It’s brutally hot here today (though Amanda, who will be visiting us soon, has already sneered at our wussy temperatures). And when it’s hot, I want something cold to drink.
Since you all provided such great responses for my request for tuna salad recipies, I figured I’d ask you to tell us what cold drink you like to have on a hot day. Alcohol optional.
I’ll start: seltzer with lemon, seltzer with pomegranate/blueberry juice, or cucumber/lemon water (slice a cuke thin, put in a pitcher, add a few lemon slices and water, and chill).
So have at.
My favorite summer cocktail (I’m going the “with alcohol” route) is a Tom Collins: gin, lemon juice, & sugar (I use simple syrup b/c I’m cool like that) over ice and topped off with club soda. Gin-alicious! A sprig of mint is always a fun addition too. Then of course there’s the mojito, but I’ll limit myself to one drink entry.
Champagne with a dollop of vanilla ice cream swirled in and extra-cold pineapple juice poured on top.
:))))))
My favorite summer cocktail is equal part champagne, vodka, orange juice and sprite.
I guess it IS a bit stiff.
Beer!
My dad used to make a great summer drink — I was just thinking I hadn’t yet made it for my kid. Gotta correct that.
Buy a can of pineapple juice, and freeze it. Scoop out a big dollop of the juice into a glass. Fill the glass with soda — Squirt is ideal, but 7-Up or Sprite will do in a pinch.
Mmm-mmm. Sweet and fizzy and refreshing and cold.
Gotta go with bori-cha, Korean barley tea. You can find it at any Korean grocery store. Cool and refreshing. All you do is add a teabag to cold water.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mugicha
iced tea (house wine of the south, don’t you know). One quart boiling water in a gallon glass jar over 4 family-sized Tetley tea bags for 8 minutes, 1 cup of sugar to the hot tea, then lots of ice cubes, and complete filling the jar with cool water.
My God, stellans, that’s a lot of sugar.
My mom makes a nice alcoholic fruit punch that is quite tasty. The recipe makes a huge batch, though, so we mainly only make it for parties. Mix a large can of pineapple juice, 2 liters Sprite (or other fizzy lemon-lime drink), one jar Marachino cherries, mandarin oranges, and a fifth of Southern Comfort. Serve over ice or with the sherbert flavor of your choice. Also, a good margarita is always welcome. But for the kids, I like to make smoothies: frozen fruit of choice (we like peaches and strawberries), a carton of vanilla yogurt, spoonful of honey, and enough orange juice to make it blendable.
Zuzu, are you unaquainted with the southern deliciousness that is sweet tea?
I’ve managed to avoid diabetes thus far, Bryan.
I know of sweet tea. I understand there’s sugar in it. I just didn’t know how much.
Just reading that made my teeth feel funny.
Pimms no. 1 cup and diet ginger ale with cut up cucumbers, apples, lemons and limes. Lived on that and Selfridges hummus on table water crackers for an entire London summer.
Sweet tea definitely takes some getting used to.
Living in New York, I think your obligatory cool beverage is the egg cream. Equal parts chocolate syrup (U-bet seems to be the classic brand for this concoction), and whole milk, then two or three parts cold seltzer.
Yeesh. I mixed up the quart bit with the gallon bit… a cup of sugar to a quart of tea does seem like an awful lot.
Oooh Pimms Cup – yum.
Mojitos are great in the summer but can’t go wrong w/classics like Gin & Tonic or Vodka Tonic.
You know – a bartender at an Irish Pub gave me attitude for ordering a G&T “after Labor Day.” I panicked a bit about committing such a terrible drink faux pas but then decided to ignore him.
I can’t even imagine how hot it is in Austin – its pretty freaking hot in Dallas but its even warmer in Austin/SA. Last night at 10pm I went outside and swear it was still 90 degrees. Bleh.
a bartender at an Irish Pub gave me attitude for ordering a G&T “after Labor Day.”
Sheesh. Hope you weren’t also wearing white shoes. I say G&T’s are a perfect drink year-round. Bombay Sapphire, please.
My drink of choice would be a nice, cool, refreshing riesling. Columbia Winery makes an especially delicious one.
I like Sun Tea (2 or 3 tea bags + 1/2 gallon water, let it sit in the sun for 2-3 hours, bring in and refrigerate). If I’m ordering at a restaraunt, a nice glass on Thai Iced Tea often hits the spot.
Great dessert drink, or one for the kids — sherbet with clear soda poured over it. The original recipe I knew used 7Up, but I like it better with a lightly flavored, unsweetened seltzer (Vintage brand is good). Flavors can be whatever you like… I’m partial to lemon sherbet with raspberry seltzer, or orange and orange.
Well, that is 1 cup sugar to one gallon tea. Believe me when I tell you I don’t put nearly as much sugar in as some of us do here in the South (I’m in TN).
Some people have dedicated ‘tea pans’ that are only used for brewing tea; I don’t like the taste metal imparts so I use an old gallon glass jar for making iced tea, and a ceramic pot for hot tea in the winter.
I loved Sun Tea until I got really sick from the bacteria that grew while it sat in the sun. Now I boil it only. And to people who think sweet ice tea is too sweet, keep in mind that a regular can of Coke has 10 teaspoons of sugar in it, 1 thimble-ful of flavorings, 1 ounce of carmel coloring, and water.
And while Pimm’s cup make me very happy, homemade ginger beer (non alcoholic) is making me happy now. Take 1/2 pound of fresh garlic, peel it, and slice it very thinly (thank you food processor), slice a lemon thinly and put it in a stainless steel (or non-reactivev pot). Add 1/4 cup of sugar, cover it with water, and bring to a boil. Pour everything into a large glass jar, finish off with ice-cold water. Let it sit in the fridge for at least a day. Serve with ice. If you’re want to keep it for more than a few days, strain out the ginger and lemon slices and it will last longer. Spicy, yummy, and great with a bit of light rum, too.
I’m living in the only part of the country that is not enveloped in the current heat wave, though we will hit 90 for a couple of days this week.
With alcohol: Either a vodka Collins (similar to the regular Tom Collins mentioned above) or a Salty Dog: vodka, grapefruit juice (regular or the sweetened kind) and rim the glass with salt. Mmmm.
Without alcohol: Those of you who grew up in the Midwest as I did, may be familiar with a glass of Vernors ginger ale with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We called them Boston coolers, which is strange to me because I don’t think this came from Boston, given that Vernors is a local product.
I’m going way off topic here, but I was looking back over the tuna thread and trying to figure out why so many people here are grossed out so intensely by mayonnaise. Is there some use for it that is more purely disgusting than I’m familiar with? I think of mayo as being a topping for fries in France, a key ingredient in the Russian Dressing on your Reuben, the creamy side of spicy tuna at most sushi places, plus all the aiolis, from garlic to wasabi!
Maybe it’s just me?
The previous message was brought to you by the Mayo Advisory Board.
I am a Yankee by birth but have come to love Sweet Tea since living in the south but can’t do all that sugar on a regular basis. My personal recipe calls for Luzianne tea bags (2 of the big ones). Put them in a 2-qt pitcher with eight packets of Splenda and steep in 1-qt of boiling water for about 10 mintues or so. When done steeping, fill to the top with ice cubes (which will melt almost immediately. Yum. Refreshing and no sugar. You can also do part sugar part Splenda, to taste. I make this almost on a daily basis.
In Hawaii, we drank Plantation Tea, which was a mix of about 3 parts unsweetened tea to 1 part fresh pineapple juice (to taste). Garnish with slice of pineapple and a sugar cane stick.
One last one — Half & Half. Take 1 part unsweetened iced tea and mix with 1 part fresh lemonade. Very refreshing.
Uh, evidently, the ‘previous comment’ I was referring to is being moderated, so that’s not pointed at Linnaeus (obviously). Sorry for the triple-post.
I think that places with really hot weather always have the best food and drink for heat waves in the U.S. Lassis from India can be blended from either yogurt with mango juice and ice (and maybe some pulp) or yogurt with a tiny bit of rose water,sugar and ice. Horchata from Mexico is cooked rice blended with either water or milk plus a little cinammon and sugar. Strain before serving with ice. Vietnamese shakes are wonderfully creamy, fruity and icy. I tasted one with pineapple recently which I loved–and I don’t even like pineapple. I have no idea how to make one at home, but I assume it involves shaved ice and (like Vietnamese coffee) sweetened condensed milk. Frappes from Greece are usually made from instant coffee, but I make them with espresso (from a stovetop pot). Fill a jar with ice, put in a shot of freezer-cooled espresso (sweetened to taste), cover with a tight-fitting lid and shake hard for at least thirty seconds. The foam and ice make the drink (which I have with breakfast on days like today.) Enjoy!
I use the cocktail shaker filled with ice, a tsp or two of sweetened condensed milk, and four shots of espresso — shake immediately and pour: Breakfast of Champions, as they say.
A cold glass of portuguese vinho verde is awfully nice on a hot day.
As is a martini (keep the gin in the freezer) with a twist of lemon. It’s too hot for olives.
Alcoholic: G&T; margarita; frozen gin poured over pomegranate seeds in a shot glass.
Non-alcoholic: limeade
I like cucumber-mint water. Like your cucumber lemon water, slice a cucumber thinly and add it to water with sprigs of fresh mint. It’s also good with vodka (especially vodka stored in the freezer) or light rum.
I assume you mean ginger, not garlic!
What about a long, cool Pimms, the quintessential English summer drink: Here’s an americanised version
Fill a tall 12 oz glass with ice
add 1 1/4 oz. Pimm’s #1
3 oz lemonade.
Then top off with 7up.
Garnish with mint, borage or a cucumber stick. or even nasturtium flowers if you have some.
A Bellini doesn’t go amiss in the heat either, but it’s a bit indulgent – it’s one third fresh peach juice and two thirds chilled Prosecco sparkling wine. Make sure to pour the peach juice into the glass first. Yum.
Witbier with a slice of lemon speaks for itself.
Mai Tais — not that fruit punch shit you get in Waikiki, but da real deal.
Eegees are, sadly, a local thing, and hard to enjoy unless you live in Tucson. But they are, in my opinion, the best summer “drink” evar. And you can get them delivered elsewhere (it’s just really expensive)!
Half Fresca, have passionfruit juice.
Glass of water, sprig of mint (from the backyard, thank you), and ice. Simple and good, makes your stomach settle.
This one’s without alcohol, but you could add it if you wanted.
Take the juice from about a dozen average-sized limes. Add sugar/sweetener of choice to taste (I think this is made with cane syrup, but I’m more fond of fructose or raw sugar), then add double the amount of water as juice/sugar. Pour into an ice-filled glass and enjoy.
Ginger beer is pretty tasty too.
White Sangria… a friend made it for a dinner at my house last week and it was wonderful. She used sweet white wine mixed with club soda, with triple sec and sugar for flavor, served in a pitcher with sliced citrus and lots of ice.
Unsweetened iced tea, made in a juice jug in the fridge: about six tea bags or an appropriate quantity of loose tea (Upton Tea Imports Raspberry flavored makes an especially wonderful iced tea), fill jug with cold water, stick in the fridge overnight or longer. I don’t bother to take the bags out, as the jugful lasts about a day. If you wish to sweeten, make up a simple syrup (1 part sugar, 1 part water, boil briefly, cool and store in fridge) rather than try to stir sugar into cold tea.
A very cold ginger beer is always nice, or a decent cream soda, and I once had a fairground lemonade that tasted better than anything before or since. I was very thirsty.
My favorite summer drink is a bit of grapefruit juice, a bit of cran-raspberry, and a lot of club soda. Serve over ice. I also tend to drink a lot of iced coffee in the summer. Make coffee in the evening when it’s cooler, refrigerate it overnight, and drink it with milk over ice in the morning.
(In order of increasing weirdnesss)
Roses’ Lime Juice in a tall glass of ice. Great for breakfast.
Orange Cream – I use 50% each of orange juice and soy milk.
Smoothies made with every random fruit (occasionally vegetable) in the refrigerator.
Blue Moss – 75% Blue Powerade topped off with MinuteMaid orange soda. Looks evil. Tastes awesome.
Green Goddamn: Vodka, Sprite and Green Crystal Light mixed in equal parts, poured over ice. It’s green, cold, and goddamn.
I do unsweetened ice tea for the most part, water when I remember I’m supposed to and usually a can of pepsi every couple days.
Alcoholic I either do apple pucker mixed with sprite over water or an apple margarita.
low carb monster, jigger of vodka, lots of ice. and that’s from phoenix, where it hit 114 today…
non-alcoholic: big dollop(s) of lime sherbet in ginger ale (preferably Buffalo Rock ginger ale, but that is of limited regional distribution)
low-cal magarita: tub of crystal lite lemonade, mixed with 54 ozs. of water, and 8 ozs of Rose’s Lime….for individual drinks, pour the preceding mix (to taste) in a glass with a jigger of Jose Cuervo tequila, jigger of triple sec, and squeeze fresh orange or tangerine in to taste.
Non-alcoholic: Iced coffee. Preferably my dad’s, which is good and strong, with organic skim milk. He puts sugar in after it’s brewed but before it’s refrigerated, so you don’t end up with sludge at the bottom. I also admit to being a total sucker for Starbucks frappuccinos; when I was in England and Ireland earlier this summer in the middle of a bizarre heat wave, Starbucks was the only place with reliable air conditioning and cool drinks. I am such a capitalist whore, I know. Ooh, and Trader Joe’s ginger lemonade. Cool and with a nice light gingery snap at the end of every sip.
Alcoholic: Strongbow cider. Vodka and Sprite. A frozen margarita. A cocktail made at a local bar that’s called Pink Lemonade, which involves vodka, lemon juice, Cointreau, and something else I’m forgetting.
Thai Lime Soda–Squeeze maybe 3 limes, and pour the juice over ice with a can of seltzer water. Add sugar/sweetener to taste, though it’s still wonderful without. Mmmmm.
Egg Cream: Equal parts Fox’s U-bet, Bailey’s, and seltzer. Drink with a straw.
Addendum: I am aware that’s not exactly the usual way of making an egg cream.
Anyone else miss Coca-Cola in a big glass bottle?
I used to love them, chilled of course.
Soda chanh, vietnam’s gift to the beverage world…
Basically, soda water, squeeze in as much lemon as you desire and add sugar to taste. Ideally, use sugar syrup, otherwise, mix sugar in well. A blast of sugar when your straw hits the “zone” is never plesant.
And Mark- we got those old world glass bottles.. Best is mineral water, a certian brand of which comes in a cut crystal bottle (all recycled).
So damn hot here… :)
Ice cold H20.