We ate at Cascina Spinasse in Seattle on a recent trip, and although my DH doesn't like mint, it was used with sauteed ribbons of zucchini for an absolutely amazing dish. I never would have thought of using mint for this dish, but it went beautifully with the usual seasonings (salt, pepper, EVOO). Another interesting use for it was at Bouchee in Carmel. Chef Andre Lemaire made a lovely roasted lamb shoulder, and served it with an au jus that was blended with a mint infusion. I'm not one of those mint-jelly-with-lamb fans, so I was surprised at how much I liked this. I'm not a fan of sweet sauces with meat, which is probably why I don't like the whole mint jelly thing. But this was a savory sauce, just given a lift with the fresh herb, and it was wonderful.

Wow, I haven't thought of simple syrup in years! My mother used to make it to mix with lemon juice as a base for punch. She'd add club soda & some sort of fruit juice, I remember cranberry being a favorite. It made a sort of "soda" which we kids appreciated because she never bought soda from the store. It sounds great for iced tea...but my husband and I drink so much iced tea in the summer I don't even want to think about how much weight we'd put on if we used real sugar. I keep a 4 quart container of iced tea and a 4 quart container of Crystal Lite Lemonade in the fridge all summer just for the two of us. Mixing them sweetens the tea and cuts the sweetness of the Crystal Lite..very refreshing.

This evening I didn't cook, but my sons came to see me and together we went to see my parents. That is reason enough for them to come to town and spend time with me and my parents, but we planned to go to a new Thai restaurant for dinner and they serve sushi, which they were looking forward to having. But as plans go, the new place was closed for 3 days over the July 4th holiday, so we had to go to Plan B. I said that we would drive by another Thai place to see if they also had sushi and if not, then Plan C, yet another Asian Bistro place that served Thai dishes. Well, what luck! We were approaching the restaurant (second Thai place) and a couple of employees were there holding open the door inviting us into their Open House! Food and wine/beer, etc. all FREE! They did indeed have sushi also! We had lots of selections to choose from on their small buffet and enjoyed our meal very much. We had good service, a very hospitable staff and really nice decor. Their former place was just two doors down, but they decided it was much too big, so they had just re-opened at a smaller spot with a new name. Of course, we each left a large tip but we were able to try many dishes from their menu! What a treat!

I made a nice mint lemonade punch for a party I had a couple of weeks ago. I made mint ice cubes by placing mint leaves in the ice cube tray before I filled it with water. Then I made frozen concentrate lemonade and filled the pitcher with the ice cubes. I added vodka, two shots for each of my guests. If I wanted to do a slush, I would make the lemonade a day in advance, and put mint leaves in the pitcher and then refreeze. Then put into a blender. Or, just make a slightly more concentrated version of lemonade, put in the mint leaves, leave in overnight, and then add lots of crushed ice. I think the key is to steep whatever lemonade you make with mint leaves. I have fresh mint growing in the garden so whenever I want something like this I just grab a handful of fresh mint. I would steep it cold though, because mint tea is a brownish green color that wouldn't be appetizing when added to lemonade. Maybe that's why the green food coloring for the drink you had. I hate food coloring though. That's why I'm suggesting a cool mint steep. I had my leftovers in the fridge, (with the vodka) with mint and sliced lemons in the pitcher. It just kept tasting better and better as the days went by, lol! BTW, I was watching America's Test Kitchen show on PBS a couple of weeks ago, and frozen concentrate and Newman's Own fresh lemonade were the winners. You could make lemonade with a simple syrup and then steep that with mint, and then make the lemonade from there. Personally, I like the flavor and ease of frozen concentrate! Anyway, I've never made a frozen mint lemonade, just a cold one, so I can't give you tried and true instructions, just my best guess from having done the cold kind.