Summer

Summer is in full swing and with the weather reaching higher temperatures, there's more reason than ever to cool down with a chilled beverage. For me summer is incomplete without enjoying a great cocktail at an outdoor party.

With the fourth of July just days away, what better way to celebrate than with a refreshing drink in hand? Grab one of these three and join the revelry.

I've updated my favorite drink, the gimlet, by making it with freshly squeezed lime juice and a touch of syrup for sweetness.

For a fizzy drink, I came up with the Ruby Sparkler, which combines, vodka, ruby red grapefruit juice, and grenadine for a bit of pomegranate sweetness and color.

And the Citrus Breeze is my combination of the most refreshing flavors, rum, mint, and a blend of three different freshly squeezed citrus fruits. There's a drink here for everyone to enjoy.

I enjoy making my own syrups. It's great to have a few different ones on hand. You never know when you might need to mix a drink for friends or family that stop by unannounced.

You may have seen some of the unusual things that blend on the Will it Blend? videos. Turns out, you get some pretty interesting results when you put things like footballs, marbles, Glow Sticks, and a new 3G iPhone into a blender (some blend, some not so much).

Inspired, I decided to start my own series of experiments – Will it Grill?

I tried steak (yes), watermelon (yes), ice cream (nope), cereal (depends – Kashi yes, but Fruit Loops exploded into a multicolored fire ball), and avocados (yes).

The avocados were excellent. If you want to find out for yourself, here's how to grill an avocado:

1. Select a ripe yet somewhat firm avocado and slightly chill it.

2. Cut it in half and remove the pit. Brush it with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Place it right away on a medium-high grill flesh-side down for about 60 seconds. Grill marks should be present, and the flesh should be lightly caramelized yet intact.

4. Eat immediately.

It was kind of cold yesterday, clearly not a day for lemonade. But I was thirsty.  You know, that kind of thirst where you want something sweet, but not too sweet.  And something sour, but not too sour.  I felt like I could have drank a whole pitcher of this.  Must have been those Dill Pickle chips the night before. Whoops!

This was such a great recipe because the beautiful peaches I had bought the day before tasted like...well they tasted like nothing and they certainly weren't sweet.  So, you don't even need sweet peaches to make this awesome drink.  Sour tasting ones work just fine!

The biggest problem was having to share this with everyone at home. I wanted it all to myself but that didn't really happen.  Every time I make something like this, especially using fresh fruit, I wonder why I don't do it all the time!! It was that good. It will be a summer staple around here and a must try for you. 

This could easily become an adult beverage with a bit of white rum or bourbon. Yep it could.

From the New York Times

Summer may not be the best time to cook, but it’s certainly among the best times to eat. Toss watermelon and peaches with some ingredients you have lying around already, and you can produce a salad that’s delicious, unusual, fast and perfectly seasonal.

That’s the idea behind the 101 ideas found in this section. In theory, each salad takes 20 minutes or less. Honestly, some may take you a little longer. But most minimize work at the stove and capitalize on the season, when tomatoes, eggplant, herbs, fruit, greens and more are plentiful and excellent.

This last point is important. Not everything needs to be farmers’ market quality, but it’s not too much to expect ripe fruit, fragrant herbs and juicy greens.

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