Weekend Round-Up

Refreshing Drinks to Beat the Heat

Non-Alcoholic Cherry Limeade
Refreshing drink on a hot summer day.
Cook's Notes: For a grown-up touch add a little tequila and a splash of orange liqueur for a margarita-inspired sparkling cocktail.

Ingredients:

• 1 lime, cut into wedges (optional)
• Margarita salt (optional)
• 1 (12-oz.) can frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
• 3-1/2 cups cold water
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup liquid from jarred red maraschino cherries
• 2 cups sparkling water
• Garnishes: lime slices, maraschino cherries

Directions:

• Rub rims of 8 chilled glasses with lime wedges, and dip rims in salt to coat, if desired.
• Stir together limeade concentrate and 3- 1/2 cups cold water; add liquid from maraschino cherries. Taste test before increasing cherry juice to 3/4 cup. 
• Fill prepared glasses with ice. Pour limeade mixture into glasses, filling each two-thirds full; add sparkling water to fill.
• For the grown-up touch, add tequila and orange liqueur after adding cherry juice. 
  

Blackberry Lime Margarita Slushies

Cook's Notes: Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine June 2018 and makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 2 pints blackberries
• 2/3 cup water
• 3/4 cup silver tequila
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 1/3 cup orange-flavored liqueur (such as Grand Marnier)
• 2 tsp.finely grated lime zest
• Juice from 2 small limes
• Mezcal, for topping (optional)

Directions:

• Combine the blackberries, 2/3 cup water, the tequila, sugar, orange liqueur, lime zest and lime juice in a blender. Blend until smooth and the sugar is dissolved.
• Crush one tray of ice cubes in blender with blackberry mixture. Mix well.
• Place blender mixture in freezer or pour mixture into a plastic container to freeze for a few hours. 
• Pour into glasses and top each with 1/2 to 1 tsp. mezcal if desired. Garnish with blackberries threaded on a toothpick.

Mezcal (traditionally spelled mescal) is a Smoky Mexican distilled spirit that is made from the agave plant. Tequila is technically a mezcal, however, there are differences in production technique and in the types of agave used. Tequila is made from a single type of agave plant – the agave tequilana (blue agave) – and can only be produced in the state of Jalisco and in small parts of four other states.

Looking for a summer read to go with your refreshing drink?  

"The Women in the Castle" by Jessica Shattuck is the perfect accompaniment. 

Three women, Marianne, Benita and Ania, from different walks of life, but all have one thing in common. They have survived the holocaust, the plot to kill Hitler which took two of their husbands and for Ania, the evil in which she found herself involved. It is the immediate aftermath in Bavaria, of this terrible and horrific time, a promise made by Marianne will bring these women and their children together where they now must depend on each other for all their survival.
Although this is a novel in which the holocaust and Hitler play a prominent role, it is above all a novel of friendships forged during a time of great peril and stress. The setting is a crumbling Bavarian castle that once played host to all of German high society. 

If you enjoyed the book "Nightingale" by Kristen Hannah you will enjoy this historical fiction book.