Ginger ale

My weekend has been lazy and sluggish. The electric whine of cicadas makes the day seem about ten degrees hotter. It's been hard for me to get my mind in gear to read or draw. Instead, I've been watching films, solving Sudoku puzzles, and eating enormous amounts of fruit.

For days like this I recommend inactivity and cold drinks. Here's an easy recipe to keep you cool:

I love this variation of my favorite drink--lime and mint really make the ginger sing. My boyfriend and I prepared the syrups in the morning, left them to cool in the refrigerator while we went to the beach, and celebrated a hot Fourth of July with this cold drink at the end of the day. Delicious!

You can adjust the sweetness and spicy ginger flavor to your taste by adding more or less of the desired ingredients. For instance, I don't like my ginger ale very sweet, so I add less simple syrup and more club soda.

And here is a fantastic, ridiculously easy, wonderfully delicious way to use up some of the leftover mint.