrigue! GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME, shouts the 4 year old girl inside me, but with the decorum and patience of a peri-menopausal 45 year old, I give our address.

So today is Monday, and as with most Mondays I got through the day wishing from time to time that I didn’t have to work, that Michael and I had a carefree spirit and just quit our jobs, packed backpacks, and moved to Mexico to drink margaritas on the beach.

Well, people, careful what you wish for, because wishes can come true, although they can manifest themselves in ways you least expect. And today, my wish partially came true.

Michael came home carrying a mysterious dark box.  When I saw the Earls logo, I grabbed it from him shouting GIMME GIMME GIMME and pulled out the following delights:

Seriously!? Booze! Pineapple! Limes! A bottle of ginger potion! A glass! In a box! On Monday! It contained all the fixings for a Pineapple Ginger Margarita. Stand aside! I have a margarita to make!

I moved faster than I have all day – the pineapple chopped and muddled, limes squeezed, the kitchen an aromatic haven for all things tropical, and 12 stress relieving shakes of the shaker, and here’s the finished product. Chin chin!

And yes. Thank you YES. It was delicious. Divine. Loveliness. And I sit here now in my happy place. (Quiet please while I imagine the ocean catching one of my flip-flops and taking it out to sea and I’m too relaxed to care).

Earls is promoting their new menu, which is focusing on fresh local ingredients. Earls has come a long way since potato skins, chicken fingers, frightening parrots and Mateus wine.  I’ve been on a decade long hiatus, but the new menu, friendly (but not so friendly you are worried they will want to come home with you) staff, makes Earls something you will want to revisit.

Thank you cate! Thank you Chef Doug! We’ll be seeing you soon.