[Dairy_Queen]

My apologies to the Gershwin boys, George and Ira, for altering there wonderful lyrics in the Subject title.

Summertime and the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is fine
Oh your Daddy's rich and your ma is good lookin'
So hush little baby, don't you cry

One of these mornings
You're goin' to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take the sky
But till that morning
There's a nothin' can harm you
With daddy and mammy standin' by.

Here, in Chicago, we're experiencing our 10th day of a Heat Wave-ette. No, it's not "Officially" a Heat Wave, with Brown-outs and heat related deaths. But, we're running 15 to 20 degrees above normal of where we're supposed to be (94 degrees as opposed to 74). Looking at the weekly forecast, there's no immediate end in site.

That said, the hot, sticky days have led to fluid consumption by all my dear friends wa-a-a-a-y above normal. Iced tea, lemonade, lime aid, Sweet Tea, and all the wonderful alcoholic variations of High Cotton weather drinking.

My current favorite drink, that we've been enjoying, as a group, on our front stoop of our Greystone is the marvelous Mohito, a concoction made in Heaven, as far as MY taste-buds are concerned! It marries my two favorite flavours: lime and mint and is as refreshing as I can imagine in extreme heat.

Although it's supposedly a Hispanic drink, the best one I've ever bought was at a Japanese restaurant in Lincoln Park, called Shine. There was so much mint crushed in the tall tumbler that it felt as if you were drinking in an herb garden. Bliss, I tell ya, sheer bliss!

So, I looked up the "definitive" mohito recipe on the Web, followed the directions exactly, and it was a pale imitation of the one I had at Shine. This dilemma brought out the Chemistry Gene in me, so I tweaked and tasted my way to my version of a great Mohito. Two friends of mine must agree; they were over three nights ago, drank my version and are serving it at their garden party this weekend.

So, what do you love to drink when the heat is inescapable and your 80 foot boat is "out of service", forcing you to stay at home to escape the heat?

Marvelous Mohitos

By The Glass

Ingredients: (works well in an 8-10 oz tumbler)

In order of appearance)

1. Lime Juice (2 whole limes, zested and squeezed)

2. Sugar (4 heaping teaspoons)

3. Mint Leaves (freshest are the best!) You need about Four to Five mint stalks with leaves, per drink. (4 for mashing and 1 for garnish at the end)

4. Bicardi Limon (clear) Rum (2 oz)

5. Angostura Bitters (dash)

6. Ice

7. Club Soda (2/3 cup)

8. Straws (the green ones with the accordion top are cool)

9. A few mint leaves and one lime slice (for garnish)

Putting it all together:

1. Combine limejuice and sugar in small cup/bowl and mix up quickly. If you have a wooden spoon that works great. Then add mint stalks with leaves and continue mixing. The key here is to press/mash the mint leaves firmly (about 30-45 seconds) in order to get the mint oil to mix in with the sugar and limejuice. (Personally, I think this is the heart of the drink and separates a good mohito from a FANTASTIC MOHITO!)

2. Pour the contents you created in Step 1 into a glass (10 oz tumbler seems to work well) and add a dash of Angostura bitters (this is strong stuff, only a light dash or two).

3. Add 2 oz of Rum to the glass. Stir well

4. Add ices (cubes or chipped work well, I don't prefer crushed because it melts too fast) to the glass about 1/2 to 2/3 the way up the glass.

5. Add 2/3 cup of Club Soda/Seltzer Water (fresh and bubbly, works the best. Try not to use club soda/seltzer water that has gone flat (remember our motto: The difference between a good mohito and a FANTASTIC MOHITO is in the details)

6. Add more ice to top off the drink if you need.

7. Add 1 stalk of fresh mint as garnish on top.

8. Add slice of lime 1/8" to 1/4" thick works well.

NOTE: I've also made this drink by using Slice Soda, by substituting this for the sugar and club soda. They are BOTH equally delicious and I play no favorites with which I like.
_________________
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx

[HarryDurt]

You are making me thirsty, of course. And I love a mohito. But on hot days I have two beer cocktail favorites: panaché and michellada.

Panaché is basically half beer and half sprite. I go a tad heavier on the beer, say 60%, and I usually use hansons's grapefruit soda instead of sprite. It's very refreshing and because it's half strength you can drink twice as many!

Michellada (pardon me if I misspell) is a lime or two squeeezed over ice then top with beer and add a dash or two of tabasco or your favorite hot sauce. Again, extremely refreshing, this time savory and spicey.

Beats a cold day in my book any time!

[Dairy_Queen]

[Barbara]

Downunder a beer with sprite (lemonade) is called a shandy. I like a 80/20 mix with 80 being beer.

For the beer with lime we would order a beer with a dash of lime. I have never tried it with tabasco but roll on summer.
_________________
Barbara

[madameshawshank]

saw the topic and thought...bet it's David...however no, the Darling DQ!

and the creative spark of giving us the Mohito recipe in cooling green...sweet...

we are in the supposed 12th day of Winter ~ give me a break! I'm wearing a long-sleeved top simply because I think it's Winter...today is a gloriously warm Summer-like day...although not the life-sapping heat of many Oz Summer days...

as for Summer drinks...I love anything with crushed ice on a hot day...drinking a glacier almost!

and to think I'll be drinking with the dear Barbara...she of the last post...next Sunday...excitement excitement excitement! and all due to Clotilde's blog ~ wonderment doesn't even come close!

Perhaps there could be some kind of chocolate and zucchini uniform ~ of sorts I'm quite sure some of the band have skills other than in the food/drink line. Just image us all in uniform...such a laugh we'd have! marching along the world's streets and avenues...Oh look...there is the chocolate and zucchini 'army'...

Our son leaves tomorrow for a long stay in NZ and then...who knows...we will be drinking a Barossa Valley Estate 2001 Ebenezer Shiraz ~ his selection. As we drink, I will also think of all the travellers who leave 'home' and journey on....and I will also think of c'nz...and the joy I've discovered here.

merci to ye all...
_________________
"I've never accepted the external appearance of things as the whole truth. The world is much more elaborate than the nerves of our eye can tell us." - James Gleeson

[Barbara]

Madame - Perhaps I should carry a zucchini so you know it's me!!
_________________
Barbara

[Rainey]

What fun to be able to get together!

And what a hoot to think of C&Z uniforms. ...I'm thinking something like a Brownie uniform (do you guys call the youngest Girl Guides Brownies too?) with little green zucchini sewed on where the logos would go. For the guys I'm thinking the shorts, of course.

Will you guys take some pics and, perhaps, post them on Barbara's blog?
_________________
God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor

[Vickie]

We Brits call lemonade and beer mixed a shandy too, although it's generally only used for a half and half mix. An 80/20 mix a la Barbara is a 'lemonade top' (or at least it is where I'm from).

Since moving to Aus, I've discovered sparkling red wine (mostly Shiraz, Cabernet or Pinot). Served really chilled it's gorgeous on a hot day - and quite new to me - I'd never seen it in the UK.

As Madame said, we're in winter now, although today has been gorgeous and quite unlike the winters I'm used to. Now it's evening it's cooling down though....

[JustMe]

[Dairy_Queen]

At a Sci-Fi board I moderate, we had t-shirts designed by ourselves years ago. Four of us got together: One from Scotland (Sally), one from London, one from Sydney, and myself (AmericaLand) and we all rented a 'cottage' in Inverness, Scotland for 2 weeks of merriment.....with NONE of us having seen each other before!!!

The Gods were with us, as we all became Life Long Friends in real life and still chat via IM, email and text/phone calls, to keep the communication alive.

I'm a little worried about the zucchini in question, however: it could be viewed as either a 'pickle' or....er...well, something more erotic, if viewed from afar. (Just my twisted mind maybe...but....) I think a dark chocolate brown t-shirt with the cryptic C & Z on it would solicit comments and positive questions.

How lucky you are, Madame and Barbara, to get to see each other. Barbara: your carrying a zucchini reminds me of Mae West's line: "Is that a zucchini in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?!"

Say, where are all the Southerners and their version of Sweet Tea, that concoction that sends Northerners into diabetic shock?!

Another fave that I have in HOT weather is canned/frozen limeade mixed with club soda rather than water, for a sparkling/fizzy effect.

And last but not least, Red Zinger Sun Tea, loaded up with ice cubes and fresh lime slices.
_________________
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx

[Lakritz]

Mohito sounds great!

Yes, Panache (can't get the accent), as others have already mentioned, would be a shandy in the UK. And Michellada sounds indeed a bit like Lager & Lime (the lime usually coming from lime cordial).
In Germany, lager & lemonade (Fanta actually, so it's rather 'orangeade') is 'Alsterwasser' (Alster is the river that flows through Hamburg) - and doesn't Panache sound a lot more glamorous? I'm not sure whether the dark variety of beer (Alt) is ever mixed with lemonade (while in the UK you can get lager or ale shandy), but it's mixed with coke or malt beer, which in my area is called 'Krefelder'. One also mixes Fanta and Coke, which is called Kalter Kaffee (cold coffee).
Particularly refreshing and served in huge bowl like glasses is Berliner Weisse, a light beer from Berlin, which is either topped with raspberry or Waldmeister cordial, which makes it sweet and frothy. It's a real summer drink, always drunk through a straw.

Red sparkling sounds good! No, I haven't seen any here either. When we go to Germany, we often buy the Russian red sparkling (Krimsekt), which is special, if somewhat on the sweet side.

As to uniforms - sorry, I don't go in for uniforms of any sort. But little zucchinis and a few cocoa beans in the form of lapel badges or earrings would be nice.

[Rainey]

[Rainey]

[Lakritz]

Rainey, you made me laugh! Leopard skin PJ's I can work out, but what on earth are ostrich feather slides?

[Rainey]

Those high-heeled slippers that are just a little strap holding the soles on. Let's see if this comes through...
_________________
God writes a lot of comedy... the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny. -- Garrison Keillor