This is the first time for me in the last ten years that it’s really felt like summer. I am able to stay home in a thin cotton T-shirt and shorts all day long and go to bed in thin clothes too. I’ve never been able to do that before. I’ve always had to have a cardigan at a readily grabbable distance and I always had to change into long sleeves and long trousers at night. Yes, even in the middle of summer.
This year, though, because of the heatwave, it’s sooooo nice.
But not everyone is happy with it. You know we humans are complaining types. In this nice dry weather, I’ve come across many people moaning about the “heat.” Granted, many British people have rarely come across really warm weather. So, I suppose it’s understandable.
But, no matter what the weather’s actually like, whenever I chat with people, it’s always the topic of complaints. The formulaic conversation starter, “Are you enjoying the weather?” The typical “Yes, I am, it’s nice, isn’t it?” or equally typical “Not really, it’s far too warm” flapping the arms about like a demented fan.
Over time, I’ve even stopped registering what I am talking about. It’s always the weather. Well, come to think of it … I don’t know anything about them and they know nothing about me. So we can’t really start a conversation with “Did your mother manage to get rid of that cat that keeps dumping in her beautiful flower garden?”
Anyway, back to the topic.
This summer is the first time I’ve preferred a cold fizzy drink over my beloved clear tea. But unfortunately, all those fizzy drinks I find in shops contain tonnes of sugar and other unhealthy ingredients.
Being an amateur health nut, I religiously read the ingredients of the numerous cans and drinks that sit so attractively in the shop fridge. I always end up shuddering and putting the cans back on the shelves. It even got to the stage where it looked like I’d never be able to have fizzy drinks ever again.
But luckily, quite by accident, I’ve found a way of making a fizzy drink without having to ingest suspicious sounding ingredients.
I’ve always been a fan of lemon juice because of its refreshing and medicinal quality. Basically I squeeze a lemon into a glass of water. Sometimes, I sweeten it with a bit of honey.
One day I got the idea of squeezing a lemon into a glass of sparkling water. It was very refreshing. Then I put a bit of honey into the mixture. It was even nicer.
Then I tried doing that with chilled sparkling water.
What a lovely surprise!
Then it occurred to me that it tasted quite similar to lemonade. Only it was a whole lot healthier. And very very simple to make too. No boiling fruit. No losing vitamins either.
It’s done and ready to drink within 2 minutes. How much easier can you get?
So, here’s my fizzy lemonade recipe:
• a glass of chilled sparkling water
• half a lemon
• a bit of runny honey to taste
Just squeeze the lemon in a hand juicer and wash the pulp out with the water. Put some honey in. Add ice if you want. Done!
This works equally well with lime. In fact, I even prefer the taste of lime. You can try it also with orange, grapefruit and any other fruit that you can squeeze and the juice comes out.
You’ll get a perfect fizzy drink for a summer day. Or for a cold winter’s day after a spicy meal. 😉
You can even make fizzy drink with any juice you have.
Here’s a little secret: what I do when I don’t feel like squeezing any fruits myself is use shop-bought pressed apple juice or pineapple juice.
I mix 1/3 juice with 2/3 sparkling water. Add ice. And it tastes delicious.
Granted, the bottled juice has a lot of sugar. But you’re only adding a small amount to your drink instead of drinking a whole glassful of the stuff. So, it has a lot less sugar than you would normally have if you were to drink shop-bought fruit juice.
Of course, it’s not as good as squeezing fruit yourself.
Enjoy a fizzy summer’s day.