Triple Sec

If you want to wow your guests at your next Mexican fiesta, make this dessert. Period. This lime confection is a cross between an ice cream and a pie, and the pretzel crust adds just the right amount of saltiness to make it fun and totally unforgettable.

Careful! Drinking more than two of these can make your ideas seem better than they actually are.

This brightly flavored jelly would make a delicious layer in a birthday cake. Pour it into the cake pan you’re using for the cake and let it set.

Here’s another recipe in which just a few ingredients come together to make a big, big impression. It’s not as dense as the name suggests, because the beaten egg whites lighten it up considerably, as do the crumbled cookies. Think of this next time you’re looking for an unusual birthday cake; with its layer of marmalade and crumbled cookie topping it’s elegant enough for any important occasion.

Eggs, sugar, and flour in equal measure are the basis of this simple cake, which bakes in just 20 minutes and can be filled with fruit or berries in season.

This recipe is from Eben Freeman, bartender of Tailor Restaurant in New York City.

You might rub elbows with Reese Witherspoon or Molly Sims at this sushi spot on L.A.'s famed Sunset Strip. Besides raw-fish delicacies, innovative beverages are served up at the loungelike space. Hipster tipplers can sip the restaurant's Pomegranate Cocktail, which is rich in polyphenols, antioxidants that help protect your ticker.

Eben Freeman, bartender of Tailor Restaurant in New York City, developed this adaptation of a classic cocktail. Reposado tequila, aged in oak for at least two months but less than a year, gives the drink a smooth smokiness. If you prefer a more vegetal flavor, you could substitute blanco (unaged) tequila; it's probably best to steer clear of añejo (aged in oak for at least a year but less than three years), which could darken the hue and add unwanted oak, vanilla, or caramel flavors. To sweeten his Margarita, Freeman trades the traditional sugar syrup for superfine sugar, which gives the drink a slightly grainy texture. Freeman's final signature touch: Only half the glass gets a salted rim.

This traditional, tasty drink has 200 fewer calories than a margarita. Olé!

This mildly spiked dessert is so easy to put together, it will quickly become one of your summer-entertaining standbys.

From the Café Iguana restaurant, in Denver, Colorado.

Freezing the watermelon and strawberries before mixing the drink eliminates the need for ice  — and allows the fruit flavors to retain their full intensity.