Classic Lemonade
Apparently U-Hauls have ALWAYS been around. And why do we always have to move during the summer?!
This was when Mom and Dad moved to New York after they got married.
Me and Elisabeth in the back seat of a car. Always.
The two Phyllises! How do you make that plural? Mom and her mother and uncle. Atlanta in the summer, judging by Mom’s halter top.
Love this sweet photo of Uncle Frank and Mom.
Love this sweet photo of me and my sister. Taken on the front porch of the Reed family house on Watauga Street in Kingsport, TN.
Having a blast on a boat somewhere! Me and my sister.
Dad and his cousin grilling in July. Upstate NY.
Mom, pregnant with my sister. Talking about names!
July 4 in Massachusetts! It think this is the time Mom got pneumonia from sleeping on an unheated waterbed. Yikes.
Could that be lemonade in the pitcher? It’s probably iced tea, but it’s a cute photo. Mom and Dad’s author photo from 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About The South.
For some reason this was in my Mom file?! LOL. If the mechanic in my story wore overalls they at least were intact.
I’m preparing for a road trip. One helluva road trip. Tomorrow we leave on a 3 day drive that takes us from Texas to Maine via Memphis, TN and Erie, PA. Chris and I just played a massive game of Tetris with all of our stuff and a U-Haul trailer. Mom was the master of this challenge, always able to find nooks and crannies for our things in the car. She would fold down the seat (the one benefit of the dreaded Chevy Citation) and lay out our sleeping bags so we could recline while traveling. It was a good idea in theory but it seems like someone was always nauseous. Most of our trips were to and from Kingsport, TN, my parents’ hometown. We did it often enough that we had favorite stops along the way. There was a place where we would always get soft ice cream. I remember once asking for hard ice cream there, just being difficult I think. There was also a restaurant (I think maybe in Mount Airy?) where we would sometimes stop for a meal. It was a good halfway point so sometimes we would meet our grandparents there if they were taking me and my sister for a visit.
Once we were all sitting at this restaurant eating and the people next to us were LOUDLY debating which names they found most unattractive. They went through a few and then zeroed in on Phyllis. Man, what a horrible name. Who would name someone that?! What could be worse?! Well, little did they know that both my mom AND her mom, seated right next to them, were BOTH named Phyllis. Yup! Dale is my mom’s middle name. We had a good laugh because that’s all you can really do. Awkward!
I remember talking to Mom about her choice of name for me. I’ve always found Sarah kind of boring. I’m named after Mom’s maternal grandmother, Sarah Roberts. There are no good nicknames for Sarah. In the 80s when I was dying for something cool and New Wave, I asked my friends to call me “Sra”. Literally the worst nickname. My daughter finds this hilarious and taunts me to the day calling me “Sra”. Mom explained they made the diplomatic decision of naming me and my sister after our great-grandmothers. Elisabeth is named after my Dad’s maternal grandmother, who went by “Bessie” Greene. Mom said that when she was pregnant she and Dad were batting around names. Mom’s mom was Phyllis and Dad’s mom was Alice, what if they got creative and combined them ….. Ph-alice?! Phallus?! Um, no.
On one of our trips to Kingsport, our car broke down in a little mountain town. We were miraculously able to find a mechanic in a little shack straight out of Central Casting. I think Dad still remembers this guy’s name. It was incredibly hot out. Our English friend who was with us had been gardening in our backyard IN HER BRA (something I found scandalous!!) just a day or two before. So, when our car overheated or whatever it did there was nothing to do but sit back and let Jesus take the wheel. Or Cletus. Or whatever the mechanic’s name was. There was a drink machine in the shack so I scraped together the two quarters to get something thinking, “doesn’t lemonade sound refreshing?!”. It did. And…. it wasn’t. What I got was the most God awful canned chemical concoction that was more dish soap than delightful drink. Blech.
I found a much more legit recipe for lemonade in Mom’s files. I’ll post it below. And, to finish the story, the dude in the shack turned out to be an angel who got us back on the road. Good ol’ boys can fix things. I’m reminded of the time I was at the beach with my family a few years ago. Chris had found a free pop up tent on the curb in Austin and we had brought it with us. Turns out there is no such thing as a free tent. After we got it up, it rapidly started falling apart, buckling here, dipping there, it was a mess. These guys next to us – without saying a word – came over with a piece of wood, some zip ties, a shovel, some string, and some 2 liter bottles and zip tied the wood to brace the structure and then filled the bottles with water, dug holes and buried them in the sand, and then tied string from the bottles to the tent to create tension. Boom. Done. Silent. We offered them a beer, they declined and left. Good ol’ boys can fix things, indeed.
So, take a load off and enjoy some fresh lemonade this weekend. Happy 4th of July!
CLASSIC LEMONADE
Yields a generous 1 1/2 quarts, serving 6 to 8
Tests showed that adding a tiny pinch of salt dampens the lemon's
acidity somewhat. We prefer a little sharpness, but if you don't, try
the optional salt in the recipe.
10 to 12 medium lemons, scrubbed well, halved pole to pole, all halves
sliced thin
1 1/4 cups sugar
Pinch of salt (optional)
5 cups cold water
Mash lemons and sugar (and salt, if using) in a large deep bowl or
saucepan with potato masher or wooden spoon until lemon slices give up
their juice, sugar is dissolved, and juice is thickened to syrupy
consistency, about 4 minutes. Pour half the lemon slices and syrup
through large sieve over bowl or saucepan; press on solids with masher
or back of wooden spoon to release as much liquid as possible. Discard
solids; transfer liquid to serving pitcher. Repeat process with
remaining lemon slices. Stir in water until blended. Chill well and stir
to blend before serving, over ice if desired.
Sarah’s note: I used to work at a catering company and we would serve Lavender Lemonade at parties. It was a fun twist. Here’s a recipe if you want to jazz up your game!
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