Modern day convenience enables us to fix ourselves any drink without second guessing the proportion of fruit juice to sugar and water. It does make life easier, but it doesn't make us any healthier.
Although I could always go to a convenience store for a pack of drink mix or a bottle of something-something, I would naturally prefer actual freshly-squeezed lemonade!
Homemade Lemonade
A big big thanks to Jake for teaching me the basics of making lemonade :D
I won't be able to come up with my own variations if I didn't have any idea what goes on in the basic recipe :D
Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 lemons
5-6 glasses of water
ice
5 mint leaves
Directions
1. In a saucepan, dissolve sugar in 1/4 cup water. Stir until well-blended.
2. Cook the syrup in medium heat. Syrup is ready when the mixture bubbles to its boiling point. Simmer for 5 more minutes then remove from heat. Set aside.
Tip: To keep sugar from crystallizing around the sides of the sauce pan, use a pastry brush to dab water around that area. This way you're sure you get the most out of your syrup. Same technique works with making caramel, too.
3. Sugar could take a while to cook. You could us the waiting time to juice the lemons. You could use an efficient kitchen implement like a juicer or do some manual labor.
Tip: To get more juice out of your lemons, you could try popping them for a few seconds in the microwave. Or, roll them on a flat surface to create friction that generates heat that gets the juices flowing (kinky~).
4. In a pitcher, combine the lemon juice and half the amount of the syrup. Stir, then pour in 5-6 glasses-worth of water.
5. Stir some more, then chill in the fridge.
You could add more sugar or lemon juice to suit your preference or make the fanfiction version and have a minty lemonade. In that case, consider the optional step/s below:
Optional~
To add a tingle of coolness to the already refreshing lemonade, you could add the 5 whole mint leaves while cooking the syrup to have a mint syrup. Add more leaves for a stronger mint flavor.
Or, you could make
Mint Ice
mint leaves, chopped or torn apart
water
ice rack
Mix mint leaves in water and pour into the ice rack.
VOILA~ Mint ice cubes!
Or, you could add the mint leaves in individual glasses or the serving pitcher. Stir the lemonade with the mint leaves in; then serve.
Earl Grey Lemon-Mint Tea
1. When making the syrup, add 4 slices of lemon and 4 mint leaves.
2. Use 7 tea bags of Earl Grey and add it to 3 cups of hot water.
3. After steeping for 3-5 minutes, remove the tea bags and gently squeeze them to get more tea.
4. Do steps 4-5 of the Homemade Lemonade recipe.
Posting this on a rainy, typhoon-y day is way ahead of the heat season. But, this habit of drinking cool stuff just won't die on a tropical dweller like me. If you prefer a hot version, you may do so. It transforms into a soothing drink while waiting out the rage of a typhoon's howling winds.
/I'm blogging like a boss 'cuz there's no class today~/
Still, the lemonade with its tangy sweetness and optimistic yellow-ness just makes one think of summer--it's just not complete without a cold refreshing glass of this yellowish stuff~! Enjoy with cream cheese and cucumber finger sandwiches and a bowl of sliced apples on a lazy afternoon :D On days when it's too hot to brew a pot of tea, I make this instead XD
How do you enjoy a glass of lemonade?
*'That Other Kind of Lemon' refers to this.
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