The suspense is over. I’m 95% over my cold and back in the saddle and boozing again, this time with another cocktail provided by one of my mysterious liquor-supplying benefactors.

In this case, the liquor is Hornitos Plata tequila, which I’m really glad I got. I really think tequila might be my very favorite spirit to drink straight and this is some good stuff for a relatively reasonable price – I gather between $20 and $30. It’s got a kind of spicy, sweet underside to it for a blanco tequila, as well as the more expected pungency. It’s bracing, and that’s good.

I also appreciate that this drink brings me back in touch with Anjou pears. Even though I’ve always loved pears, I’d had so many bad experiences buying them in supermarkets I’ve mostly avoided them until called to do so by this week’s drink. It turns out the ones in my local discount food emporium are actually not half bad these days. Good to know.

But now we have a big problem. Just as I was writing those last words, I realized that I’d misread the recipe in one key respect. The drink I’ve been making all week is actually supposed to be made with Hornitos presumably more mellow Reposado Tequila, not the Plata, which is the only kind of Hornitos I have here! So, consider this week’s drink a bit of an off-the-cuff and entirely accidental collaboration between me and Hornitos’ in-house mixologist. Let’s see how things go.

The Hornitos Kickstarter Margarita (as muddled beyond all recognition by DOTW)

2 ounces Hornitos Plata Tequila
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
3/4 ounce triple sec
1-2 dashes Angostura bitters
3 slices of Anjou pear
1 additional pear slice (garnish)

Combine all the ingredients, garnish excepted, in a cocktail shaker. Muddle the pear slices into the booze. Add ice cubes. Shake very vigorously and strain — Hornitos’ original recipe calls for you to run it through an additional strainer but I like the microscopic pear bits — into a chilled cocktail glass, with ice cubes. (It’s not usual to put ice in coupes or cocktail/martini glasses, but it works better this way, in this case)

Sip and toast either Belgium or France, one of the two nations thought to be responsible for the ever so tasty Anjou pear.

****

Okay, so aside from my using the wrong expression of Hornitos for this drink, the original recipe calls for John DeKuyper & Sons O3 Premium Orange Liqueur. Since no one was sending me that, however, I used the plain old DeKuyper Triple Sec which I happened to have on hand. I would have tried it with Cointreau, too, but I ran out of that on a failed experiment with the Hornitos Plata.

The final adjustment is that I reduced the amount of lemon juice from 3/4 of an ounce to 1/2 ounce. It was simply too tart for me at the original strength, your taste buds may well differ.

As for this version of the drink, it’s not a stemwinder of a Kickstarter. However, considering how badly I screwed the pooch on matching the original recipe, it’s not half bad. Just don’t do what I did one or two times and forget the bitters; they’re absolutely crucial in terms of giving the thing some body. It’s also kind of cool to use bitters in a Margarita which, for a purist, makes it more of a “real” cocktail.

Okay, so it could have been worse, but I’ll be returning to the well next week for a somewhat less bastardized Hornitos margarita variation. Stay tuned!

Have you been dating your partner for awhile and do you feel as though you want to take it to the next level? Do you want to be exclusive? Sometimes a return to the casual dating scene can send us into a whirlwind of disappointment, but if you have been dating someone that you really like and you believe they feel the same way, why not make it serious? If you want to turn your casual dating relationship into a serious one, here are 5 important tips to put into action.

#1: Share More With Your Partner

If you have issues that you have had to face in the past and if you feel they may affect your future with this person, share them. The time is now to lay all of your cards on the table. For example, if you had a lot of debt and the past and if you still have some now, let your partner know where you stand. They hopefully won’t judge you for it and it will save you some stress down the road if you need to have a good credit rating for a loan. You can also work on it together as a team to be debt-free.

#2: Let Go

Let the past stay in the past and let go of the burdens, anger, resentment and anything that may ruin your current relationship. Remember that this relationship is new and fresh and it doesn’t need to be tainted by old pain and anger that you have from a former relationship.

#3: Be Good To Yourself

Put your needs high on your list of priority. If you make a conscious choice to keep improving yourself in any shape or form, your partner will recognize your smart and healthy choices and might want to join you. Couples that get involved in healthy activities together generally form that solid ‘team-like’ feeling and stick together longer.

#4: Communicate Your Feelings

Communication truly it the key to a solid relationship that is built from the ground up. If you are not good at expressing your feelings, try writing them down in a card or on a note and give it to your partner. If you find expressing yourself easy then go for it. Don’t hold back. If you feel strongly for your partner, then tell them. This will allow your relationship to flourish and grow stronger over time.

#5: Be There For Each Other

Be there for each other where it counts. If you start being there for the most difficult times it will show your commitment to each other and make the relationship a stronger one. Couples become serious couples when they can trust and depend on each other when the tough times hit.
There isn’t a specific time when a casual relationship turns into a more serious one, but these are some ways you can get yours on the right path towards a solid commitment. Remember that every relationship takes time to build and it only gets stronger through time and effort.

Simon is a writer and content specialist who is addicted to being on the front page of anything. A graduate of Dalhousie University, he specializes in using the em dash too often. Currently, Simon rests his typing hands in Vancouver, Canada. Check out his recent thoughts on gaming.

UPDATE: This content has been removed. Check out our Photoshoots page for more beautiful photography, and subscribe to our YouTube channel as well.

For many it would seem like a dream come true. Two beautiful women, correction, smoking hot women, who are seemingly obsessed with the latest technology, sci-fi and online gaming and, oh, they’re in to you, really in to you. What the hell could go wrong? Well, like they say, if something’s too good to be true, it probably is. From Maxthon, who makes, in their own words, “the best browser you’ve never heard of” for windows, mac, android and the like, comes Hacker Girlfriend, an irreverent take on what happens when a gamer’s dream come true becomes a nightmare.

Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demian Bichir, Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapaport, Michael McDonald

Paul Feig

With the exception of the 1988 comedy “Feds” (and to a certain degree, the “Charlie’s Angels” films), the buddy cop movie has been an exclusively male-dominated genre. It’s only a matter of time before Hollywood finally gets its act together and delivers a great female-centric action comedy, but “The Heat” is not that film. Though fans of Paul Feig’s “Bridesmaids” will likely enjoy his latest R-rated romp with Melissa McCarthy, anyone that wasn’t already sick and tired of the actress definitely will be after sitting through two hours of her annoyingly boorish and over-the-top brand of humor. “Identity Thief” should have been the final nail in the coffin of America’s love affair with McCarthy, but if her irritating performance in “The Heat” doesn’t put an end to that reign, then the moviegoing public deserves more lowbrow comedies just like it.

Sandra Bullock stars as FBI agent Sarah Ashburn, an arrogant overachiever who’s up for a big promotion in her department. But while she’s the perfect candidate on paper, Sarah still hasn’t earned the respect of her peers, whom she frequently humiliates during busts. To prove that she’s a team player and the right person for the job, Sarah’s boss (Demian Bichir) sends her to Boston, where she must partner up with local detective Shannon Mullins (McCarthy) to bring down a ruthless drug lord. Unfortunately, no one actually knows what the guy looks like, but Sarah has much bigger problems in the form of the uncouth Mullins, whose sloppy demeanor and unconventional methods clash with her straight-laced, by-the-books personality.

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