Did you know what Santa Monica is the patron saint of? Alcohol. So here’s a sangria recipe to enjoy by the pool.

Luckily as the shop had sold out of Don Simon sangria, there are some excellent fruit juices and a lovely selection of locally grown fruit including apricots, flat peaches, pears and oranges.

The fridge in our kitchen dispenses ice and the red wine – like for mulled wine – is a blend sold in one litre cartons.

Ingredients

• 1 litre carton of red wine (something you can’t buy in UK)
• 1 litre squeezed orange juice
• 1 small bottle limonata (cloudy lemonade) 330-500ml
• 2 small (330ml) bottles of unadulterated tropical fruit smoothies with orange or purple fruits such as mango, peach, apricot, apple, pear, papaya etc.
• Chop up an orange, pear, peach and apricot
• Ice