"You're dripping," I tell my daughter, as I open the back door and shoo her outside to the porch. I smile at the nostalgia of the words from my childhood, not necessarily the drops of sugared popsicle that now dot my hardwoods from the kitchen to the den and back again.
Yes, summer is almost officially here, in all its bug biting, sweat sopping glory. Why do we get so excited about the three hottest months of the year when our hair tends to frizz, our clothes like to stick, and the mosquitoes love to nip at our skin?
Maybe because summer simply reminds us of our youth; that special part of the year that couldn’t come fast enough, when time slowed down, little things mattered, and nothing was more fun than riding your bike up and down the street.
Not to mention, who doesn’t love lightening bugs in jars, bare feet, the slam of a screen door, and ice cold popsicles melting down your arm before you can finish them.
These are the days summer's made of.
So if you are trying to beat the heat this summer go ahead and make something that is sticky sweet and fun to eat. You may never be ten again, but there will always be a reason and a season to act like it.
Lavender Lemonade Popsicles
Now, we all know a watched pot never boils, and neither does a watched pot filled with:
A gallon of water
A vanilla bean
6-8 sprigs of lavender
3 cups of sugar
2 cups fresh lemon juice
½ cup orange juice
Bring all of these ingredients together in a pot and start the boil. Go ahead and do whatever you do while you’re hanging out in your kitchen, like reorganizing your junk drawer, rinsing and labeling your fruits and veggies, or standing in tree pose, like me, over the stove flipping through a People magazine. Whatever you do though, don’t venture too far because as soon as it does boil, it won’t take long before “thy cup runneth over”, if you know what I mean. Here is the part when you turn off the heat, let it cool on the stove to room temperature, and then take out the bean and strain the plant matter because no one really wants to wear that in their teeth.
Once your lemonade has cooled, it’s time to pour the mixture into a popsicle mold or if you don’t have one there is nothing wrong with going old school. It actually makes them taste better. Just pour the lemonade into a small paper or plastic cup, cover with aluminum foil, then stick a spoon or a popsicle stick down the middle and freeze for four hours or until hard. You can always run a little warm water on the cups to loosen the popsicle so it pops right out.
Now, here is the very special part for the 21 and over crowd. You can always use the mixture to make Lavender Lemonade Martinis. Mix two parts lemonade and one part vodka over ice in a cocktail shaker. Drain from ice into a sugar rimmed martini glass and enjoy! Cheers to summer! Hurry on up and get here!
***Join THE southern social network site and brainchild of Cheri Leavy and Whitney Long, by visiting www.thesouthernc.com and sign up to receive their weekly newsletter hightlighting all the things we love about the South. You will find me there as a regular contributing writer so look out May 9th for a new piece connecting stories with food, called Strawberry Pickin' and BBQ Chicken.
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