I’ve been enjoying single life since Sunday.
Honestly, it’s been delightful.
It means blasting the Jersey Boys soundtrack and watching six episodes of Felicity back-to-back. It means eating meals that don’t center around large slabs of meat. Most importantly, it means having the entire bed to myself — the kind of luxury that makes me consider spending forever as a content homebody with 1,000-thread-count sheets. Ah, comfort.
It also means treating myself to things that look fancy but are really simple, like these for lunch.
In case you were wondering, lunch has become my favorite meal.
Trust me — you’ll want this too.
I know it sounds a little wild: mint + watermelon + bubbles + ice cream. But it really works. Mint practically counts as a vegetable, right? So this is basically a fruit-and-vegetable milkshake. Life makes sense when food is this easy and refreshing.
Coming home to one of these on a hot day is unbeatable. Serve it to friends after a sweaty beach afternoon — they may not be hungry, but they’ll appreciate the cool-down. Your family will love it after a hot day at the playground, too. And who knows — they might even cook or clean for you in return. If you can’t find chores for them, send them my way; my place could use some mopping.
Totally refreshing. Give it a whirl and you’ll feel cooler than the other side of the pillow.
Fresh Mint and Watermelon Soda Floats
Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups fresh watermelon chunks (remove large seeds; small white seeds are fine)
- 12–15 fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped
- 12 ounces club soda or other carbonated water
- Vanilla ice cream
Instructions:
- In a blender, combine the watermelon, mint and carbonated water. Blend and pulse briefly, just until the watermelon breaks down — about 30–60 seconds. Blending will reduce some of the carbonation, but the mixture should remain fizzy.
- Strain the blended mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl or measuring cup to remove seeds.
- Place scoops of vanilla ice cream into two glasses. Pour the watermelon soda over the ice cream and garnish with extra fresh mint.
Note: I haven’t tried this yet, but flavored sparkling waters such as lime or coconut could make a tasty variation.
Slurp.