I Coulda Been a Contenda

Not really. My newest love: sweet (sun) tea, like they serve in the South. But I could never actually live in the south. There's too much hot, and there's too much humid. There's a reason why you drink your beverages cold and cold with plenty of ice. So it was during one of our first dinner outings after we'd arrived here that I ordered iced tea. Now normally I follow the Chinese cheapskate tradition of only having a glass of water, but for some reason, the tea just sounded really good. Keeping in mind that our household goods hadn't arrived yet, we were eating out quite a bit, and at one of the restaurants they asked me, "Sweet tea? Or regular?" It's not often I get this choice. Typically, I like to add a packet of the Splenda to regular tea because, frankly, regular sugar just doesn't dissolve quickly enough – so sweet tea, in my opinion, is just splendid. I was hooked. About a week ago, I had the bright idea of making my own tea. I mean going out to eat every night just to have sweet tea could get a little expensive.

Here, let me digress a moment: One of the first times I ever went to the grocery store here in Lees Summit, to the HyVee, I was tickled to find that they have milk in glass containers. The local brand on the MO side is Heartland, and in KS they have Shatto. (In Alaska the local brand was Matanuska Maid – isn't that fun to say? – but it couldn't keep up with competition, e.g. Carrs/Safeway, Costco. Last I heard they were still looking for someone to buy it and keep it running, but I don't know how that turned out.) Not surprisingly, either one of these costs more than the stuff in the plastic jugs: half a gallon in glass is almost as much as a gallon in plastic (not on sale). I know you can get a deposit back on the glass container if you return them, but I have yet to return one so I don't know how much that is. And in any case, I found a use for them. :)

To sweeten, I employ that very important "staple" (because it mixes so well into iced anything): simple syrup. Most recipes call for a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water, but there was one I was reading that said I could do 2:1 sugar to water in order to get more bang for my buck if you will. And when I can finally get to the local farmers' market, I plan on doing some infused simple syrups. Oh, this could shape up to be a "cool" summer after all.