We had a fine weekend in northern Michigan, and I’ll tell you a little more about it once I can find the time.

For now, I will sing the praises of my older brother, Ken.

Ken is a beer brewer and cocktail connoisseur, an IT guru and a shaggy dog story teller who also was once a short order cook. This was at the same place where I was the waitress in the pink dress with white lace trim and a name on a plastic pin, I think for a while I didn’t have my own, so it said Betty.

He’s also the one who makes the fantastic salsa. This foodie thing seems to run in families, doesn’t it?

When Ken confirmed that he’d be coming with us along with my nieces Claire and Jessica (they’ve been begging for more face time on the blog, there you go girls), I asked him to bring cocktails and snacks for Saturday afternoon and breakfast for Sunday morning for twelve people.

For Saturday afternoon, he brought his salsa and we were going to make guacamole, but the avocados turned out to be all black inside, despite the fact that they felt just right to the touch. I hate that.

In any case, he also brought along a bottle of 1800 Silver Tequila, another of Cointreau, lots of limes, kosher salt and his drink shaker. That is all you need to make a superior margarita.

Don’t cheap out on the liquor if you don’t have to, make sure your salt is kosher so you don’t get the iodide flavor, please use cointreau and not grand marnier in mine and no sugar people, m’kay? These were also the only ingredients needed to get me feeling really happy on Saturday afternoon. Lucky for me, someone else was making dinner. Actually, I planned it that way.

recipe for one true margarita

• 1/2 lime
• kosher salt
• 2 shots tequila
• 1 shot cointreau
• ice

Slice one wedge off of the lime half and use it to rim your glass. Place about 1/4 cup of kosher salt in a plate. Lay the top edge of the glass in the salt and turn to coat outer rim (Ken says that it’s better this way, because if you just dip the whole top of the glass in, the salt gets in your drink). Place tequila and cointreau in drink shaker along with the juice of the rest of the lime half and a little ice and put a few cubes of ice in your glass. Shake well and pour. Repeat as desired.

A reader told us there’s not enough of Bacchus around here. Do you remember the scene in Auntie Mame when young Patrick makes a martini for the social worker by first pouring vermouth into the glass and then swirling it around so vigorously the vermouth flies out? It’s a good thing no social worker never showed up at my house at 5 o’clock when I was a ‘tween, because I would have offered a Manhattan. This was my mother and father’s drink of choice in the 70s. They would often have one (sometimes two) at restaurants before a meal and also served them at their numerous parties.

My parents still drink Manhattans on a regular basis and Erik has perfected his own recipe based on the one that they taught me. So, it seemed natural to start with the Manhattan to include more about what to sip when eating hors d’oeuvres or tapas. We had them this weekend with my dad for Father’s day along with some outstanding Chex mix made by my sister-in-law and some very good English cheddar.

The Manhattan is one of those old cocktails invented in the early 1870s back when the word cocktail meant a drink made with bitters. Other mixed drinks were called a sling, which is now mostly associated with Singapore. These days, the Manhattan is just about the only drink made with bitters, unless you count the true martini, made with two parts gin, one part dry vermouth and a dash of orange bitters. For both of these drinks, the original recipes called for a great deal more vermouth than is now commonly used. The vermouth should be the sweet, dark red kind, not the dry, white kind. A so-called perfect Manhattan has an equal mix of both. I’ve tried it and am not a fan, though you can do whatever you please. The whiskey in the original Manhattan was rye. I like mine made with bourbon. If I have nothing fancy in the house, Jim Beam is a good choice. One more point, a Manhattan is best served on the rocks. It stays cold, so you have time to savor it and as the ice melts its flavor mellows. If you leave the cherries in there for the whole time it takes to drink your Manhattan, they take on the flavor of the drink and get icy cold. Now go and make one for yourself. Share your cherries with a 10-year old and tell them what Auntie Mame said, “Life’s a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death. Live, live, live!”

Manhattan on the rocks

• 2 ounces whiskey
• 1 ounce vermouth
• 1 dash bitters
• 1 dash maraschino cherry juice
• Ice
• Garnish: 2 maraschino cherries

Place two maraschino cherries on a toothpick and put them in the bottom of a rocks glass and fill with ice. Fill a drink shaker with ice and add whiskey, vermouth, bitter and cherry juice. Shake drink well. Pour over ice.