Cook with us #31 - Fruity Icycle Kaleidoscope
We will never experience a white Christmas here in my country as it's the height of summer in December.
Our family traditionally gets together for a beeeg lunch with everyone contributing towards the menu - weird and wonderful salads, cold cuts plus an array of fabulous cold desserts. Everyone brings their own specialty.
I always provide the fruit punch, with luscious fruit and ice cubes floating on top, ice cold and fizzy, sweet and quite boozy!
Having a husband who is a type 1 diabetic on insulin, I have to make sure there is a sugar free alternative for him and the cousins or aunts who are watching their figure as well. I also prefer lemon water on a steaming hot day as it's way more refreshing than boozy fruit punch!
So of course having gorgeous sunny weather we have an outdoor feast with tables on the lawn under shady trees, and those punch bowls and lemon water jugs have to be topped up continuously.
This year the lemon water is going to get a bit of a boost with a kaleidoscope of fruity ice cubes, all thanks to the Contest run by the fabulous Cook with Us team, @chefsteve, @pandamama and @offoodandart.
I started with an Oranges & Lemons theme, but then got carried away as the Ice Cube bug started biting and ended up with an array of ice cubes, filled with fruit just like that Christmas Fruit Punch. I had a whole load of fun playing with ice cubes, fortunately it was hot here!
Oranges & Lemons plus Kiwi fruit, Cucumber, Mung bean Sprouts, Mint leaves and Strawberries.
A real kaleidoscope of colours and flavours
Making fancy ice cubes was not as easy as it sounds as the fruit would float to the top of the water so I had to set it in stages. Making crystal clear ice cubes proved to be even more difficult but I will be trying to get this right before Christmas comes along - cannot believe it's only 5 weeks away!
We still have to find the culprit who sometimes adds some colourless boozy liquid to our lemon water, this becomes apparent when the aunts get a rosy blush on their cheeks and start giving family secrets away!
So cheers everyone, or as we say in Afrikaans - Gesondheid - here's to good health!
Hope you enjoyed having an innocent little glass of icy Oranges & Lemons with me - plus a kaleidoscope of fruity ice cubes and perhaps something a little stronger added :)
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Great entry @lizelle. I think we are in the same camp as far as not experiencing a white Christmas in our current location. But there are some ups to having a sunny and warm Christmas and being able to have an abundance of cold drinks is one of them. I think you’ve now found your fruity alternative for Xmas and I’m sure it will
Impress more than one at the table. Good luck.
Ah thank you for your lovely feedback @foodforsoul! I definitely will be making plenty of fruity ice cubes for Christmas as it's always so hot! I really was not looking forward to this challenge but thoroughly enjoyed it in the end. I just loved your gorgeous entry, was quite an inspiration for many of us ;)
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Thank you so much @thesteemengine :)
I love your variety in ice cube choices! I never would have thought of doing mung bean sprouts, but I think it's fantastic. I'm sure these will be very festive for your holiday celebration!
Thank you for your lovely comments @plantstoplanks, fancy ice cubes definitely will be on the menu :)
Can't wait to see what else you have on your menu!
Ah Lizelle - your entries never disappoint me - what an array of colour and festivity in your ice cubes - wish I was at your Christmas luncheon
Ah thank you so much for the lovely challenges you guys are giving us, had great fun:):)
I love the array of fruits and other interesting ingredients you used. It must have been fun playing with these and making them into ice cubes. Kaleidoscope is the right word. Lovely, lovely and definitely refreshing and inviting! Hope these beautiful ice cubes find their way to your future parties and gatherings or even maybe for your Airbnb guests.
Thank you so much for your lovely feedback @offoodandart, must confess I did not feel like it but once I started there was no stopping, did not realise one could do so much with ice cubes:)
Definitely on the menu from now on, nice for the guests welcome beverage too ;)
I totally agree! And once you serve them to your guests, we hope they will be inspired to create their own as well. =D
Gesondheid to you too.. ;)
And to you as well ;);)
looks so lovely and fruity!
love the variety my friend! You will wow everyone with these beauties! Indeed they are not simple to make! Well done as always :)
Thank you my lovely friend, it was a lovely challenge! Sure you're very busy preparing for Thanksgiving!
This is an amazing idea and I have to remember it for next Summer, all my drinks will have a special little cube in them from now on. Thank you!
Ah thank you @zen-art, it really was fun making these, the oranges and lemons worked very well as it flavours the water so nicely, thank you for your support and lovely feedback :)
Oh my God... Beautiful ice cube. 😍😍😍
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Thank you so much!