The Arnold Palmer

As I’m sitting in my apartment watching the rain fall on this mid-May day, I am dreaming of summer afternoons where I can sit on my balcony with a cold beverage in hand. Right now I have my hot tea by my side, but I have high hopes that I will need to substitute this tea for a drink to cool me down from the hot summer sun. My summer daytime drink of choice happens to be an Arnold Palmer. Iced tea mixed with lemonade- a perfect combination to sweeten up any afternoon.

I was re-introduced to this drink at a “new-hire” lunch with the CEO of my former company and other fellow newbees. We sat down to our fancy meal and the CEO ordered an Arnold Palmer. Practically everyone at the table followed suit. It’s funny how that works at restaurants…even if you aren’t purposely trying to copy someone, you hear something that sounds good that you didn’t think of yourself and you immediately want it. Anyways, the Arnold Palmer was delicious and I was successful at making a first impression. Even if that impression was of my watermelon nail art toes that reminded him that I was closer in age to his twelve year old daughter than himself.

In case you don’t want to wait for an excuse to go out to lunch, you can make a batch today!

Arnold Palmer Drink

Tea:
2 1/2 cups boiling water
2 tea bags (black tea such as English Breakfast works best)

Lemonade:
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups water
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (3-4 lemons)

Steep 2 tea bags into 2 ½ cups of hot water for at least 5 minutes. Once steeped to a dark brown color, discard the teabags.

To make the lemonade, put the water, sugar, and lemon juice in a small pan. Put on medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

Mix the lemonade and tea together, pour over ice, and enjoy!

Maybe where you are, you can start drinking Arnold Palmer’s this week. I, on the otherhand, am hoping tomorrow’s forecast of snow doesn’t come true!