Easy Sippin’
I’m a sucker for cool drinks. Not just cold ones, but jazzed up ones.
Give me cherry lemonade, or limeade with honeydew and mint. Give me cocktails made with basil and rosemary and smashed raspberries.
Some places around Winston-Salem are catching the creative-drink-bug this summer, too.
Krankies Coffee on East Third Street is home of my favorite iced coffee in town. It’s made with slightly sweet, smoky chocolate-laced coffee, but best of all, it is strong. A lot of iced coffee tastes watered down. They’re also making “Summer Fun,” a potion of grapefruit soda and red wine, sort of a less-fruit-cocktaily-Sangria.
At Mary’s Of Course, Mary Haglund is whisking lavender into pink lemonade and - best of all - limeade with a dash or two of habanero sauce (she told me that she find a kind without vinegar, so no, it doesn’t taste like you’re drinking a glass of Texas Pete). She calls them elixirs. Now that’s a word that needs to be used more - outside of Dungeons and Dragons, that is.
If I have time at home, I am partial to homemade lemonade spiked with a basil simple syrup (recipe is from Gourmet magazine, and follows below). If I don’t, I’ve started adding fresh mint and sliced lemon to my ice water. There’s something especially cooling about the mint, and it’s especially convenient if you grow your own mint plant (they grow like weeds).
Basil Lemonade (adapted from Gourmet)
Yield: About 6 cups.
2 cups basil lemon syrup (recipe below)
2 cups cold water
2 cups ice cubes
1 1/4 cups fresh lemon juice
Stir together all ingredients in a large pitcher, then pour into tall glasses half filled with ice.
Basil-Lemon Syrup:
4 cups packed fresh basil sprigs (top 4 inches; from a 1/2-pound bunch)
4 cups water
2 cups sugar
9 (4- by 1-inch) strips lemon zest
Bring all ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Let stand at room temperature, covered, 1 hour, then transfer to an airtight container and chill until cold, about 1 hour. Strain syrup through a sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on and then discarding solids.
Syrup keeps, covered and chilled, 5 days. It is also good with vodka, in cocktails.
