Strawberry Lemonade

Strawberries have made their debut at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market. Berries are an easy cocktail addition; they can be muddled up into just about any drink, like a margarita, a mojito or a gin and tonic.

Because we had a fridge full of lemons, we decided to make some fresh-squeezed lemonade with strawberries. Lemonade is easy to make; use equal parts lemon juice, water and simple syrup. Our drink turned out a little darker than usual due to using organic sugar. If you have bottled lemon juice or even a can of Country Time Lemonade mix on hand, you can use one of those, though fresh-squeezed lemon juice will bring out the best flavor of the strawberries. Shame on you if you have Country Time Lemonade mix in your house! Shame!

A great thing about Strawberry Lemonade is that you don't have to spike it if you don’t want to. Why the hell wouldn't you want to spike it? Some people are strange, underage or pregnant. Without the alcohol, Strawberry Lemonade is appropriate for kids and non-imbibing adults, too.

For an extra-refreshing drink, throw your Strawberry Lemonade in the blender with ice. We tend to skip blender drinks ourselves – there’s more to clean up. We swear, the blender is broken. It just broke. Right before you asked for that blended drink. Honest.

Strawberry Lemonade

4 medium-sized fresh strawberries
2 ounces water
2 ounces lemon juice
2 ounces simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar)
1 ½ ounces vodka

Muddle strawberries in a pint glass. Add the rest of the ingredients and shake with ice. Serve over ice. Include a long-handled spoon for digging the strawberries out of the bottom of the glass.