Around the Kitchen Table: Refreshing Summer Sips + 4-Book Giveaway!

 

MOLLY MACRAE: Happy June and happy National Iced Tea Month! Are you ready for summer sipping?

We’ve already had a few previews of summer heat, between bouts of cool and downright chilly weather, here in central Illinois.

One bright afternoon we used up the last of some fresh strawberries by whirring them up in the blender with homemade lemon-limeade. Sipping it in our screen tent under the trees brought back memories of other refreshing summer drinks.

Black cows (root beer with a scoop of vanilla ice cream), green rivers (bright green lime soda made in Chicago), firecrackers (a grown up, slushy juice drink with a bit of “juice”), and the best sipper of all – rosemary watermelon lemonade (you’ll find the recipe for that here and in Last Wool and Testament, book one in my Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries).

What are your sips of choice and where do you take them to relax?

 

 

 

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LESLIE KARST: You're definitely speaking my language now, with refreshing summer drinks! And since Valerie Corbin, the protagonist of my Orchid Isle Mysteries, is a bartender, I've got a lot up my sleeve. For summer time, I love a drink with fresh fruit juice, and since we have a lot of citrus in our yard here in Santa Cruz (Valencia orange, blood orange, grapefruit, lemon, and lime!), it's easy for me to simply juice some of that fruit and mix it with some kind of liquor (my go-to is gin), then add a splash of soda water and you're ready to go!

Here's the Hilo Sunset, a riff on the Tequila Sunrise, which I came up with as a drink special for Valerie at the Speckled Gecko where she works.

Cin cin!

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LESLIE BUDEWITZ: Fun topic, Molly -- and it anticipates a pair of my upcoming posts, for drinks, both virgin and spiked, made with lavender!

Looks like most of the drink recipes I've shared here from my books are hot drinks for cold days, but I do love this "Life's-Too-Short-For-Rehearsals" champagne cocktail that Adam's buddy Tanner, entrepreneur by day and bartender by night, created for Adam and Erin's wedding rehearsal dinner in As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles, the 5th Food Lovers' Village Mystery. Perfect whenever you need to celebrate, no matter what the time of year!

And this Tequila-Thyme Lemonade from Killing Thyme, the 3d Spice Shop Mystery, can be made with or without the tequila -- and with or without the Lemon Thyme Shortbread I paired it with!

Take your summer sip out to the deck or porch, or enjoy beside a nice, cool mountain lake and enjoy!!!

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VMBURNS: I  like sweet cocktails. My favorite is Sex on the Beach. Vodka, cranberry juice, orange juice, and peach schnapps. I struggle to make the drink so it's pretty, but regardless of the look, it always taste great. 

I wish I could say that I can take this beverage to the beach, but sadly, there aren't any near where I live. So, I like to sit out on my deck and pretend.

My new favorite nonalcoholic sip came from Cleo Coyle (yep, I try my fellow mystery lovers recipes). She described it as air conditioning in a glass. Simply Limeade and Ginger ale. Delicious!

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MADDIE DAY: I love a gin and tonic on the deck at the end of the day, and it occurs to me that I haven't enjoyed one yet this year (one must wait until after Memorial Day, of course...). This cranberry-based wedding cocktail from Murder in a Cape Cottage would be a great summer drink.

Dot Henderson, my 1926 lady PI from A Case for the Ladies and several short stories, also enjoys a cocktail. She's particularly fond of a refreshing Bee's Knees after an exhausting summer day sleuthing.

Otherwise, a cool glass of white wine on the deck suits me just fine, as long as a good book accompanies it.

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PEG COCHRAN/MARGARET LOUDON:  We are still waiting for consistently warm weather here in Michigan!  But when summer arrives, it's time to break out the Aperol for an Aperol Spritz!  We first discovered the drink on vacation in Italy.  It was very hot in Rome so between sightseeing, we'd seek shelter under an umbrella in a cafe and enjoy a spritz.  They are easy to make and pretty to look at.  We love to whip some up and take them out on our deck and watch the sky turn pink and purple as the sun sets.  

 

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LIBBY KLEIN: I didn't know there was a National Iced Tea Month. I guess I'm right on time with my new Smith Teamaker's Blackberry Jasmine iced tea. It has butterfly pea flowers in it to give it this beautiful blue color. I sweeten it with Stevia, but if you have blackberry syrup you could really turn the taste up to eleven. (Little Spinal Tap joke there.)

I can't say I love iced tea of the usual variety. It's just something I tend to order in a restaurant because I very rarely drink soda and restaurant water can be icky. But these fancy new iced teas that are hitting the market are right up my alley. I also have a Lime Bramble herbal iced tea from Smith Teamakers, and my favorite summer sip, Harney and Son's Blueberry Green iced tea. All very refreshing with no sugar or caffeine. 

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CLEO COYLE: Tasty topic, Molly! Truth? When it comes to cold, fizzy drinks, an icy Coke Zero on our back porch sends me to my happy place (hey, don’t judge! 😂). For my healthier option, I have been enjoying Ultima Replenisher, a tasty electrolyte drink (with trace minerals) and no sugar, no carbs, no calories, and a natural sweetner (organic stevia). It’s a powdered drink that comes in handy "stickpacks," and lately my favorite flavor is Passionfruit, sweet yet tangy with a note of citrus. Cherry Pomegranate and Watermelon flavors are nice, too, and I'm looking forward to trying their "Mocktini" variety pack, which is supposed to mimic the flavors of Strawberry Margarita, Pina Colada, Peach Bellini, and Cranberry Cosmo. Too good to be true? Maybe. But they sure sound like a vacation in a glass...

So, anyway, electrolyte replenishing drinks aren’t something you can suck down all day long (one serving will do ya after a long walk or workout). Coffee is always my happy drink ☕, and when the heat is on, I’ll do cold brew. Another fizzy favorite (much better for me that Coke Zero all day) is well-chilled San Pellegrino natural mineral water in an icy glass with fresh squeezes of lime and lemon. 🍋🍈 Easy and delicious. Cheers, everyone! ~ Cleo 

GIVEAWAY!

To be entered in this week's drawing

for these terrific mysteries below,

join us in the comments.

What are your summer sips of choice and where do you take them to relax?

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so we can contact the winner!

 

COME SHELL OR HIGH WATER by Molly MacRae 

BULLETPROF BARISTA by Cleo Coyle

ASSAULT & PEPPER by Leslie Budewitz

MURDER AT THE RUSTY ANCHOR by Maddie Day

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Wednesday, June 4

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