Little Victory Garden “Extra” – A Visual Guide to Making Red Sumac Lemonade

I’m sitting here drinking my second glass of “Indian Lemonade” (aka Sumac Lemonade), taking sips between each photo I upload.  I have a history with trying to make sumac recipes and it’s not pretty.  The reasons were all the same: I was making hot drinks with the beautiful red berries and they just weren’t as good as the cold drinks.

I keep thinking one day I’ll learn to love hot sumac lemonade, but that’s a very low priority on my gastronomical intake list. Cold is good.  Cold is ESPECIALLY good in July when it’s so hot outside. And, I don’t need to keep rewriting the instructions when others have done such a nice job.  What I CAN do is provide you something I needed before I made mine this morning – visual aids!

I like to see how things work, and I couldn’t find a recipe with step by step photo guides.  So, I made you one.  Simply follow the recipe from the link I provided, and if you have questions you can check out these photos below.  I used a leftover juice carton and filled it with cold water so when we de-stemmed the berries a bit we could fill it up, then “shake, shake, shake” the carton until the vitamin C-laden red powder had infused the water.

The basic steps are simple. Gather the sumac, get rid of any bugs (I had to throw one away because there was a web woven all around the berries), de-stem and/or de-berry the sumac, place the berries in cold water, agitate the mixture like crazy, strain through a cheesecloth or clean tea towel, add sugar…enjoy. That was a long sentence for such “simple” steps. But really, the process is easy and kind of fun. My youngest daughter and her boyfriend helped me this morning with the project. Continue reading Little Victory Garden “Extra” – A Visual Guide to Making Red Sumac Lemonade

Comments

comments

Sweet and “Cool” Summer A, B, C’s…Inexpensive, Fun and “In Real Life”

Summertime ~ Chasing Fireflies. Photo by Andrew Sullivan via Flickr. All rights reserved by photographer.
buy soma C.O.D. by Joey Rodman
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we’re smack dab in the middle of an Oklahoma summer, complete with blistering heat and a dry spell that’s threatening life as we know it. Hey, at least it’s not humid right? Summer in Oklahoma can be a tough pill to swallow. For those of you who are barely holding on until fall, here are a few activities that can maybe help you enjoy the summer while it’s here. Get your friends and family together and try these out!
A. Home-made Ice cream.
What you need:
Ice
Rock salt
Quart sized sandwich bags
Gallon sized freezer bags
Milk
Vanilla
Sugar
Patience
  1. Fill a gallon sized bag for each person about halfway with ice and rock salt, seal them up and put them somewhere cold.(like the freezer if you’re indoors or the ice chest if you’re outside)
  2. For each person put 1/2 cup of milk, 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla in a quart size bag and seal it.
  3. Put the little bag into the big bag, make sure both are sealed well.
  4. Shake it up! It takes about 10 minutes for your “ice cream” to get to a consistency similar to soft serve. You can eat it right out of the bag. Make sure you shake it and mix it well or you’ll get pockets of sugar that are gritty. Continue reading Sweet and “Cool” Summer A, B, C’s…Inexpensive, Fun and “In Real Life”

Comments

comments

Silent Sunday: Motes Farm, Stillwater, OK

Jim and Barbara Motes have a 20 acre-farm northeast of Stillwater, OK. Early in the morning, the sun shines across the tops of the corn tassels.
Beehives line a tree grove at the front of their space. It's always a good trade..."you pollinate my crops, I'll let the bees make their honey here."

Continue reading Silent Sunday: Motes Farm, Stillwater, OK

Comments

comments

Barbershop Theology: Waiting for…

 

Barber Shop Theology

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. ~ Psalm23:1

 

“Hurry up and Wait”

 

I have an advantage over the others; I have learned the value of waiting. No, I have not perfected waiting, I just know there is an art to it. As a barber’s son and retired shoeshine boy, I have logged many hours just watching people wait. Some are better than others.

“Back in my day,” a phrase I am growing more and more fond of, life moved more slowly. We didn’t have instant anything. The closest thing to space age was Tang and Jiffy Pop. Those two items still amaze me.

Jiffy Pop, space age magic!

I went to my local barber shop a few days ago. I was in a hurry. I don’t remember why, but there was surely an important reason for my rush.  The shop was busy, very busy. Darn. Oh well, I have my Blackberry and I can keep up the hurried pace. But something in my barber’s son DNA kicked in; I put my gadget away and decided to wait. It was everything I remembered it to be. Continue reading Barbershop Theology: Waiting for…

Comments

comments

So What If America Isn’t The Best At Everything?

Its Fourth of July weekend and we as Americans have so much to be thankful for in this great country of ours.  Despite our struggles and our differences, we still have our freedom and a way of life that is the envy of the rest of the world.  I for one firmly believe in the concept of American exceptionalism.

But just because we are exceptional as a country, does that mean all of our sports have to be exceptional as well?

Two weeks ago the media was gushing over Rory McIlroy’s performance at the US Open.  The so-called “experts” were heaping praise on McIlroy while simultaneously lamenting the demise of American golf.  “Where is the next great American golfer?” they wondered.  “Is America losing ground to the rest of the world?” was a question of much debate among golf writers and analysts.  Of course those conversations led to “is there an American kid out there who’s going to take over for Tiger?”It was one big pity party.  It couldn’t possibly be that the rest of the world is catching up, could it?  No, no something must be wrong with golf in this country.

If you’ve watched any tennis at Wimbledon over the last couple weeks, the conversation has been exactly the same.  Hosts, reporters, and commentators all emphasizing the downfall of American tennis and wondering if it will ever get back to the level it once was when names like McEnroe, Connors, Evert, Sampras, Agassi, and Williams carried the dialogue.

I’m as patriotic as the next guy, but this doesn’t bother me at all.

Continue reading So What If America Isn’t The Best At Everything?

Comments

comments

Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.