Puckery Pithy Pow Punch!

I love a big old glass of real lemonade! It's refreshing and delicious and full of vitamin C. I usually love a dessert that's full of lemons and berries for Easter. This year due to the ever changing date of Easter it was my sweet Little Buddy's birthday. We had to have birthday cake! A chocolate and peppermint birthday cake to be specifically.

Being a generally willful person who likes her own way I was determined to integrate lemon and berries somewhere else in the day. I chose cocktail hour!

You're going to need lots of lemons! Four to be exact. Slice up two of your prettiest ones.

Put them in the bottom of a container and throw some sugar on them!

Now a pinch of salt will cut down on the bitterness of the lemon pith. Pith is so aptly named! If you put it in your mouth you can't help but say "pppiiiiiththth!" as you spit it out.

Now we macerate! That's what they call it at least. I call it stirring and squishing the lemons with sugar. This will get them to release their juices. The sugar will also grind against the peels and become flavored with the natural flavorful oils. There's a reason the outside of citrus is called zest! It's where all the POW is. Maybe they should of called it the POW? Then lemons could have pucker, pith, and POW!

Oh well, they never ever call me before these decisions are made . . .

Anyway, go ahead and leave the lemons alone for a few minutes. The sugar can complete it's own work.

Look! You can see the juice coming out on the bottom. Sugar is so special! I wish I had taken organic chemistry, I could of made you diagrams showing you why it's so special.

Time to deal with the remaining lemons! Go ahead and juice 'em.

Darling daughter does such a good job!

Put the juice in!

Now since the price of berries is skyrocketing I decided I'd try jam! I figured they'd already smashed and sugared them for me! Why not try it?

It looked so dark I was worried! I went ahead and mixed it around so that the lemon juice had thinned the jam out a little.

It's Easter so let's kick it up a notch!

I don't want to kill all my bubbles with stirring so I decided to pour in just enough to cover the lemons and stir it till all the sugar and jam were melted. Kind of like a syrup they'd use at a soda fountain.

There everything is dissolved. Time for the rest of the water.

Oh it's so pink and festive! So bubbly and fruit!

This was big on sweet and sour! That makes it perfect for ham, sausage or even hot dogs. The raspberries, lemons AND the seltzer water have strong acidic profiles. You need to add an amazing amount of sugar to get this palatable for your average kid! Adults like it a little more sour.

Sparkling Raspberry-Lemonade

4 lemons, washed
1/2 cup-1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup raspberry preserves
2 liters seltzer water or lemon lime soda

Slice two of the lemons and place in pitcher. Sprinkle with sugar and salt and stir up, vigorously, until sugar has coated all slices. Let rest for 2-5 minutes. Juice remaining lemons and pour into pitcher. Add preserves and stir until sugar is mixed in well. Add 2 cups of seltzer water and stir until sugar has dissolved completely. Add remaining sparkling water and stir gently. Serve over ice.

Purple Haze

I bought this at the liquor store the other day.  I've been interested in the bright purple color and I read that it contained raspberries and wheat. Sounds chicky to me!

I wondered about that word "Haze" though. It was all blurry. But things that are hazy are blurry aren't they?

"Purple Haze" sounded vaguely familiar . . . have I mentioned that I'm a musically challenged person living in a family of naturally musical people?

My 21 year old, guitar playing, son was unloading my groceries and almost laid an egg when he saw this!

Then I remarked "It's a song isn't it?"

His ridicule was tempered only by his respect for me as the maker of his dinner.

"YES, it's a SONG, mother! By the MASTER, you know Jimi! Jimi Hendrix!? You do know who Jimi Hendrix is, right?"

I'm like "OH, YES! He was REPUBLICAN!, a quite vocal one at that!" He just shook his head sadly.

If anyone else needs their memory jarred here you go!

Beer and music are one of my favorite combinations so I was more than a little excited to taste this brew by Abita Beer Co.

Purple Haze has a lovely light taste to it! It has a lovely raspberry aroma. Like most wheat beers this one is very smooth. It's not bitter at all and the sweetness level is actually quite low.  

It's crisp. What does crisp mean? I'm certainly not saying that its crunchy!  To me crisp means you take a sip and your mouth gets a quick hit of sourness that fades quickly. If you're eating a heavy flavorful food like a rich cheese or some barbecue ribs a "crisp" beverage will clear the taste out of your mouth.  The "sourness" of Purple Haze comes from the raspberry puree added to it after the filtering process. It's a fresh raspberry type of sour so it's pleasant. 

This is a beer that leaves no lingering tastes in your mouth.  No secondary aromas either.

It is raspberry but it does manage to still taste like beer. So I liked it just fine. If you like a Bud Light or Coors Light you'll probably enjoy this one too. Not exactly something to write home about though. 

So, it's not purple and the flavor isn't hazy. In my opinion this beer is more Flash Dance than Purple Haze!

Chick Beer

Wine is nice. Cocktails are lovely. But I, I prefer BEER!  I'm just genetically predisposed due to my Irish and German heritage I think . . . this is also how I explain why I've never met a potato I didn't like!  I am currently particularly fond of these three.  Besides, their labels are so attractive together--don't you think?  Their flavor profiles fall along lines that I find popular with women. I really know nothing much about beer other than what my dear friend Amy has taught me! The best part is when her and her husband are brewing a batch and my husband and I get to sit there and do quality control!  Quality control duties are very important.  You have to help them read the really tiny instructions on the beer kit. Stir the pot during restroom breaks. Make sure everybody has a nice cold beer in hand. It's all about priorities! Amy's a chemical engineer and loves to talk all about the hydrometers and carbonation and technical beer stuff.  We're always drinking beer while she's trying to educate me though so I'm afraid I haven't picked up too much of the finer points of beer. Today let's focus on an "easy" beer. Easy to like, easy to drink, my husband would call it "chick beer" . . .

Leinenkugel's Berry Weisse is quite possibly the prettiest beer on the market.  The beautiful pink, purple, and gold labeled bottle contains a rosy hued, sparkling confection of a beer. I have learned over the years that if I'm in a "wine cooler" type of mood I need to look for a wheat beer that mentions some sort of fruit.  This beer fits that bill. It does have some wheat in the malt. The hops are very muted so there's very little of the bitterness you expect from a Budweiser, for example. It's flavored with logan, elder, and blackberries. What's not to like?  It's also a relatively low alcohol beer so it's perfect for picnics and BBQ's.  You can even serve it over ice! We will choose to ignore the calorie count though because you're paying a price for all that sweetness.  Sweet, crisp, bubbly, and not bitter at all.  I'll be pouring a few of these this summer when the heat goes over 90 F and it's time for a BBQ!

Right now I'm pouring these because I like to close my eyes and pretend it's summer!