Mint Lemonade

On Saturday Adam and I had a "going away" BBQ.  It was a beautiful sunny day filled with so many friends and food and drinks! I wanted to share a the recipe for the quick mint lemonade punch I made up. It's super easy and it was a big hit! Even with kids! (or well, with the super cute baby that was here. She loved it!) I made my own mint syrup and used bottled lemonade but you could do fresh squeezed if you have a juicer or want to juice a ton by hand!

I made the mint simple syrup the day before and refrigerated it overnight - here's the recipe:

Fresh Mint Simple Syrup

• 1 1/2 cups fresh mint leaves
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar (you can add 1 cup, but I wanted mine to be a little less sweet)

Chop up mint leaves. Add mint, water and sugar to a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to simmer, without stirring, for 2 - 3 minutes. Pour syrup through a strainer or sieve into a container, (I used a mason jar) pressing on the mint leaves to get all the liquid. Discard mint leaves. Allow to cool and then cover and place in the fridge until use.

Mint Lemonade

• 1/2 recipe of fresh mint simple syrup 
• 1 bottle (1.75 L) of Simply Lemonade
• 1/2 of a 1 L bottle of ginger ale
• 1/2 of a 1 L bottle of club soda
• lemon wedges and mint sprigs for garnish

Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl and mix. Adjust to taste.  Garnish with lemon wedges and sprigs of fresh mint.

I've never tried to write a recipe before so I hope that is OK. Like I said, super simple and summery and I recommend trying it out at your next party. I'd love to hear if you do!

10 days!

Our move back east is coming up so fast. Like, in 10 days fast. I feel like I've been answering a lot of questions lately about what I'm excited to get back to in Maine so I thought I'd do a quick little post on a couple things. 

1. Apple Box, 2. When Fireflies Attack - Project 50/50 (Week 25), 3. Acadia, 4. Portland Maine: Exchange Street Brick

1. Apple picking! When we first moved to Eugene I was kind of shocked that there weren't really any places in Lane County to go apple picking. You can pick just about anything else - but no apples! It's always such a great way to spend a crisp fall day...and then the week or so afterwards trying to figure out  what to do with all those apples.

2. Fireflies - Adam and I had just assumed that these existed everywhere, and when we found out that we would be having firefly-less summers we were kind of bummed out. Oregon has such beautiful open spaces that it's really a shame that they don't sparkle on summer nights.

3. Islands - As much as I'll miss the gorgeous glittering blue-green of the Pacific, the vast open-ness of it has always kind of overwhelmed me. I can't wait to see little islands dotting the coast and the deep blue Atlantic. I especially can't wait to get back to my #1 super fave - Bailey Island

4. BRICK! This one might sound kind of funny but everything in Eugene feels so new. All plaster and stucco and siding. I know that there are new brick buildings but it always just feels so historic to me. I can't wait to be surrounded by big old brick buildings again. Also I can't wait to be tripping down cobblestone streets. JK, I can wait on that one!

(And FYI I'm not really looking forward to humidity and driving in the snow.)

Not a whole lot to say today. We're heading to the coast tomorrow for a week long stay - my dad rented a house in Lincoln City to celebrate his 70th birthday. We haven't really had a chance to spend a whole lot of time at the coast so it we're happy we'll be able to before we head back east. (sooooo sooooon!)

We spent some time at our friend Tim's house last night. He lives in the hills and has a beautiful house and a bunch of land. It was nice to see so many stars and be in the woods a little bit. 

We're slowly starting to pack up stuff around the house. Boy do I hate moving and packing. The plus side is that since this is a big, cross country move, it's forcing us to get rid of stuff and MAN, that feels so good!