You know when it’s a million degrees outside and all you want is some lemonade because it seems in your mind to be the only thing that’s going to hit the spot? We had one of those days, so Oliver suggested that we squeeze our own. And he wanted it pink.
I wish I could say that I had a recipe for you here; truth be told, I set out trying to figure one out. But like most of my recipes recently, I didn’t write it down. I started out with 10 lemons (1 1/2 cups of lemon juice) and about a half cup of raspberries (the really juicy, falling apart ones), and a bunch of sugar. I started with 4 Tbsp of sugar and made a simple syrup using the sugar, 2 Tbsp water, and the raspberries, but when I added it to the lemon juice (and several cups of ice water), it was still very tart, so I kept adding dissolved sugar (in increments of 1 Tbsp sugar per 3 Tbsp warm water) until it tasted just right. Oliver and I tweeked it so much that I’m afraid by the end of the whole thing I had completely lost track of what the proportions were. 
I will say this, though. It was just the right amount of sweet and tart. Of course. But no worry! The whole thing was actually a lot of fun, like a science experiment. Oliver took his tasting job very seriously, dipping a spoon in periodically with a thoughtful look before declaring, “Too tart!” until finally, “It’s GREAT!”
And it really was.
I think that’s the beauty of homemade lemonade- there is no recipe to follow. That way everyone gets exactly the right combo of sweet/tart for themselves! Hopefully you guys are getting some of this summer polar-vortex in St. Louis. Here in Indianapolis the high today is 72. It’s absolutely gorgeous.
We are enjoying mild weather, Ami! Glad you are too! The sky is so blue today it doesn’t even look real. Here’s to polar vortex summers and not following recipes!
Pretty pictures. When I was living in France, I always lived how they served pressed juice with the sugar on the side, so you could DIY each glass 🙂