Summertime Goodness!

Hey guys,

There's definitely no shortage of summer weather around here!  We've already had one summer storm, too.  I love the summer rains that come sweeping across from time to time.  Rain smells so wonderful here!  Someone finally explained it to me:  it's the Creosote bushes that you see all over.  When it gets humid they unclench everything and give of a sweet smell.  And that's what the rain smells like.  Any-hoo, when it's not raining it's been hot, humid, and pretty unpleasant.  So to help myself cool off, I've prepared a few healthy treats this afternoon:

Firstly, a big pitcher of sun tea.  My grandma used to make sun tea all the time.  It seemed like she always had a big glass jug sitting on the corner of her porch, steeping in the sunlight.  My mom gave me that same glass jug a few years ago, but the spigot at the bottom isn't holding water right now.  Unfortunately, I didn't discover this until AFTER I had filled it up with water.  Yikes!  At least I figured this out when I wasn't too far away from the kitchen sink.  Plus Trouble thought we were having a pool party and went skidding wildly all over the kitchen.  She's our little dare-devil and she had a ball!  Hopefully, my darling husband will find a way to fix it this weekend.  I already made a big mess trying to fix it without any success.

In the meantime, I improvised by filling up my big recycled glass pitcher with water and tea bags and covered the top with plastic wrap and a big rubber band.  I used five decaf green tea bags from Trader Joe's and let it steep out on the porch in the sun for about an hour.  I love this pitcher!  It's somehow both fun and elegant at the same time.

Secondly, I'm in the process of trying out the juice pop molds I got a few months ago at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  (I love this store!  They replaced my Keurig coffee maker no questions asked, and no receipt needed, when it died about a year ago.)  I used up the pineapple juice that I had in the fridge to make way for the sun tea.   It takes about one and a half cups of liquid to fill all four molds.  They are still freezing, but I'm excited.  There are even sippy straws molded into the plastic handles so you can drink the melted juice instead of getting it all over your hands.  I'm thinking this would also be great with a smoothie instead of juice. 

What are you guys doing to keep cool this summer??

Stay cool,

Amy