Keep your cool

Sweet tea
When I left my homeland in the South for a job in Chicago some years ago, I discovered a little-known fact about most Yankees — they have no grasp of basic chemistry. I don't want to wade into the culture wars here, but the fact is that our brethren north of the Mason-Dixon don't seem to understand that a solute (sugar) dissolves best in liquids (tea) at high temperatures.

How else do you explain that when you order ice tea in the South, your waitress asks "Sweet or unsweet, hon?" but up north, the waiter just smiles dumbly and points to the tray filled with chemical sugar substitutes? Don't they realize that the end result of Sweet'n Low plus already iced tea is a powdery mess in the bottom of your glass?

So that first sweltering summer in Chicago, I got the sweet-tea jones bad and spent a few days perfecting my own recipe.

1 gallon of water
1 cup of sugar
4 tea bags (Luzianne for true Southern charm, but Lipton works fine)
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tbsp. allspice

Heat four cups water. Just as it approaches boiling, remove from heat, add your tea bags and cover. Steep for about 10 minutes, no more than 20.

Stir in the sugar until it dissolves. Add the allspice and cinnamon sticks then let cool, uncovered, for another 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a one-gallon pitcher and add the rest of the water. Serve in a tall glass with lots of ice.

If you're serving to a mixed (sweet/unsweet) crowd, you can make a simple syrup instead of adding the sugar directly to the tea. Follow the directions above, and just omit the sugar.

Simple syrup: Heat 1/2 cup of water, then add 1 cup sugar and stir until it dissolves. Serve the syrup out of a clean condiment bottle so folks can sweeten to their liking.

-Jim Ray

Mojito
Nothing says summertime refreshment quiet like a mojito, the Cuban rum concoction custom-made for warm weather.

Served in a tall glass, the ideal mojito should have plenty of muddled mint leaves, pieces of fresh lime and ice, ice, ice. It’s the perfect mix of sweet and tangy that tastes oh so good. But be careful. They go down a little too smooth and can leave you feeling muddled if you aren’t careful.

1.5 oz. white rum
12 fresh mint leaves
1/2 lime
7 oz. club soda
2 tbsp. simple syrup (or 4 tsp. sugar)

Muddle the mint leaves and lime in a highball glass. Add the sugar. Cover the mixture with ice. Add the rum and enough club soda to fill the glass. If you are feeling especially fancy you can garnish with a slice of lime and some mint leaves. (Recipe by Bacardi.)

-Denise Hazlick