Death by Limes

Last week, I was having a serious craving for morir sonando. In case you have never had this treat before, let me give you a bit of background. It is a drink from the Dominican Republic, and the name literally means "to die dreaming." I completely agree. Who needs death by chocolate when you can go this way?! (Let's have a quick language lesson to make sure you pronounce this correctly. More + ear= morir. Sewn + yawn +doe = sonando. Wonderful! Now back to the post...)
This drink is a delicious mixture of milk and lime juice. (Although some people use oranges or lemons, I have never tried those.) So, off to the store, I bought the necessary limes, came home, and got busy! Watch the fun and I'll introduce you to this strange but addictively delicious drink!

The first step is to juice the limes, because one can only use fresh lime juice for this!

Jonah was my helper and co-juicer.

My co-juicer got creative and made a piece of
Fruit Architecture. The sign says "Lining Tower of Limea! No lining tower of Pesa!"

Micah helped too!

You must pour the juice into a pitcher with sugar, and keep pouring back and forth.

And pouring, and pouring, and pouring....

Now for the taste test. Check out those eyes!

I think we have a winner!

The Morir Sonando displayed in a place of honor!

Here is the recipe for this delicacy, which is quite easy to make:
3 cups of milk
Juice from 3 limes
10 tablespoons of sugar (I start with a little less, and add until I like the taste)
Plenty of crushed ice (About thirty crushed ice cubes)
A dash of salt (for taste)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Preparation
Use three pitchers, large jars or similar tall containers. Juice the limes and place the juice in one of the containers, adding sugar, salt, and vanilla. Pour back and forth from one container to another until sugar is mostly dissolved.
Add half the ice. Pour the ice and lime back and forth a number of times until it is very cold. Taste. It should be tangy but slightly sweet, like tart-sweet lemonade. Add more sugar if required, and pour back and forth some more to dissolve.
In the third, clean pitcher, place the milk and the rest of the cracked ice. Pour back and forth, using the second empty container, until it too is extremely chilled. Work quickly so the lime juice doesn't have a chance to warm up.
Quickly combine the milk and lime mixtures, pouring back and forth a few times to allow it to combine and not curdle. Chill if necessary.

This recipe made a pitcherful, so it was about enough for everyone in our family to have one glass.

So there you have it: morir sonando! Tangy, smooth, creamy, and refreshing--I may never go back to lemonade! And after sharing all these pictures with you, I think I need to make some more morir soon. Very soon.

Note: All of the beautiful photos were taken by Mikaela. The recipe was adapted from one on wikipedia.com