I Am Haunted by Margaritas: Another Margarita message. Reader Virginia dropped a line from England, where she has journeyed from Texas (that's right, Virginia from Texas in England), to decry the state of the English Margarita, which she describes as lemonade with some Tequila. Let us all shed a tear for Virginia. The best I could do was offer a link to the Texas Embassy restaurant in London. If anyone has any better suggestions, send them in and I'll pass them along to Virginia (and post them here). By the way, don't weep too long for Virginia, she says England is rife with great beer.

And the very day I got Virginia's message the latest copy of Men's Journal arrived featuring a fine Margarita article (not available on-line yet) where we learn the importance of 100% blue agave tequila - vs. the cheap 51% blended you remember from college - from an experienced bartender.

For Julio [the bartender], there is simply no room in his margarita for 51 percent mixtos. "I'll keep one or two at the bar and sell them at $15 a shot - it's the penalty I charge you for being a dumbass."

Tee-hee. The author, one John Hodgman, offers his personal recipe:

• 2 oz of you favorite 100-per-cent-blue-agave tequila, or mine: Herradura Reposado


• 1 1/3 oz of fresh-squeezed lime juice (about two limes' worth)


• 1/3 oz of Cointreau


• 1/3 oz simple syrup

Shake ingredients with ice. Strain into a 10-oz goblet with ice or a chilled rocks glass. Flame an orange peel over the top of the cocktail (for directions, see kingcocktail.com). Garnish with a slice of lime and save the salt for your tortilla chips.

In my estimation, that is a terrific recipe for a strongly tequila focused Margarita by minimizing the Cointreau and using simple syrup instead (and flaming an orange peel - great touch!) so that the intricacies of the tequila will come through.

Also, that site mentioned, kingcocktail.com, has a wealth of information for the quality drinker, and a lot to argue about; the guy elevates Vodka to a valid Martini-base (shudder). I may have more to say about that in the future. Check it out.