summertime equals getting GEEKED off iced toddy in your bathing suit.

summertime is the best time. i was thinking this morning about how it is almost the middle of JULY ALREADY (!@*#&!%#!!!!)...and how summer goes by so fast...and how most of us wait for it all year (minus all you southern cali folks), and then it goes by in the blink of an eye, and then you find yourself waiting. and waiting. and waiting. for the next summer. maybe its just me? do you guys ever feel that way? like this morning, i told myself, "layli, there is still sooooo much summer stuff you've been waiting all year to do and you still haven't done it!!"...my repetitive demand chants "SEIZE THE SUMMER WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!".




one way i've been seizing it, is to drink copious amounts of toddy over ice with some 1/2 & 1/2. damn, this is the summer life. [recipe included below, please DO try..]

here are a couple of shots of our summer so far. it has been really wonderful. so far. so much more to come. in less than five days, i see my wittle baby bro and his wife. we're gonna get Krunk. as always, dear readers, i urge you to click on the photos to see them "actual" size. sooo much better than using your microscope to peek.

New Orleans Cold Drip Coffee

Scaled down from a Blue Bottle Coffee Company recipe, as appeared in the New York Times Magazine

Makes 1 1/2 cups coffee concentrate

1/5 pound dark roast coffee and chicory, medium ground (about 1 cup)
2 cups cold water
Ice
Milk

1. Put coffee in a nonreactive container, like a stainless-steel bowl. Add 1/4 cup water, stirring gently to wet the grounds, then add remaining water, agitating the grounds as little as possible. Cover and let steep at room temperature for 12 hours.

2. Strain coffee concentrate through a medium sieve, then again through a fine-mesh sieve.

3. To make iced coffee, fill a glass with ice, add ¼ cup coffee concentrate and 3/4 to 1 cup milk, then stir. To make café au lait, warm 3/4 to 1 cup milk in a saucepan or microwave, then pour into a mug and add ¼ cup coffee concentrate. (Concentrate will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.)

-- wherever you are, i truly hope you are enjoying your summer, with a nice friend, surrounded by love, family and the warmth of the sun. xoxo.

♥