cucumber mojitos

last week we went to the beach, as we do. and we made some stuff to eat and drink, as we do. we have old favorites, and we add a few things every year. one of this year's keepers is the cucumber mojitos grant invented/made for us. i pelted him with questions about the process, stole the one picture of them that the hippie took, and i made some notes so i could share. this one's worth the trouble, folks.

INGREDIENTS
3-4 cucumbers
32 oz of decent white rum
4 limes
12-ish sprigs of mint
1 cup simple syrup
seltzer
lime and cucumber for garnish
fancy straws and stuff

DIRECTIONS

1. ~24 hours ahead: make the cucumber infused rum. cube the cucumber and place in a large-ish bowl. pour the rum over. cover tightly and go to bed. the next night your rum will be lovely and ready to use.
NOTE: steeping it longer than ~24 hours is a mistake--it becomes overwhelming;y cucumber-y. if you aren't ready to use it after 24 hours, strain out the cucumbers and put the rum in the fridge. save some of the cucumber cubes for in-th-drink garnish if you like.

2. make simple syrup--this is just sugar and water in a 1:1 ratio. combine in a pot and boil for a few minutes. cool. voila.
NOTE: can be done up to a week ahead.

3. make you some mojitos. juice 4 limes, and pull the leaves off the mint stems. if you are making a big batch, get out the blender and do the following: combine mint leaves, lime juice, and 1 cup of simple syrup. blend briefly, but don't overblend--you aren't pureeing those mint leaves. stir in the rum. pour generous helping of this mixture into tall glasses over ice, top with seltzer, and garnish.
NOTE: if you prefer to do it glass by glass, then you want to muddle about 1/2 a lime's worth of juice, about 1.5 mint sprigs' worth of leaves, and about an ounce of simple syrup in the glass. add about 3 ounces of rum per glass, top with seltzer and garnish.

4. drink up.