Summer secrets

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Harleen Arneja knows her food and how. Be it her homemade wood fire pizzas or the gooey chocolate cakes, we love her experiments and trysts with food! The Doha heat has so far been excruciatingly bad for us. We keep piling up on cold soda cans, lemony iced tea, laban and whatnot. What we need right now is a refreshing drink that will make this summer bearable; a thirst quencher to tickle our taste buds. We asked Harleen to share a summery drink recipe with us. She chose the Jasmine Mint Spritzer because she thinks it is a perfect mix which combines both sweet and sour elements. The taste of jasmine tea lingers on, cooling your system and reviving summer memories. Here is Harleen's recipe:

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Summer! The parties, the barbeques and the beaches. Nothing is quite complete without the perfect drink to beat the heat, to start the breeze, to make us sway and enjoy the day!

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” 
― Henry James

Indeed. Summer afternoon: most coveted, most awaited and most enjoyed.

Here is a recipe to accompany the scrabble games on the patio under the clear summer sky:

Jasmine Mint Spritzer Recipe

 Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients: 

1 cup boiling water
1 cup room temperature water
2 tea bags, Jasmine tea/green tea
2 sprigs of fresh mint
2 plums, pitted and sliced
1 nectarine, pitted and sliced
1.5 tbsp. maple syrup ( or regular table syrup)
1 cup ice
half cup soda water

 

 

Instructions: 

Step 1: In a large container, combine boiling and room temperature waters. Add the tea bags and let it steep for twenty minutes to an hour. Discard tea bags.

Step 2: Pour the tea into glass pitcher. Add mint sprigs, plums, nectarines and maple syrup; stir. Refrigerate for up to two days.

Step 3: To serve, place half cup ice in glass. Top with tea mixture until 3/4 full, ensuring some fruit and mint sprig in each glass. Top the last quarter of glass with soda water.

Enjoy!