Summer Solstice Sipping Secrets

OK, by reading my posts you have figured out I am a whole food enthusiast, correct?  I put the best whole foods, grown locally and sustainably, into my body.

Now what's a gal to do when she wants a tasty drink on occasion?  Last eve was such an occasion: summer solstice and the weather was perfect. Time for a backyard fire and like-minded girl friends to celebrate the longest day of the year.

Most alcohol drinks are bad news.  Pre-mixed stuff is full of awful ingredients: artificial colors and flavors, corn syrup, and who knows what else (Think pre-mixed screw drivers or marjaritas).

I confess, I am a beer loving gal.  Finding a beer, made with good ingredients, is not an easy task. I have tended to buy German or Belgium brewed beer or US brewed organic beers.  In a pinch, a US made micro-brewed beer.  Blue Moon was one of my preferred.  Just like food made in factories, beer has been bastardized.  Blue Moon is not what I thought it was.  Bummer! (Click the link to read the news on cheesy beer production in the USA.)

Summer Solstice Sipping drew out my home-crafted, mixed drink secrets and skills.  I make drink like I make food, from scratch (as much as possible... I don't distill my own liquor or make my own ginger beer!)  I refuse to use pre-mix factory made drink stuff. It is so easy to make your own fun cocktails from fresh ingredients.*

My Summer Solstice concoction:  Lemon Ginger Mint Moscow Mule - Mojito Combination!

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Ingredients: (poured into a 12 oz glass)

  • 1 shot of organic vodka (I used Ocean Vodka from Maui)
  • 4-5 ounces of Reed's Extra Ginger Ginger beer
  • 5-6 ounces of lemon water (recipe below)
  • fresh mint from garden, 2-3 leaves per drink, rip and bruise the leaves before adding to the drink.
  • ice if you like icy cold drinks (me, I prefer no ice)
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Lemon Water: I took one, very large, organic lemon and juiced it on my gramma's glass citrus juicer. Pour the lemon juice into 1/2 gallon canning jar.  Scrape the pulp out of the lemon peel into the jar.  Cut lemon peel into small chunks and add to jar.  Fill jar with water, cover and shake well, and let jar sit for several hours (overnight) then refrigerate for hours before needed to make drinks.

Summer Solstice Sipping Secrets:

  • The lemon water cuts the very sweet ginger beer.  Less sugar racing through our blood vessels harassing our adrenal glands.
  • The ginger, lemon, mint combination is a summer taste sensation:  light and cheery.
  • Using the best ingredients possible makes for a tasty drink and avoids the additives in pre-mixed stuff.
  • Like minded girlfriends, gals who "get it," make for light and cheery conversation. I should have taken a picture of us around the fire!  Next year!
  • The fire added to the mystical evening; fire flies and singing tree frogs were the bonus!

May your summer be light, cheery, and full of sun (naked sun?)!  Love, Paula

 

The Scene of the Summer Solstice Sipping Secrets!

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*Try fresh squeezed, organic, orange juice (again, using gramma's glass citrus juicer) and Ocean vodka. So fresh, light, and tasty. No added crap!

Comment: Your blog made me remember a column from the 1960s by Sydney Harris who used to write "slice of life" columns. He talked about a time he was with a friend in a restaurant that advertised "freshly squeezed orange juice." They both ordered it, and his friend commented on how it "didn't taste natural" to him. Harris wondered at what point the concentrated and adulterated orange juice we take for "real" orange juice became more "natural" than taking a few oranges and squeezing them to make orange juice.

I think of that on occasion as I consider our relationships with food!

My Reply:  

I so agree.  As a culture, we have lost the concept of what is real and natural in regards to food!  Working to change that, 'lil by 'lil!

I have lots of family coming this weekend and after their reading this blog post, I am the drink Mix-tress for the weekend.  I need to get buying ginger beer and lemons!

Have a peaceful summer! 

3 Day Belly Fat Blast!

Do not, I repeat, do not attempt this stunt at home!  Guaranteed to blast 2 to 4 pounds of fat right off your belly & butt in just 3 short days! Here are my five easy steps for success on this belly fat blast:

1.  Get your butt (and belly fat) to Arizona:  plane, train, automobile... bus if you must. Walking and biking are fine options, as well, and will seriously ramp up the belly fat blast!

2.  Hike 8 miles down into the Supai Native American Reservation.  Once there, you will be hiking many more miles, every day, to see and do what you want to see and do.  35-40 miles in 3 days... see how this belly fat blast just happens!?

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3.  Live on the food (and a lizard or two, see info below) you carry in your back pack... down those 8 HOT, dusty miles into the Grand Canyon.

Food Carried:

Amazing nutrition in a fruit, nut, and Superfood power bar.  I avoid packaged food but this one is great in a pinch.  www.herbdoc.com  Nope, no kick backs for me. Darn!

Several varieties of organic beef jerky available at the Potsdam Food Coop.

Bison bars from the health food store in Flagstaff, Arizona.  These bars were a great pick!

Organic cheese sticks (Someone knew I would need cheese.  Again, see below.) It is amazing how they survive, despite the heat.  They were a little floppy on day two but we did not die from food poisoning!

Organic carrots, apples, and nuts pack well.  Thanks again to the Flagstaff, AZ store!

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Dessert in the canyon was 2 of these very tiny, raw food cookies:

4.  Share your meager food supplies with the Supai Native American Reservation dog you fall in love with.

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Pedra is the blonde doggie I fell in love with. Her sweet 'lil kisses on my face were a welcome bit of love.  Her black and tan friend was collar-less, tag-less, and therefore name-less. She won my love as well.

Pedra's tag said: "Pedra. Love me, feed me, leave me free."  On the flip side the tag stated: "Prefers paleo diet with cheese and a side of lizard."  So, I did what any dog loving woman would do... shared my beef jerky, bison pemmican, and mozzarella cheese stick (I was so glad I bought those Organic Valley Mozz cheese stix! Pedra loved them.). Funny, she did not want a bite of my Superfood bar or a share of my almond and pecan stash.

I tried to capture a lizard for Pedra and her friend but damn those canyon lizards move fast! I left her to handle that part of her diet on her own. No, I did not eat any lizards.  Couldn't catch 'em!

Yes, I asked Pedra to come home with me but she said: "No thank you Paula.  I run free down here in the canyon."  Guess being a Northern NY "house pet" was not on Pedra's agenda for this life time!

5.  Bring your 12 and almost 15 year old sons with you.  I figured their growing, teen bodies needed the calories more than my 49 year old - no longer growing body needed the calories.  Just in case we did not carry enough in... I ate lightly and left the food for the boys.  Amazing how a mom will go without to ensure the comfort and survival of her offspring!

Success of this program is based upon:

  1. minimal food
  2. maximum movement
  3. sharing minimal food with awesome dogs
  4. bring hungry teen boys and leave the bulk of food for their consumption and survival
  5. grain free diet (keep in mind that live stock is fattened up for slaughter by grain feeding...)
  6. butter free diet (OK, one morning my boys had oatmeal at the Supai Reservation Cafe.  I confess, I ate a pat of Land O'Lakes butter. Had it been my NY State pasture raised butter, I would have eaten a 1/4 cup!)

I am home now... real butter is back in my diet!

This success story is based on a quote by a rather enlightened MD (I forget his name!):

          "We have moved from a culture where movement was mandatory and calories were hard to come by to a culture where calories are mandatory and movement is hard to come by."

Got any belly fat blast stories for me?  Perhaps long hikes in the ADK mountains with little food? A trek up the Appalachian Trail and running low on food before the next drop?  Maybe the Pacific Crest Trail caught you low on food? Drop me a comment and share your "do not stay at home" fat blast stunts!

Blessings, Paula