Thursday, October 12, 2017

Strawberry lemonade

Nowadays I prepare juices very rarely. When I need one, I always look for lemonade, as it is my favorite and an easy one too. The word lemonade entered my world only after we started visiting carnivals in USA. Before that I used to call it as lemon juice or  by whatever fruit it is made of.  In India , lemon juice is like an everyday affair, as it is an easy one for guests. I jazzed it up with some strawberries and here is an amazing drink for all.

If looking for some advanced preparation, I make a syrup style lemonade (which I learned many years back from my amma).  The below syrup can be made with strawberry or pineapple or just as plain lemon syrup. The plain syrup can be added with 'nannari syrup'  while serving too.
I have given that traditional method here along with an easy version (which comes handy most of the time) also.
Fresh Strawberry lemonade (homestyle)


Ingredients: (for 14 servings)
Lemon - 2  (large)
strawberry - 10 to 15
water - 1 cup
white sugar - 2  cup
ice cubes - 2 cup

for mixing:
water - 12 cups
(or) water - 6 cups + plain sparkling soda - 6 cups
lemon - 1 (for garnish)

Syrup:
Puree strawberry. If needed filter to remove seeds. Bring to a boil along with 1 cup water and 2 cups sugar. Bring to a boil. Make it a syrup. Let the raw smell vanish.  Let it cool. Squeeze lemon and add it to syrup. Save in fridge. We can do this syrup and keep in fridge 2-3 days.

Serving suggestion:
While making the lemonade, slice one lemon into small cubes.
Put 1 lemon wedge in each glass.
Add cold water and soda (optional) equally up to 3/4 th and start adding the syrup as per need. Put an cube for each glass.
If needed adjust sugar too.

Strawberry lemonade is ready.

Note:
The above is the perfect recipe which I use sometimes with or without strawberry for making lemonade. I am not sure of the recipe about the carnival style lemonde, but this recipe tastes closest :)
        🍓🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍋🍓🍓
Alternate homely method:
(for 6 cups)
In a mixie / blender , add 6 strawberry, sugar - 1 cup, squeezed lemon - 1.
Blend well.
Add required cold water and transfer to a serving jar.
Keep refrigerated. Mix well using a tall spoon and pour to glasses with ice cubes.
This is a quick and easy to make strawberry lemonade in homestyle.

Friday, September 22, 2017

Beach day !

This summer is not like any other Jersey summer. It always rained on weekends as if it is planned :) There was almost only two or three weekends with the best weather. So Last month we went to Point Pleasant beach on a Sunday.
We celebrated (celebrated or participated is the correct term....it's not attending...heard from a priest !) mass in St.Martha's church in Point Pleasant, which was in my 'to visit' list for a long time. Then we visited an antiques showroom, which was also long due in our list. Usually we go to beaches by evening only and so we could never do all the above said things. Then had pizza for lunch in a beach restaurant. While the Sun was hot,  we went to Jenkinson's aquarium and had some good time there too. When the afternoon weather got cooler,  we enjoyed sitting in the beach sand, rinsed our feet in waves :) then lot of snacks like sweet potato fries, ice cream for him and then had some boardwalk and in my view that's the perfect beach day I have ever had :)  Here are some pictures from Point Pleasant beach and the town.
An antique shop at Point Pleasant



I liked this tiny jar very much and bought it for $6. I am using this to keep salt in dining table.

A lighthouse for our Christmas village ...$ 7, Xavier liked this very much and got it...I too love it :)

watermelon ....our snack for the road trip !

I like this restaurant ( the food was good there ,despite the fact that most of the crowd is from floating population only )

Pizza with chicken fry

I think these three guys like modeling :)


Penguins :) 

  horseshoe crab

The concert place / dining area in beach

Jenkinson's boardwalk ....love it !

From the gift shop !...NewJersey's state flower 'common violet / Viola sororia), capitol - Trenton, bird - The Eastern Goldfinch, tree - Red oak, 
   🌸🌸🌸🌻🌻🌻 🌺🌺🌺🌼🌼🌼🌹🌹🌹🌻🌻🌻🌷🌷🌷

KEANSBURG BEACH is another beach in our neighborhood. We chose to go there on a Saturday, as we couldn't figure out what to do on that day , as it started getting colder soon :) But to my surprise that beach is also nice , with a long pier to walk, a less crowded clean beach and a fair like setting in the shore. I couldn't see any boardwalk or fancy shops in that beach, but the amusement park would be great for kids. Another nice thing about this beach is , it seems more economical for a family evening (as there is no entrance ticket to beach or fair grounds and the parking is very cheap when compared to most places).  Swimming is not advisable because of lack of guards.  I like crowded beaches better as it gives me a safer homely feel, so this would be a great beach for day time for people like me :)

Keansburg beach
beautiful beach with a pier 
there is a vast selection of food in this Keansburg beach. I could see people enjoying packed meals they had brought too !
onion rings with cheese pizza :)
My favorite souvenir ....fridge magnet and some stones from every memorable place !
Jersey shore has many beaches and that's the best place to visit during summer for us all here. Now its almost October and we all are looking forward to a cool crisp weather, colorful foliage and festivals in almost every week :)

Meet you all with another post soon ! Till then , take care !
Love,
Viki Xavier

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