Summer Drinks

Two favorite Summer Drinks


Lemonade is hard to take a picture of. Luckily I had these classy plastic cups to jazz things up.

If you haven't made lemonade, you really should. It's terribly easy and so so delicious. I like mine pretty tangy, so feel free to tweak the proportions if you like yours sweeter. Mix the following and chill:

2 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 8 lemons)
4 cups water
1 cup simple syrup

Simple syrup adds an extra step, but is also very easy to make and is endlessly useful.

2 parts sugar
1 part water

Boil the water, stir in the sugar until it dissolves completely, remove the pan from the heat, and let cool. Don't stick your finger in it or try to taste it until it's cool. You've been warned.

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Tinto de Verano (translates literally to Red Wine of Summer), or Red Wine Spritzers, in English, are perfect for summer nights. I learned this crazy-simple cocktail in Sevilla, where it's a popular thing to drink at botellonas (How to translate? Basically, botellonas are standing around with a large group of people in a plaza, parking lot, or other outdoor space drinking and chatting. Isn't it wonderful that they have a word for that?)

No one in Sevilla who wasn't a tourist drank sangria. I don't know about other parts of the country, but in Sevilla, they drank Tinto de Verano, which is a mix of red wine and lemon soda (typically lemon Fanta over there; I usually use grapefruit Jarritos in the States since I can never find lemon Fanta, with its super-tart tartness, here). The drink is an approximate 50/50 mix of wine and soda, or whatever proportion suits your taste, + ice. And it's really refreshing. Try it this weekend. Tell your friends you'll be "spritzin''til dawn." (My friend Lynn coined this expression, and I must say, it adds considerably to the enjoyment of this drink. Say it over and over, and try to make it to dawn.)

PS. That's my husband in the background, playing the mini guitar, another star of Summer.