Sira-sira store: A squeeze of summer

AFTER the rain comes the rainbow. No, not rainbow. Heat, more like it. Summer is definitely making its presence felt in Cebu.

The heat of the sun bites the skin, leaves it red and sore. Summer is like a perma-hairdryer. A person’s hair gets baked under the scorching heat, the scalp stewed and the brain grilled.

No wonder people go crazy during summer, but you don’t have to believe your Uncle Ober because he comes from the School of Hardknocks. What he thinks is just the product of summer’s surreal effect on the mind.

Dogs go mad during summer. Husbands and wives quarrel over who is sexier: Angelica Panganiban or Anne Curtis. Or which telenovela they should watch: boxing (well, it’s a kind of drama in real life, you know) or A Beautiful Affair.

The heat of the sun bites the skin, leaves it red and sore. Fires get started in summer. The sun seems to be at its zenith in March, a reason why the Bureau of Fire Protection chose the month for its public awareness campaigns. No one can play with fire and get out of it unsinged.

Real fires burst into life due to faulty wiring, rats looking for chewy snacks, or careless use of non-electrical source of lighting.

The heat of the sun bites the skin, leaves it red and sore. Summer keeps many people from taking decent baths or enough drink. Rivers run dry and mountains go balder.

What a bleak picture of summer have I made! But don’t let that influence you just because I am under the influence of summer’s madness. The good thing about this is that you can drink to that. There are summer drinks that can be treated as “the commercial” or “station break” to the telenovela of real life that you are enduring or enjoying right now.

Good old lemonade. This traditional drink spells summer, not to mention quick fix for coughs and colds. It has a light yellow hue and the fragrance recalls newly cut grass—all markers of summer.

A failed cook like your Uncle Ober Khok can make lemonade that even the house cat will drink (cats hate sweet foods). Squeeze a couple of lemons, or lemonsito (native lemons) in a pretty pitcher. Fill pitcher with ice cold water till half-full. Add sugar to taste. Add ice cubes, and mint. Serve and smile.

June bug. Good Housekeeping magazine calls this next summer drink, June Bug. It is a misnomer—the bug part. June bugs are not bugs but are actually beetles. It’s the same case with “apple tree.” It is not a tree (due to its height) but a bush, but who wants to call an apple tree, an “apple bush”? Certainly not The Queen in Snow White.

The drink probably got its name from its color, which is a delightful peach. The recipe calls for: 3 c.ginger ale; 4 tbsp. grenadine; 4 tbs. orange juice; 3 scoops orange sherbet.

Blend together ginger ale, grenadine, orange juice and sherbet. Pour into ice-filled cocktail glasses. For the alcoholic version, add white rum. Oops, not too much.

Dizzy watermelon. This drink shared by Good Housekeeping has a kick owing to the vodka in the mixture. The ingredients are: 5 c. watermelon cubes (rind and seeds removed); 3/4 c. lemon vodka; 6 tbsp. lime juice; 3 tbsp. Cointreau or triple sec; 3 tbsp. sugar.

Place watermelon in blender. Cover; blend until smooth. Pour puree into a pitcher and keep very cold, even a little frozen to make it icy.

For two martinis, add one cup of watermelon puree, 1/4 cup of lemon vodka, two tablespoons of lime juice, one tablespoon each of Cointreau and sugar to the blender with three to six ice cubes. Cover; blend until slushy. Makes six large martinis.