Photo by: Jenna Elliott of One Eleven Photography

I created this cocktail for our recent Spring dinner party. There is something about muddled blackberries and fresh, sour lemon juice that is super delicious and refreshing. It's the perfect spring cocktail, if I do say so myself! I have also become a big fan of gin lately -- particularly small batch, organic ones, like Peak Spirits' CapRock. It has a really lovely flavor. The splash of elderflower liquor adds a really nice fruity and flowery sweetness to tie it all together.

Huge thank you to Borrowed Blu for the gorgeous crystal cut and milk glasses and Jenna Elliott of One Eleven Photography for the stunning photographs.

We were thrilled to have this recipe featured on Domaine Home a few weeks ago. In case you missed it, here it is!

5 Blackberries

1 oz. Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

1 oz. Simple Syrup

1+1/2 oz. Gin

1/2 oz. Elderflower Liquor

Ice

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In a cocktail shaker, muddle blackberries. Add lemon juice, simple syrup, gin and elderflower liquor. add several ice cubes and shake vigorously. Pour through a strainer and garnish with an edible flower or blackberries (I froze mine to give them an extra special look). Enjoy!

In an effort to teach Mila that food doesn't come from the supermarket, we've taken a few trips to local farms. We chose blackberry picking at Underwood Farms Somis for our latest outing. Underwood is well known in Southern California, especially for their Halloween festivities, but their Somis location is a smaller, more low-key destination. In addition to pick-your-own berries, they have a farm market, animal center and a sandlot to play in.

The blackberries are on tall bushes with thorns so they're not as easy/kid-friendly as strawberry picking, but still fun to gather. Next time we'll try blueberries (April - mid-June).