Favorite Summer Beverages and Foods to go With Them

 You know what? I really don't think I actually have a favorite summer beverage. I like many beverages, when they are properly prepared. Though I seldom if ever add sweeteners, either natural or sugar-free to anything I drink, I do occasionally enjoy iced tea, prepared as it is in the Southern states of the USA, often just called sweet tea. I also enjoy lemonade, and not that stuff so often passed off as lemonade in many fast food establishments. I like homemade lemonade, made from lemons picked off the tree and squeezed immediately, and prepared in my own kitchen. I also enjoy a icy cold beer in the summer, as it is much more refreshing than most bottled sweet soft drinks, and is actually lower in calories, as well. 

I often mix a little sugar-free fruit juice in purified water, and make my own version of a healthful refresher, which also helps ward off the effects of our blazing hot summers, here is southern California, when it can occasionally hit temperatures as high as nearly 120 degrees. This is in the area known as the Inland Empire, and at an elevation of some 1,300 feet. So, usually we have low humidity, which also helps one withstand these temperatures. 

Occasionally, I also enjoy a drink known locally as a "Michelada," which consists of your favorite beer, combined with either some tomato juice, or clamato, along with some added juice of either lemon or lime juice. This is always served in a well chilled mug, with ice, and depending on your personal taste, with, or without a slated rim. 

"Michelada"
©2010 PK Hawk

When it come to the regular breakfast choices, they serve everything from menudo, or posole, to already prepared scrambled eggs, with or without added onions and bell pepper, and plenty bacon, ham, breaded chicken, sausages, several types of potatoes, and lots more things to choose from. If you care to have a freshly prepared omelet instead of the already cooked eggs, they also have a table setup which has at least ten things to choose to have the cook add to your omelet, such as fresh mushrooms, cheese, tomatoes, onions, chopped sausage, crumbled bacon, as well as shrimp, broccoli, and diced bell peppers. You can tell the chef what you want in your omelet, and he prepares it while you either stand and watch, or you can return to your table and they will bring it to you. 
There are so many dishes that go with these beverages, that it is really difficult to choose at times. For example, we have a local restaurant where they have a Champaign Sunday Brunch, which is served Buffet-Style. They always lots of fresh fruit and salad makings, which is delicious with the champaign, especially when fresh strawberries are in season. There is usually fresh melon of at least two varieties. They have to foresight to help people not overindulge, by limiting the champaign to two glasses. There is all the coffee one cares to drink, as well as great orange juice, too. 



Either way, it's a nice way to spend a summer Sunday morning, especially in the scorching hot summer. Of course in winter, it's also a nice way to spend a cold, or rainy mornings, too.