Boozy Watermelon Rosemary Lemonade

July 20 - cheese burgers with no buns, grilled swiss chard & salad
July 21 - dinner at Cieli Cottage
July 22 - Boozy Watermelon Rosemary Lemonade & take-out Queen Margherita Pizza

And the craziness that is working in the film business has begun.  As you can see from my dinner rundown from the past 3 days, there's been take-out or eating out on two nights.  The night I did cook it wasn't very blog-worthy and I had high hopes of making something delish on Thurs or Fri.

But then life happened and with the insanity of the heatwave we've had here, Thursday night turned into a dinner and a movie night just so we could take advantage of air conditioning.  Friday we both ended up working far later than either of us anticipated and when I got into the car the Boy insisted on his favorite pizza and I knew I wanted some of my super special lemonade.


So that's what you get today, the recipe for my lemonade.  It's been our go to drink all summer-long and just this week it got me a spot as a finalist in the Food52 best poolside drink contest.  If I win I get published int the 2nd Food52 cookbook, which is pretty exciting.  So if you make and love or just like the sound of it head on over to Food52 and vote for me.  You can sign in through facebook or you have to take a few second to create a Food52 login, but it's really quite easy.  I'm up against some stiff competitions so I would really appreciate your vote.

Boozy Watermelon Rosemary Lemonade
serves 6

• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 cups water
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 1 cup lemon juice - fresh squeezed
• 7 cups watermelon - cut into a 1" dice - approx half a medium watermelon
• 8 ounces gin
• 1 lemon - thinly sliced
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• 1. Place sugar and 1 cup of water in a small saucepan, add rosemary sprigs. Cook over medium heat stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once dissolved remove from heat, cover saucepan and let sit for at least an hour to infuse.
• 
  
• 2. In a blender combine the lemon juice with cubed watermelon. Add the watermelon in batches, blending in between each addition.
• 
  
• 3. Add in the rosemary simple syrup 1/4 cup at a time until the mixture is at your desired sweetness. I use about a cup.
• 
  
• 4. Pour the mixture into a large pitcher and add 1 cup of cold water, the gin and fill with the watermelon mixture. Stir to combine. Serve in jars garnished with a lemon slice and half of a rosemary sprig.