lemonata & rain

my attempt at creating a faux version of the yummy, lemony, bubbly San Pellegrino limonata

The thing that's delicious about the real limonata is that it's so lemony. Very tart & very lemony.

I discovered yesterday - it takes a lot of effort to make even a small quantity of faux limonata or as I'm calling it - lemonata. A whole lot of lemons, a lot of squeezing, and a lot of zesting.


tart lemonade

the zest from 4-5 lemons
1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (6-8 lemons)
1 cup water
1 cup sugar

Stir together in a saucepan over low - medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Mix equal parts tart lemonade with your favourite sparkling water in a tall glass over lots of ice. Makes 2-4 servings

It's the ratio of homemade lemonade to bubbly water (in my case club soda) that was off in my first glass (photographed). To recreate this super lemony taste you need at least equal parts lemonade to bubbly water - maybe even 2/3 rds - 1/3rd. I think I'll stock up on the real stuff the next time I'm in the city.


very cool illustration by Paige Vickers

The Halifax foodie mecca Pete's Frootique (a Dean & DeLuca of the North) is sure to have it. My last visit to the city, MLou and I went to Pete's and after about 10 mins inside I looked at her and said You gotta get me out of here. It's amazing ! For example, a zillion kinds of olives in the huge deli section - Uh Huh ! that's right, a zillion. But, it's when I arrived at the bath section that I knew I was potentially in big trouble (OMG the amazing scents & OMG the incredibly beautiful packaging) Yikes. I suddenly wanted to buy everything. That's the thing about the city - buying.

It's been raining, raining, raining here since late yesterday afternoon. Sheets of rain. A near steady, straight down, heavy, down pouring of rain - a perfect day to stay tucked inside with some sigh inducing, ever so daunting and oh so serious to-do stuff . Wink

11:30 am - I just tried my lemonata again. I'm working away at the TTD on my product design presentation for Umbra (fingers so crossed) ... and mixed half & half, tart lemonade to club soda, with lots of ice - and it's pretty darn tasty and almost identical to the real thing. The next time lemons are on sale ... and maybe if I had an electric juicer ...