As the most popular drink in Cuba (and certainly that of Earnest Hemingway's)it comes as no surprise that the tall bubbly glass with the funny leaves in it is Miami's favorite drink. Those are mint leaves and they are ground with diced limes and lemons, (Don't ever use lime concentrate--at least not if you want to get out of Miami alive), sugar, light rum, and club soda. Put the trick is in the stick. Every bartender has their favorite: the long one with the bulbous head or a stubby one that allows you to feel the grinding.

The good thing about having a stick in your hand is that you can clobber the drunk mumbling, "Why is it taking so long."

A clever bartender can usually manouever in sensual ways with it's proximity to his own.

In the end, as long as you have a bartender who can handle his stick, it remains a supremely refreshing drink. Mark Brittman wrote in The New York Times last week, "Miami Beach remains, as it has in every one of its incarnations, a fun place. The weather, the beach, the Deco (intact and newly valued), the neon and the crowds all contribute to a party atmosphere. It feels like one gargantuan, if grounded, cruise ship." (And I'll be taking my mojitos in the first class lounge; never liked the sun.)