Spiked Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade

Ah, summer picnics. Humidity, sunburn, flies, mosquitos, ants, warm beer, screaming children, and the threat of listeria in every mayonnaise-soaked bite. When it's a million degrees outside, I would really prefer to eat inside. There's only one way to get through these sweaty ordeals of Americana: drink.

And so this is why, when the theme of this month's Creative Cooking Crew challenge - hosted as ever by the lovely Joan of Foodalogue and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks - turned out to be picnic foods, I knew that my "food" was going to be of the potent liquid variety.

I decided to play with picnic staple lemonade. Recently I was sent a sample of Art in the Age Rhubarb Tea, a craft spirit made with, among other things, organic rhubarb, beets, coriander, and vanilla; using this, I came up with my gin-spiked strawberry rhubarb lemonade, sweetened with strawberry simple syrup.

It's a perfectly good lemonade if you leave out the booze by the way - I just don't know why you would!

Here's what you do:

For the simple syrup: Combine 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup chopped strawberries in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmering gently for 5 minutes. Allow to cool and strain.

For the Lemonade: In a pitcher, combine 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice, 2 1/2 - 3 cups water, and 3/4 cup strawberry simple syrup (or more, to desired sweetness).

At this point you've got a lovely strawberry lemonade. For the spiked version, fill a high ball glass half way with ice, and add 1/2 ounce rhubarb tea and 1 1/2 ounces gin. Top with the lemonade and 3 shakes of Dale DeGroff's pimento bitters. Stir, sip, and forget your troubles.

If you need me, I'll be drinking mine in a nice air conditioned room.

Make sure to check out the round up on Wednesday over at Foodalogue - you'll find plenty of ideas for your Memorial Day meal!