Weekend Assignment #221

                           

I've been away for the past week... it was a trip to Baltimore to visit our son who has moved from his home state of twenty-nine years... moved to practice as a full-time pharmacist at one of our country's finest hospitals, Johns Hopkins.

I plan to write an entry about Baltimore, but there will be lots of photos and even a movie or two, which I haven't even made for aoluncut videos yet. So, I won't go into any details about the visit with our son in the lively city of Baltimore in this entry. That will come in the next few days.

I knew, even before we hit the road, that one of the things I would miss when we went out to eat in the fair state of Maryland, or in any of the northern states, was my favorite beverage, iced tea. Sweet iced tea. No lemon. Home brewed. I don't even care if it's Lipton or Tetley or a local housebrand. It just has to be sparkling clear, home-brewed. ice-cold, and fresh made.

Which reminds me, Karen has posted her Weekend Assignment, and it has to do with my favorite beverage. Here it is, if you would like to participate:

Weekend Assignment #221: What do you like to drink? Do you prefer Coke, or Pepsi, or neither? Do you start your days at Starbucks, or end your days with a nice cup of herbal tea? Are you a connoisseur of beer, or do you like to keep a pitcher of lemonade on hand? Do you carry a bottle of water around, and refill it as you go? Tell us about your favorites!

Extra Credit: Have you ever invented your own drink sensation?

I prefer making my own iced tea. I control the sweetness of it, the freshness, and quality of it. But I don't often make iced tea at home because if I did, I'd be drinking it all the time. I've learned that caffeine is not good for me in higher quantities. And I don't care to drink decaf iced tea all the time.

Tea is nearly 100% water. I decided to drink water rather than satisfy myself with all the calories that the iced tea provides. I've tried sugarless tea... what's the point? I've tried using sugar substitutes... I can't stand the taste of them, so water seemed to be my only alternative. I've gotten accustomed to drinking water... so I would have to say that water is my favorite beverage.

However, whenever we go out to eat, I will get an iced tea, sweet, no lemon. While I was out today, I did stop at a favorite fast-food place to get their dollar menu iced tea, which is akin to an extra large. On a sweetness scale, this particular tea is probably too sweet for me to drink regularly, but I do indulge in it once or twice a week (as a special treat). It's very close to what my mother-in-law makes (she is North Carolina homegrown all the way), and I have always loved her iced tea... which I drink only a few times a year ... when we visit her. Her homemade biscuits are great, too! I sure miss those (she doesn't make them anymore).

Ahem ... back to the tea.

                                                         

Another reason for showing the above photo of what I drink is so you'd notice a notebook behind it, the one with an orange label on the spine that reads: Duke Summer East Asia Institute, June 19, 2008. That's where I was yesterday. Even they didn't provide me with my second favorite drink, iced tea. They served coffee, cold water, bottles of it. If we wanted anything else, we could go to a nearby Starbuck's vendor in the building. I had no problems with that. Hot coffee is one of those lovely morning beverages that sets off a hot-flash in me. So water was my choice for the day. Cold water.

I'm going to post more about the East Asia Institute workshop, as well, but not in this entry. I learned a lot about Asian cuisine, and there is much to be said for the healthiness of the food and the attitudes toward food of the people who live in those far eastern countries. More about that later. (I hope you'll come back and read about it.)

                                     

Back to Karen's assignment. While we were in Baltimore, I carried a bottle of water around with me, and refilled it at various water fountains, or from my son's water supply. He prefers the Britta water purifier system, and likes his water pure, with no chemicals. It's a good thing we brought our own water bottles, though. Street vendors sold water at $2.75 for a twelve ounce bottle.

When I'm at school, I keep several bottles of water in the teachers' refrigerator. When I need refreshment, I get a cold one. At lunch, I buy the school's iced tea (.50 a styrofoam cup, refillable). It's not the best iced tea (by which I mean it's not as sweet as I'd like), but by lunch time, I need the sugar and the caffeine it affords me.

At home, I drink juices and water. Mostly water. Yep, that's the inside of my home refrigerator. The top shelf is filled with drinks. My DH drinks diet cokes and water, but they hang in a can organizer from the shelf, and are not part of this photo.

Lemonade. Iced cold, with lemons, is also a summer favorite drink. You can see a pitcher of the lemonade I made a couple of days ago ... without the lemons. They are expensive this summer. I made this pitcher from CountryTime lemonade mix, and added some Real Lemon juice to it. So good when it's hot like it has been these past few weeks.

BTW, it's always a good idea to keep a yellow plastic 'lemon' (or I guess the glass bottle variety would do) of Real Lemon Juice in your fridge... it's concentrated lemon juice, and has many other uses besides making lemonade. Check this link to find out more.

Concoctions of my own? Hmmm, I do like to mix Rootbeer and Pepsi. The Pepsi helps to reduce the strong rootbeer taste... I love the taste of rootbeer, but find the taste in straight up rootbeer overpowering. I dilute the flavor just a bit with Pepsi. To me it's more palatable that way. With lots of ice.

If you like pepsi floats, but don't have any vanilla ice cream, try dipping a creamsicle into the pepsi. It'll do in a pinch when you need a sweet, creamy drink. You can either lick the pepsi off the creamsicle, or drink the pepsi after you've dipped the creamsicle into the soda. It satisfies the sweet tooth on a hot summer's day.

I'm going to end this post with a picture I find endearing, in light of our recent losses. Max and Misty are dearly missed.

Driving to Baltimore was our first trip away from home that we did not have to make arrangements for the care of our dogs. That was a strange feeling. Sad, but also a relief. I had always worried about them when we left them behind, even when we left them with our son. He took good care of them whenever he dogsat for us, but they'd never eat much while we were away. I know they didn't like to be left behind.

                              

Steven is cooking dinner for us in his new apartment (a seventh floor city apartment!). His dog, Daisy is waiting for him to come out of the kitchen...or at least, to turn around and look at her. She is not really waiting for any food scraps because he does not feed her food scraps. He and Vi have been loving and responsible 'parents' to Daisy. She is a great apartment dog, an obedient pet, very smart, and good company. No doubt, this dog is well loved.

So although our dogs are gone, Steven has Daisy now, and she keeps him and Vi company.They will have to share her companionship, though, because while he lives in Baltimore, Vi is living in Richmond. Daisy is going to live like a child of separated parents for the next two years. Part of the year with him, part of the year with her.

And maybe.... once in awhile.... they'll bring her home to visit .... the 'grandparents!'  <sigh>

Tags: Favorite drinks, Weekend Assignment #221, Duke Summer East Asia Institute workshop, Baltimore trip intro