Monday, June 11, 2012

A Tall Cool One. Kaffir Lime Soda, A Dynamite Drink Minus The TNT


   I didn't get any of them as a kid. Not a lot of candy or sweets either. No snowballs or chocolate frosted cupcakes with those white squiggles across the top. No Twinkies, Ho Hos, or Ding Dongs. No Yoo Hoos, or Whoopeie Pies. I didn't know from Little Debbie. They weren't total strangers. I knew about them and I did try to swap my moms hockey puck-like butter cookies for a friend's sugary treat once in a while, or every day at lunch. No dice.  It wasn't that I was raised on some hippy commune being fed tofu or sprouts. There was no theory of child rearing behind the lack of sweets. Its just that when I was growing up, those things were considered expensive around our house. Homemade may not have been tastier but it was cheaper. Soda was out too.

   I didn't grow up with Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Seven-Up, or Mountain Dew. No sweet and fizzies at my house. The issue there was once again sugar, and also The Bubbles. My mother had some sort of issue with carbonation and the likelyhood of carbonated drinks leading to a potential internal explosion. The only other person I'd ever heard a similar story from was my friend Irving Ong who's mom had a similar theory.
 
   Of course soda wasn't totally absent from my life. There were friend's birthday parties where all sorts of forbidden things were served, but mothers were given orders, I was to have no soda.  The only soft drink I was allowed to drink was something called Bireley's Orange Soda which was non carbonated. So, I would be sent off with a birthday present in one hand and a bottle of Bireleys in the other.  Sadly, Birely's is no longer available around here. There is only one place it can be found. Here. Mothra was a huge Bireleys fan.


...and here.



   So, that's why I never developed the habit for sugary soda. But even the best habits are made to be broken, and I've never really been able to give up the search for a cool refreshing non alcholoic drink on a hot hot Summer afternoon. Which led me to experiment with simple syrups.
Simple syrups can be made up of anything and everything, but they always start with 1 cup of sugar and two cups of water.


After that your own and the only limit is your imagination.


Kaffir Lime Simple Syrup




Here's What You Need:

2 Tbs of Kaffir lime simple syrup 
1 Tbs of fresh squeezed lime juice.
Plain mineral water

Here's What To Do:

In a tall glass, mix together 2 Tbs of Kaffir lime simple syrup, 1 Tbs of fresh squeezed lime juice and ice cubes.
Stir everything together well.
Fill the glass with mineral water, stir it together well again. Enjoy.
 
   There it is, clean, simple, and refreshing, a great drink for a workday, or for those guests who don't drink alcohol. These last two hot Sonoma days we've been enjoying this drink in the afternoons while we work, and even though it's bubbly, no one has exploded yet!

Coming up next, juniper berries and the search for a Virgin G&T for the Fourth of July.
Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

1 comment :

  1. You're lucky not growing up with soda - that's my weakness (one of many). I LOVE lime sodas, and keffir limes make it that much more special.

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