Obviously, the best way to make the most of these last few days of summer is to leave work early on a beautiful 85 degree day, make a pitcher of lemon drops, slather on some sunblock and sit on your patio in your bra (What? It actually covers more than my swimsuit top does, incidentally.) and sunglasses reading a book.

Hence, A Recipe for the End of Summer: The Lemon Drop

The first thing you need for a fresh Lemon Drop is real lemons. I only make this recipe when I have big attractive lemons from my parents house in California, about 5 or 6. From my experience, that will give you approximately a cup of lemon juice which I squeeze directly into my quart sized measuring cup to facilitate easy and precise mixology. The ratio for this drink is 2:2:1 lemon juice, vodka and triple sec, then sugar to taste. Ergo, one cup of lemon juice means a cup of vodka and half a cup triple sec. Add the sugar about a quarter cup at a time, stirring thoroughly and tasting after each addition, remembering that you will be drinking out of a sugared glass, so you want the drink to be slightly tart still. When you've reached desirable sweetness, rim your glass by pouring sugar onto a coffee saucer, moistening the edge of your glass and placing it firmly into the sugar. My favorite way to drink these are out of a pint glass over several cubes of ice.

Additionally, with August 2008 rapidly approaching its close, I feel like I can definitively state my most recent 5 Years of Summer Jams.

2004: Ratatat - Seventeen Years

2005: Gorillaz - Dare

2006: Lily Allen - Smile

2007: Justice - D.A.N.C.E.

2008: Little Jackie - The World Should Revolve Around Me

Deviled Eggs - (I just found out that another name for Deviled Eggs is Eggs Mimosa. I wish I would have been aware of that fact earlier so I could have been calling them that all along.)

If you would like to make your friends love you, I recommend bringing these to a barbecue, party or gathering of any sort. Peoples' responses will help you differentiate between the awesome people you like and the dogmatic vegan types. Just kidding. Sort of.

Boil six (or more!) eggs. My procedure for this is to place the eggs in the bottom of a pot, cover them with cold water, and heat the water on high until it boils. Once the water is boiling, wait 6-8 minutes, remove from heat and stop the eggs from cooking further by putting them in cold water. What I usually do is pour as much of the boiling water as I can out into the sink and run cold water into the pot. Let the eggs cool as much as you can. Ideally, you'd let them rest for half hour or so, but the time will obviously be dictated by whether or not you've planned ahead and if you were supposed to be at your barbecue 45 minutes ago.

Once the eggs are cool (enough), shell them, slice in half lengthwise and dump the yolks into a mixing bowl. Mix the yolks with a few tablespoons of mayonnaise, some mustard, a teaspoon or two of white vinegar, salt, pepper, paprika, and about a tablespoon of sugar per six eggs. Dude, the sugar is the secret in the recipe, it makes these eggs magical. You want this mixture to have the consistency of toothpaste, so add the wetter ingredients slowly and sparingly until you figure out what you're dealing with. Taste and adjust seasoning.

At this point, you can spoon the filling into your egg white cups with a little spatula and a spoon. Or, if you are too much of an over-achiever for your own good, as I tend to be, you can transfer the mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a large star shaped tip. Pipe the filling into your egg cups in a circular motion, arrange prettily and give the whole plate a sprinkle of paprika. Practice smiling graciously for when people tell that they have determined that you that you are a wizard disguised as a regular person for crafting these eggs.