Category Archives: Summer drinks

Iced Coffee

Something else that I tried over the weekend was the cold brewed method for iced coffee. It requires 12 hours brewing so I kept waiting to put in on to brew for a time when I could anticipate wanting iced coffee 12 hours later. Surprisingly tricky as if I want coffee it is usually at about 2pm, it is not that often that I am awake at 2am! However on Saturday night we got home really late from a party which was ideal so I put it on to brew in this big jar.

Icedcoffeejar

Icedcoffee

It was pretty good. I sweetened it a fraction with some agave and added a drop of milk. I should do a taste comparison with the Greek frappé

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first of the year

Mugicha

Clouds

Clouds2

I had my first mugicha of the year today after my hot cycle ride home against the wind that was blowing all these big clouds across the valley. Instantly with my first sip I was back in my sister's old shared house in Brixton in the summer of 07. It was hot hot hot and I remember waking early and helping myself to a glass of mugicha on ice for breakfast. I drank it while laying on the platform bed that overlooked their living room while I listened to the sound of a dusty London roaring by. Picture from then.

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Summer ‘drinks’: banana mango ice, and the Look What I Made meme

Mangobananaabove

This is pretty much a non-recipe as it is so simple. Recently I have been very drawn to recipes that only take a few ingredients (I think this may be from reading a lot of Nigel Slater!). So today, when after work when I wanted a healthy snack, I did a twist on banana ice. Banana ice is an idea I got a few years ago from Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Express book. Basically if you freeze cut-up bananas and then blitz them up in a blender they become ice-cream like. It sounds a little wacky but truly it is a handy idea. Also a good thing when having a healthy week! From the list of ingredients you can see it is gluten free, dairy free, vegan etc. Of course, as with all simple recipes, it will only be as good as these few ingredients are, so a ripe mango and nice banana are important.

Recipe:
1 frozen cut-up banana
1 mango chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

(a strawberry for decoration)

Blitz it all up in a blender and you have a very tasty snack or desert. If you wanted more of a drink add a splash of apple juice to the blender. Very refreshing!

Mangobananaside

Mangobananaclose

Yay it's meme time….

I have been tagged with a very cool meme by Emily. It is to list 2-5 recipes that you have cooked from other peoples blogs, well I do that a fair bit. Also searching about in my archives I notice that, as well as following specific recipes, blogs are also a great way of getting general ideas on food, trends, and cooking processes. Here are three things that stand out in my memory as things I have cooked with great success from blogs:

1. Chocolate Intensity from Alpineberry
Fantastic! I seem to remember I did this for my sister's birthday. I kept it as one big glazed cake as that is more birthday like. I made the creme anglaise too. Wonderful. Also it is gluten free which is important in my family. A real show stopper.

2. Busy-Day Cake from Orangette
The start of that blog post is quite eye-popping, no? :) Well I made this for a mother's day meal (that is the UK mother's day which was back in March). Really simple yet delicious. I also made a simple little hot berry sauce by heating some mixed berries, and I served it all with a dollop of tart full-fat Greek yogurt.

3. Mini Bagels from Delicious Days
These were so fun to make! I made them a few times. When I am off my health kick I will give these a go again. Mini things are great because you can try a few different toppings.

This meme reminds me that I must catch up on my food-blog reading. Food blogs are so full of inspiration, it is like a never ending cookery book. There are so many out there that I bet there is one for everyone's taste. This is one of my favourites because the writing is so good; Tea and Cookies.

Right, now on to the tricky subject of whom to tag back, as I am behind on my blog-reading I am not sure who has done this or not, so I say, if you have read this far YOU'RE TAGGED! Let me know if you do it, this is an interesting meme that is showing up a lot of good recipes.

Mangobananaafter

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Summer drinks: Iced tea

I am starting out with this recipe from Delia Online (obviously penned before she decided that everything should come out of a can, ha!). And it is pretty good. Citrus, mint, and tea on lots of ice. Something to note if following the recipe is that the tea takes a while to cool down after the brew, so this isn’t an instant one. I made this on Sunday evening and it was nice, but I also took a flask of it to work the next morning where it was even nicer. The mint came through more after the longer time. If I was making this for an occasion I might think about making it the night before.

Icetea

Iceteaclose

I would give this recipe 7/10. I hope to try a few more iced tea recipes before the hot weather is over. Perhaps a plainer one? Any recipes or suggestions would be most welcome. BTW I have got a little bit addicted to frappes and mojitos ;)

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Summer drinks: Mugicha

Mugichaglass

My exploration of summer drinks wouldn’t be complete without mentioning one of my old favourites – mugicha! It is barley tea. The first warning about mugicha is that not everyone will like it, it has a little bit of a bitter taste. I would say that if you like the more unusual green teas then try this.

Recipe:
Mugicha teabag
Water

That’s it!

It couldn’t be easier to make. All you do is take a mugicha tea bag, place it in a large jug of cold water in the fridge, leave it a few hours, and drink. I use this brand.

There are apparently health benefits from drinking it but I just like it because it is refreshing on a hot day. More refreshing than just water if you know what I mean? I quite often take
a flask of it into work to have first thing in the morning. Really what
it reminds me of is hanging out at my sister’s old place in Brixton.

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