I have been remiss in posting this last week. In all honesty, this heat has made me a little slow.

The interview with Roman (see post below) is coming; please be patient with me.

To this extreme heat, add the fact that my (baby) Maggie starts school tomorrow. It seems hard to believe that time passes so quickly – even when you savor every moment, it flies. Seems like just yesterday…

Well, my mind has been elsewhere this week.

We have been to the swimming pool. I have been reading (in bits and snatches) Peter Arnell’s new book Shift along with The Backyard Homestead. I have been fighting the heat (and drought) in my own backyard garden and, well, dreaming a lot. I did have an impromptu dinner party on my back patio last Saturday night and caught up with friends. Isn’t this what summer in the South is supposed to be about anyway?

Hence my reason for getting back to writing today…

It all started with teaching Maggie how to make lemonade. (She is obsessed with Lemonade Stands at the moment.) As we made fresh lemonade, I decided to cook the field peas and as long as the field peas were cooking I decided to go ahead and roast the okra… well, one thing led to another and friends arrived and so we decided to put the lemonade to good use:

ALABAMA LEMONADE

5 fresh lemons
1/3 cup raw cane sugar
About 2 quarts boiling water
Sprigs of fresh lemon basil

Bama Vodka (A new find and pretty good. The bottle says that it is filtered with the “world’s best limestone quarried exclusively from Alabama” and we do live near Limestone County.)

Place cane sugar in a heat resistant jar or pitcher and add boiling water. Stir well to dissolve sugar and set aside to cool. Juice lemons and add to sugar water. Cool jar or pitcher in a bowl of ice if you are in a hurry.

Serve the kids and then. . .

Fill tea glasses with ice, add one jigger of vodka and cooled lemonade to each, garnish with a sprig of lemon basil, stir and drink with friends.

Serves about 5 and pairs perfectly with fresh summer vegetables.

So, that’s what I’ve been doing while beating the heat and dreaming.

Thanks to all our friends on Facebook who shared their favorite cocktails a few weeks back. I am working on the list and will try to share it over the next weeks. Feel free to post more favorite cocktails below and perhaps I will share my watermelon lemonade next week.

Or oven roasted okra. . .