Pink Lemonade

Remember this post? Well, I tried making rosewater yesterday...

My niece picked some roses from the garden, and we decided that we would try to make rosewater lemonade.

If you've had this kind of lemonade before, or looked at the photo from Pita House, then you know that it's not supposed to be pink. My method of extracting the rose essence was incorrect. <--- (Wow, my nerd level just rose to an extreme level after that sentence.) I was going to do a write up of the different methods there are to make rosewater, but you really just need to know that if you ever try to make your own, use this method. Don't use a shortcut, because the results will not be as satisfactory.


In the end, though our rosewater lemonade was not as fragrant as Pita House's, it was still pretty good lemonade. The flavor of the rosewater was not as strong as I would have liked, but it was still neat to be drinking something that was refreshing with a pretty pink color.

*I imagine that adding some alcohol to this pink lemonade would make for a really lovely and light summer drink for a bachelorette party or baby shower. J/k about the bachelorette party.

Pita House in Old Town Alexandria

Went to a restaurant in Old Town last night called "Pita House." I ordered their "choose your own 3" platter: rice, beef souvlaki, and falafel. It was good food, and moderately priced. I've been there before, and both times it was a pleasant experience. This time however, I discovered something new that I've never had before. Please don't laugh at me if you've had this before, but I tried their lemonade. Yes. Lemonade, but with rosewater. eiad lkjdoaijd elakd AMAZING.

I love you.

It was lightly sweet, not too tart, and the rosewater added a fragrance and pleasure that I don't often find in a non-alcoholic beverage. It was simple, but new to me. I now have dreams of making my own rosewater so that I can add it to other things...strawberry lemonade, cakes, tea, butter cookies, popsicles, coffee...Ok, maybe not coffee. I'll have to work on that list a bit more...

Bundt in the Oven

I made my first bundt cake a few weeks ago. It was a lemon pound cake with lemon glaze recipe thar I found on the side of a cake mix box. Yes. I made a cake that wasn't from scratch, and I don't care what you think. A version of the cake is on Allrecipes here.

As usual, I tried to reduce the amount of fat by substituting apple sauce for oil. Even without the oil, the cake baked beautifully. I had a hard time getting it out of the bundt pan though, but I'm not sure if the lack of oil in the batter had anything to do with it. As I tried to get it out, chunks of the cake broke off. I was left crying "whyyyyyyyyy????" in the kitchen at midnight, the night before the Father's Day potluck at church. So, I "glued" the chunks back onto the cake, using the glaze as an adhesive, and then to cover up the ugliness of the breaks, I covered the whole thing with more glaze. It looked even worse. It looked like I had poured Elmer's glue allover cornbread. Deeeelicious.

I freaked out. It was late, and I didn't have enough confectioner's sugar to make frosting for another cake. "Work smarter, not harder," I told myself. I cut it up, arranged it "artfully" on my platter, and went to bed.

This wasn't my finest baking accomplishment. The flavor was ok, but could have been a bit more "lemony." Also, get this--the sugar glaze was too sweet. Weird. The texture was nice, and very moist, which I appreciated. I'm not sure I would make this cake again, but I think people enjoyed it fine. It just seemed like a whole lot of effort for an ok result.