If there is anything that we tipsy tipplers should take from the "localvore"/green living orgy that is going on around us right now, it is that we need to not just eat seasonally, but also drink seasonally. That whole "variety is the spice of life" thing is bigger than parents trying to get kids to eat nasty greens or a means of accomodating an outrageous character like Leslie. It's a way of enjoying what is available to us locally, the bikurim, the first fruits, at the peak of freshness, rather than inflexibly imposing our vision of what we want to eat on the food chain. Applying this concept to our cocktails is the obvious next step. In Texas right now we are coming out of peach season and into canteloupe (and cucumber and watermelon) season. As part of my academic committment to drinking seasonally, I procured a couple of prime canteloupes at the farmer's market recently, and let them sit on the counter til they were over-ripe, when the skins started to sink in and shrivel. (This was less of a plan than a general tendency to abandon produce once it enters the house.) I then peeled and deseeded them, and juiced the chunks in an old-style juice press (you can also blend the meat and strain through a china cap or mesh strainer.) The result is a refreshing, fabulousy uncommon, seasonally correct mixer.
First up I tried a
Canteloupe Margarita
2oz Tequila (I used a 100% agave silver)
1 1/2 oz. Paula's Texas Orange Liqueur (Cointreau is a substitute if you are outside of PTO's natural range)
1 oz fresh lime juice
2 oz fresh-squeezed Canteloupe juice
I serve it one of two ways: Shake and serve over rocks. Or, if you have juiced the canteloupe using the blender method, shake and strain the drink into a chilled cocktail glass, then top with some of the canteloupe froth from the blender
This is a tasty, well-balanced, subtle drink.

Canteloupe Wallbanger
1 1/2 Vodka (in this case the localvore is fortunate enough to have locally distilled Tito's Handmade Vodka, but any one will do)
4 oz Fresh-squeezed canteloupe juice
Galliano floater
I didn't like this as much as the margarita. It seems like it needs something, but I ran out of canteloupe juice so I will have to pick up the experiment another day...