It's not even the hot-as-hell weather that bothers me, it's mostly the fact that every person I know either just stays inside to avoid getting sick from it, or they leave the town to have the time of their life.
Then, there is also the fact that we still didn't forget the way of our ancestors - as in, we still gather stuff for the winter, we still prepare jams and pickles and conserves and compotes and preserves and freeze all kinds of stuff.
Which is actually great when you think about how many different stuff you will have to enjoy in the winter - you know, with the authentic home-made taste- but it's a bitch to actually prepare all of them.
Yesterday evening we finished up a whole bunch of peach jam (and enjoyed a great dinner with fresh peach jam on toast with milk. YUMMI!), and now I have a bunch of free time while I wait for the juice we use on the would-be pickles to cool off (it's not exactly a juice, but I didn't know how to call it).
I thought that I would watch the last few episodes from Avatar: The Last Airbender (yes, I'm terribly ashamed, but I never in my life finished an anime or manga or whatever Japanese animation you guys know), but then I realized that I also have to post something here. So I guess I chose you guys instead of the cartoon. I hope you feel lucky :)
Anyways, since it's so hot nowadays I think it was long due to give you guys a couple of drink ideas that would both hydrate and cool you down just a little bit.
First off... lemonades and other fruity juices!
If you have the time you should use this method for a perfect lemonade: Heat up some sugar and water in a pan, until you get a simple syrup. Until this is ready extract the juice from the lemons. Mix the juice and the syrup together, and after this top it with water. Everything will be mixed just the right way if you do it like this - instead of the sugar just floating down to the bottom of your pitcher. Serve with lemon slices and ice.
Now, this is the basic lemonade. I'm pretty sure that sometimes you get tired of the same old taste, and you just wish for something new. In come other fruits.
Since it's the season of peaches right now, I'm going to propose using fresh peaches. But as the year goes round and fruits start to become tasty (I recommend you guys to buy 'natural' fruits, since the stuff they mostly sell nowadays doesn't really have a taste. That's why I also said that you should use the seasons to tell what kind of fruits to get. It's easier to find tasty peaches now than in the middle of winter for example).
Adding other fruits to your lemonade could turn out really well, or pretty messed up too.
I'm saying it could be 'messed up' because I know that there are a bunch of people out there who don't like the fleshy part of the fruit in their drinks. If you don't mind this you probably won't have a problem with peach lemonade, but if you do you will have one hell of a time getting the juice separated from the fruit without it's flesh getting in.
If you really-really want to get rid of that stuff you will have to put the whole peaches in hot water until you can peal them. When you remove them you will have to cool them off quickly, otherwise they will cook. Use a blender to liquefy it, then strain it trough a sieve. This way you will get a pretty smooth nectar for the sensitive people around you.
Now you will just have to mix it together with your previously prepared lemonade. If you want it even more spicy and fresh, you can always add some fresh mint to it, or you can add some orange juice to give it a kick.
Don't forget the sliced fruits and the ice!
You will have to do this same thing with basically every fruit. And believe me, every single fruit works in a weather like this. It is not only amazing good tasting, it will also be good for your health, since it's all freshly made from real fruits.
Then, there is of course the option of ice tea.
Now, this is just as easy. The first thing you will have to do is to make some tea, but be careful to use enough tea bags. When served cold, tastes become dulled down - especially if you add ice to it - so you will have to give that tea some taste!
If you want it sweet, add the sugar to the tea while it's hot, so it will dissolve better. If you forget this don't worry - you can still make some syrup and use that.
Leave the tea outside to cool down before you put it in the fridge, otherwise it will become cloudy.
Add a ice cubes to it when served. Also if you don't want your tea to become watered down, you can always put some of that tea in the freezer to make ice cubes. That way when it melts, you will only have a bunch more of that tasty tea. Or make your Ice cubes out of fresh juice. That will add an extra flavor to your ice tea! And of course there is also the option to add lemons, oranges or grapes to the cubes. These not only taste good, they also look good!
The third- and last- category for today are shakes!
For this you will need some low fat milk and ice cream. First you will need to decide what kind of flavor would you like. The best option for everything would be of course vanilla ice cream.
You will have to make sure that every single thing for this ice really cold. Not only the ingredients, but the utensils too - this coldness will make your milkshake amazingly smooth and thick.
While you mix together the flavoring and the milk you should leave the ice cream in the freezer, so you can experiment with the flavors. Add more or less milk depending on how thick you like your shake, and taste it often to see if you have the perfect amount of fruit in it. Then you can add the ice cream and blend it all together.
Now it's time to pour them out. Use chilled glasses for this, otherwise the shake will melt really fast and leave you with a lot of mess.
So which one of these would you like to make first?
Pics from here,here, here and here
