I love it when great friends introduce you to great people. This is how this recipe is being shared. I met Rachel Lee Waldrop when mutual friends of ours tied the knot in New Orleans. She was living there at the time. Fast forward to post-Katrina, she and her husband Dave move to New Mexico and we are reconnected. Rachel and I…well we love our cocktails, our music and our stories of growing up in Texas in our respective Southern Baptist and Church of Christ families. So when Rachel introduced me to Vicki Teague-Cooper and told me Vicki and her husband Steve were dear old friends of Rachel’s parents, I knew instantly I would like them. What follows is Rachel telling stories about Vicki, and then Vicki’s signature cocktail. So get to reading and then get to mixing…and make sure you toast to Vicki!

Rachel on Vicki

Vicki and Steve have been married over 40 years. They will tell you that they are the “last hippie couple that made it.” My dad Wally married them. They joke that he was the “singing hippie preacher.” Steve and my dad go back to Abilene, and they could tell you some Church of Christ stories.

When I was a kid growing up in South Austin, they lived in the Clarksville neighborhood. This was the early 70s. My parents and they were just that hippie 70s Austin crowd. They had this house on a hill, and I loved to go over there. It seemed like a Victorian house and they always had the COOLEST toys. They had collections of things, but I was obsessed with their collection of roller skates. I always wanted to go over there, and look at them and play with them.

They also had this closet with a crawl space. It was our hangout spot because we kids could sit in there, and it was our own private space. Or we would play on their front porch.  I was in love with this Black Cat fireworks poster they had. I wanted one just like it so bad. Their house was like a museum, and I loved it.

Vicki, if you didn’t know, is an amazing pastry chef as well. Steve, her husband, is also an amazing chef. But Vicki will also call herself the “green witch.” She is an amazing gardener. You really need to see the things she grows. Then she makes her own tinctures as well as her own dyes and paints for her artwork. She really has some amazing things going on, and I just love them. I mean they have known me since I was a baby.

Vicki Teague-Cooper’s PYNX Margarita

The Genesis of the Pynx Margarita:  My nickname is PYNX and has been for years. It’s an affectionate name my husband of 42 years, Steve, gave me early in our relationship. It’s sort of a fusion of Pinky and Sphinx…

So I came up with this when I was bored with the “normal” margarita recipes. I had tried Dekuper Peach Schnapps in a drink called “Silk Panties” (vodka + Dekuper Peach Schnapps on the rocks) and I loved how Dekuper had nailed the natural taste of peaches. So I substituted the usual triple sec (orange liquor) with the peach schnapps and VIOLA! It was heavenly. I can’t stress how important it is to use Dekuper Peach Schanpps (No I don’t own stock in the company!) It’s the fresh peach taste that makes this such a light flowery taste. The Grenadine is of course the PINK!

So I am giving you the recipe for a pitcher as well as the recipe for one drink though I can’t imagine who on earth anyone would make just one!

Note: along with making yummy cocktails Vicki also is an artist, a fellow blogger, and has a Etsy shop for her jewelry. They can be found as follows:

artwork:  http://www.vickiteague-cooper.com/

jewelry:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/naturalorderstudio

blog:  http://pynxster.tumblr.com/

Now onto the cocktail recipes:

PYNX MARGARITA RECIPE

For large pitcher:

– 1 liter 100 percent Agave tequila, chilled

– 4 c. Dekuper Peach Schnapps

– 2 (12-oz) cans frozen limeade mixed with 4 cans of water

– 8 cups cold water

– 1/4 cup fresh lime juice

– 1/4 cup grenadine (just enough to make it light pink)

For one drink:

– 2 oz 100 percent agave tequila, chilled

– 1 oz Dekuper Peach Schnapps

– 8 oz frozen limeade chilled and already mixed with water

– juice of 1/2 fresh lime

– splash of Grenadine

Vicki also added to make a lighter single version : ” ‘lightweight version by only using 1oz. tequila & 1/2 oz. of schnapps–not something I would do! =;~P, but there are some wimps out there….”