the dirty arnold palmer

  Today is Friday, the first day of Memorial Day Weekend.  Even though I know that technically it doesn’t start for another month, this day is always the first day of summer to me.  And the weekend is always fantastic.  There are barbeques, and parties, and inevitably I am forced to take my 4 year old daughter into the still frigid pool.  What is it about childhood that makes you immune to cold?  I vaguely remember thinking it was fun, or at least not bad enough to not get in the water.  These days, I would rather get a bikini wax than get in there.  So I figure I am building good mommy karma.  (And, of course, Memorial Day isn’t about drinking and barbeques at all. It’s about people who brave far worse than frosty chlorinated water.)

  But not this year.  It is raining and gloomy and will probably be spent in pants instead of bikinis.  There will still be parties and barbeques.  But no sunshine.  So it is time to make some sunshine of the liquid kind.  Because the other thing this weekend means to me is the return of the dirty Arnold Palmer.  Sweet tea vodka and lemonade.  Tastes like summer in a glass.  They just don’t taste right the rest of the year.  It’d be like eggnog on the 4th of July.

  Now I made mine the fancy way, with homemade lemonade and mint.  But you don’t really need to do that.  You can use store bought lemonade.  Skip the mint if you want.  Whatever works for you.  All you really need is the sweet tea vodka.  Iced tea and vodka doesn’t work here.  I’ve tried it.

ingredients:

• sweet tea vodka
• 8 lemons
• 1 c. sugar
• mint

  First thing you have to do is make some lemonade.  The key to good homemade lemonade is making a simple syrup first.  That’s just dissolving the sugar in water in a skillet on the stove.  We’re going to add some lemon zest to amp up the lemon flavor a bit.  Wash 3 lemons, pat them dry, and zest them.

  Put the zest, sugar and 2 cups of water into a skillet and gently simmer for about 5 minutes, whisking occasionally to help the sugar dissolve.  Remove from heat and let cool.  While it’s cooling, squeeze the juice from your lemons into a bowl.  Strain into a pitcher, strain the simple syrup on top and stir.

  Now fill a glass with ice. Pour in your sweet tea vodka about halfway up the glass.  No need to be shy here.

  Fill the glass with your lemonade.

  Stir, add mint and enjoy!  Be careful, though.  These taste just like a regular Arnold Palmer, but pack a sneaky punch. Happy summer, everyone!