Lemonades√

This is the easiest, most delicious and refreshing of all home-made drinks. Make sure you have a jar or bottle of basic syrup in the fridge for visitors.

Basic Syrup
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Heat the water, dissolve the sugar in it and let it cool (heat destroys vitamin C) and add the lemon juice.
Store in the fridge and add still or sparkling water to taste and as much or as little ice as you like!
It couldn't be easier!

Remember - all the ones and double up for larger quantities.

Pretty in Pink
Take a pound of fresh strawberries, wash and hull them. Chop and simmer them in a cup of water for a few minutes. Blend or mash (a potato masher works great). Cool and sieve (you don't want any seeds or pulp). Let it sit for an hour i.e. until the pulp sinks to the bottom. Add one cup of clear strawberry juice to the lemon syrup for each cup of lemon juice.

Psychedelic Purple
The taste of the prickly pear is more subtle-it's the color that is absolutely spectacular. It's hard to believe it came from nature. You can grow your own if you live in a place where they grow - or you can buy them now in most supermarkets - especially ones specializing in south american foods. Cut 4 or 5 prickly pears in half and scoop their innards out into a pan. Use gloves. The prickles are tiny and barbed - they are a complete pain to find and remove. Add a cup or so of water and simmer until the fruit softens and breaks up. Smash with a potato masher. Push through a sieve to get the juice but not the seeds. Add a cup of prickly pear juice for each cup of lemon juice.

Notes!

Add more or less lemon juice to taste - one cup can be too tart for some and too sweet for others.

Use soft brown sugar instead of white for a wonderfully different flavor or half brown/half white.

Try agave syrup instead of sugar.

Add strips of lemon rind (no white pith - just thin strips of rind) to the hot water and leave in the syrup - the flavors will intensify. Fish the strips out after a day otherwise it can become too bitter.

Use Meyers' Lemons or Limes for a differently delicious flavor.

Add a handful of mint leaves to the hot water for a refreshing mint lemonade.

Prickly Pear Limeade is not such a nice color - the green turns it a muddy purple.

Grow your own stevia ... the fresh young leaves are a completely different kettle of fish (!) to the odd-tasting powders or liquids available at Wholefoods. Lemonade made with stevia will not keep - it needs to be made fresh each time.

Make a 'hardly any calories' Moroccan Mint Tea with fresh mint and stevia leaves. Throw a handful of each into a jug and pour over freshly boiled water. Steep for 5-10 minutes and serve warm in beautiful glasses or cold with ice.

Sour Orange and Mango Coconut Ice Creams√

Maggi came to stay for two simultaneously hot and cold days. The weather was steamy hot and the food, drinks and her visit were all super cool. We are in the middle of a model, living out of two rooms with just half a kitchen and a couple of smally window a/c units but this didn't matter a jot - we cooked up a storm and talked each others' heads off.

We had a small pay-per-view fest to accompany the ice creams: Frost/Nixon (surprisingly entertaining), Gran Torino (funny, touching and very very clever), Slumdog Millionaire (not sure I understand what all the fuss was about). The Sour Orange Ice Cream is brilliantly tart and bright - a spectacular palette cleanser at any time! The Mango Coconut Ice Cream is more sweet and sumptuous. Together they are incredible!

Sour Orange (Tart Lemon) Ice Cream

1 cup sour orange juice (strained) plus the juice of 1 juicy lemon OR 1 cup of lemon juice
1 cup white sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup half and half (or light cream)
Tiny pinch of salt

Heat the sugar slowly in the milk until dissolved
Add everything else and freeze.
I don't like to add the zest - it's adds a confusing bitter note.

Mango Coconut Ice Cream (vegan)

1 large can sweetened mango pulp (1 lb. 14 oz. or 850 g) *
1 medium can coconut milk (13.5 oz. or 400 g)
1 tablespoon toasted coconut (fine/unsweetened) or more to taste
juice of 1 juicy lime
1/2 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds
1-2 tablespoon/s triple sec **
Tiny pinch of salt

Throw everything into the ice cream maker and freeze away!

I layered these two into a bombe - two layers of each, alternating ... the tart lemon/orange contrasting and complementing the smooth mango very nicely thank you.

* Alphonso is the best ... the King of Mangos ... it has an incomparable color (dark orange) and flavor. You can find cans of these in Indian or Asian stores. Canned Kesar mango pulp is also fabulous.
** The triple sec is optional. If you want to avoid alcohol you would need to add a bit more sugar (or agave syrup) to taste.