Homemade Lemonade Weather

Homemade lemonade.

It's been hot here in Raleigh this week, over 90F one day, so it was time to make some refreshing homemade lemonade this evening when Patrick was grilling dinner for us---a belated Mother's Day treat. 

One of the kitchen gadgets that is my favorite is the lemon juicer.  For many years I used a reamer and picked out the seeds from the juice, and then I discovered the right tool for the job---the lemon (or lime) juicer. 

Lemon squeezer or juicer.

Cut the lemon in half and put the CUT side down into the well of the juicer and then press the juice out, the seeds stay in the rind.

Cut side down.  I usually cut off the pointed end of the lemon to make it easier to squeeze.
 

The seeds stay in the rind and not in the lemon juice.

So easy, and tomorrow when I make guacamole I will squeeze lime juice over the avocado using this gadget too.

Here's my favorite lemonade recipe:

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of lemon juice
6 cups of water

1. In a small saucepan combine the sugar and 1 cup of water.  Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve sugar.  Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.

2. Remove seeds from lemon juice, using lemon juicer (or reamer).  In pitcher, stir together the chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 5 cups of water.  Serve over ice.

Makes 8 cups of lemonade.

I also made Southern sweet tea, because we also like Arnold Palmer's (half lemonade/half sweet tea).

I can't remember where I got my lemon juicer, but one like it is available here,

Lunch at the Peak City Grill

Peak City Grill and Bar.

Dan and I were in Apex last week to pick up the DVD made from our 35 mm slides, and we decided to have lunch there.  The Peak City Grill is just down from the photography shop where our DVD was made. They had just opened at 11:00, and we were their first customers of the day.  It was a hot day, and I was quite thirsty so I immediately ordered an Arnold Palmer---so cool and refreshing.

Cool and refreshing Arnold Palmer.

Dan and I each had the special bacon cheeseburger with fries.  The burger was cooked to perfection, and although I'm not really too fond of fries, I found these delicious.

Bacon Cheeseburger with fries.

After perusing the dessert menu, I couldn't resist the Chocolate Butterscotch Fallen Cake which Dan shared.

The dessert menu.

Chocolate Butterscotch Fallen Cake

The staff was friendly and service was excellent.

Dan and Waitress.

There were many interesting metal artworks decorating the brick walls.

Beautiful art on the walls.

All in all, Peak City Grill is a fine restaurant, and it is worth making the short trip over to Apex to just have lunch.

I can also highly recommend the company that converted our 35 mm slides to a DVD---Home Video Studio