Unless frying an egg on your front seat counts.
Ya wanna know what I've got stuffed in my Pastry Chefs Do it With Zest foam koozie? Blue Sky's Imperial Lime flavored green tea soda. Yes, beverages again! It's hot enough to fry an egg on the front seat of my car and I'm about to trade in that koozie for one of those two-can beer guzzler helmets so I can drink two Imperial Limes at once. It's light, refreshing and subtle, with just a hint of that vaguely citrus tang you get from instant iced tea. ***image2***Blue Sky also makes white tea-pomegranate, red tea-raspberry and green tea-peach flavors, but these three are all just OK in my opinion. Too sweet, too fruity, too blah. You can find them at the MarketPlace Co-op (six-packs of all four flavors cost $3.69) and other natural foods stores.
It's been five years since Santa Fe's Blue Sky Natural Beverage Company sold out to Hansen Beverage Co.-the guys that make those orange-mango and tangerine-lime sodas stacked on the shelves next to six-packs of Dr. Becker. These days, it's California-based Hansen's that brews, bottles and markets Blue Sky. So why do the cans still say Santa Fe and why do we still feel that sense of hometown pride when we drink it? Nostalgia, maybe.
I get nostalgic thinking of those long ago summers when my mom would flatly refuse to cook. From June through August we ate nothing that would require her to turn on a natural gas-powered appliance, thereby further heating up our already stifling, non-air-conditioned house. We ate grapes and cheese, pasta salad, cold cuts, gazpacho and tabbouleh. Sure, we thought it was weird, but now I empathize. I wish my swamp cooler had a turbo setting, but it doesn't and I'm roasting like a rotisserie chicken.
If you've got the money, honey, but not the time or energy, swing by The Spanish Table before dinner this week. I was in there not so long ago to pick up some manchego cheese, membrillo (quince paste) and fig cake, which I served as dessert for a dinner party. But you could conceivably put together a whole meal from the shop. Pick up a little Serrano ham ($14.99 for half a pound, sliced), a bag of Marconi almonds (fried in olive oil and salted, $4.99), maybe some dry-cured Palacios chorizo ($8.99 for 9.5 ounces), and olive oil bread sticks ($2.99). Finish it up with brandy-dipped, chocolate-covered figs (box of nine for $9.99). Sure beats pasta salad.
Oh! And you know what else beats pasta salad? Iced coffee. It cools you down so well not only because it's so cold, but because iced coffee is usually made with espresso-a double shot-which makes me chatter, shake and sweat profusely. And we all know sweating is an excellent method of evaporative cooling!
I had a great cuppa cold brew the other day at Aztec Café, where they serve up an iced organic Sumatra that's not so strong your palms will sweat. The coffee is brewed regular strength, cooled to room temperature and then chilled, a process that owner Sarah Wilhelm tells me keeps the coffee from getting cloudy, and preserves the fresh-brewed flavor. If you want something higher octane, all of their espresso drinks can be made iced. Wilhelm also makes milkshakes, floats and malts with five flavors of her homemade ice cream. How about a scoop of espresso ice cream in your iced Americano? I'm shaking just thinking about it.
At home you can make your own iced coffee one of two ways: Either brew an extra-strong batch, or brew it regular strength and make coffee ice cubes. The first method is crude but faster; the second is more effective but more Martha Stewart. See, If you brew the coffee double strength and pour it over ice right away, you end up with a tepid coffee with no ice in it. Chill the brew first, then pour it over ice and the first half of the glass is crazy strong-until the ice melts and you're left sipping watery brown liquid.
To do it Martha-style, make a big, regular batch of coffee. Pour the hot stuff into ice cube trays as soon as it's cool enough to not melt the trays. Then chill the rest of the coffee. When the ice cubes are ready, put them in glasses, pour the coffee over and then add your milk, sugar, stevia, Splenda, whatever. As the ice cubes melt, they won't dilute your coffee. Genius, huh? Don't thank me, thank Martha.
The MarketPlace Co-op
913 W. Alameda St.
984-2852
7:30 am-9 pm Monday–Saturday; 9 am–8 pm Sunday
The Spanish Table
109 N. Guadalupe St.
986-0243
10 am-6 pm Monday-Saturday; 11 am-5 pm Sunday
Aztec Café
317 Aztec St.
820-0025
7 am-7 pm Sunday-Thursday; 7 am-10 pm Friday-Saturday
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