There are things that just shout, "Summer!" Among those shouters are sultry days, lightning bugs at night and the county fair. One of my all-time favorite county fair memories is standing in line among many friends and other fair-goers at the Lemon Shake-up booth.
Ah, the lemon shake-up! That refreshing concoction is the perfect summertime elixir.
It's satisfying in many ways to buy your "made fresh-while-you-wait" shake-up at the fair (chatting with friends in line and supporting your local 4H are 2 ways I just thought of). I've found another delightful way to enjoy this quintessentially summer refreshment: homemade .... in my kitchen (added bonus: with the "help" of my grandchildren).
Here's how I do it....
For one lemon shake-up (about a 16 oz serving)
A quartered 1/2 of a lemon (halve the lemon across its middle ~ then quarter the half)
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups crushed ice (I'm not precise here... using my cupped hands as a giant scoop - twice)
1 cup water
I placed the 4 quarters (of the half) of the lemon in a quart-sized wide-mouth canning jar. With a wooden crushing thing that had once belonged to my late mother-in-law (it's in the photo above), I mashed the lemon pieces to release the juice, oil and pulp. I then added the sugar, ice and water, screwed lid on jar and proceeded to shake. shake. shake. I poured it all ~ rind, seeds, some undissolved sugar and all the rest of the bright, tart, sweet amazing goodness ~ into a tall glass. I sipped to assess and then passed the wonderful summertime potion to all the other little eager lips waiting for a taste.... and then started the next lemon shake-up.
++++I even taught them to exhale a satisfied "aaaaaah" after each swallow. I supposed I'll have to "unteach" that someday.++++
No comments:
Post a Comment