Y’all know I’m CRAZY about Dolly Parton, right? I mean, she saves wounded bald eagles, gives libraries of books to children, writes and sings incredible songs, is crazy witty, knows and is totally one-thousand percent comfortable with herself, and is just all around glamourous and adorable…Need I say more?
Well, when you’re as big a fan as me, and she announces the dates of her first tour in YEARS, PLUS you accidentally end up with 3 times as many watermelons than you actually need for the event you’re catering (still working on that..erg.) then AND you and your family have eaten so much of it that you’re starting to get waterlogged, you figure our something delicious to do with it. AND, of course, make sure to name it after the queen of east Tennessee herself. (waterMELONS, you know?) 
Anyway, I hated to see all this nearly overripe watermelon and juice go to waste, so I combined it with a few other juices, my favorite alcohols, and a little cucumber slices, and Voila! The perfect beach or screened in porch cocktail for warm days or nights…named after one of my favorite Dolly performances with Kenny Rogers, Islands in the Stream.
THANK YOU Bee Gees for writing a song that brought us one of the great disco-era duets. And thank you warm weather for bringing me an excuse to drink something so refreshing and easy!
I promise, you don’t need that much watermelon to get the juice you need, and the pineapple juice can come from a can, OR be substituted with something else if you’re not into it. It’s JUST sweet enough from the natural fruit juice (but not so sweet that my husband wouldn’t drink it…although he gave me the side eye about the color until he took a sip. then he DRAINED it.) You will too!
- 1 Cup Watermelon Juice
- 3 Large pieces of Watermelon (no rind, obvi)
- ¼ Cup Lime Juice
- ¼ Cup fresh pineapple Juice
- ¼-1/2 Cup Silver Tequila
- ¼-1/2 Cup Triple Sec
- For Garnish:
- Ice
- Cucumber Slices
- A turn of black pepper
- Mix the juices and alcohol in a blender or large cup.
- Use the blender or an emulsion blender to blend up the watermelon (watch out..watermelon tends to get all frothy)
- Pour into a highball glass with ice and then garnish with cucumber slices and black pepper
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