Strawberry Basil Lemonade
Sunday as I strolled into the farmers market I was overcome with the smell of strawberries, basil and citrus fruits. The scent conjured up one of my favorite memories. Wayyyyyy back when – on my 23rd birthday – I was poor and in grad school and my boyfriend (the now fiancé) had just started his first ‘real job’ in metro-Detroit. Fancy-schmancy dinners were obsolete between paying for our foray into adulthood and plane tickets for the long-distance love affair. All I wanted for my birthday was a night to dress up and have an over-priced fondue dinner at The Melting Pot. I added 3 strawberry-basil-lemonade + vodka concoctions at $12 a pop to our already pricey bill. The fizzy, fruity buzz from the drink was an added birthday treat. I had to find a way replicate the drink at a much lower cost. And introduce my friends to my new official elixer of summer at our barbeques.
Of course I left the farmers market on Sunday with a bag filled with lemons, strawberries and basil. Ready to celebrate the return of my favorite fruit and the summer season (although technically it’s still spring for a few more weeks…).
My preference is to make a big batch – the “make on big mess” method. I start with the lemonade simple syrup (use Meyer lemons if you can find them) and then move on to creating the strawberry-basil puree (storage methods: fridge for the simple syrup; freezer for the puree). Pulse 2 pints of cleaned strawberries with 3/4 cup basil in your blender or food processor. You will have 4 equal portions of both the lemonade simple syrup and the puree. Add 1 portion of each to 2 bottles of sparkling water and enjoy a treat whenever you like. My version isn’t overly sweet, so you can add a little sugar if that suits you. Perfectly ripe strawberries are enough sweet for my taste preference.
Want vodka in the mix? Try this variation from Kitchn. What is YOUR summer drink of choice?
lemonade simple syrup... 
Sister Disco
Life, love, wellness and the pursuit of all we crave and want in life. It’s possible! I’m over at Sister Disco today, talking about manifesting, making life happen and of course, music! Read the full post and download my ear-candy-filled “Manifesting Magic” playlist.
Fun fact: when a song is stuck in your head it’s called an “earworm”? How to rid your brain of earworms found here.
Dream Big: Ali Shapiro
I can’t exactly remember when I first met Ali on Twitter. She’s my kindred soul-sister of wellness. We share parallel philosophies on wellness practices, food, exercise and living your life on your terms. Ali works with clients one-on-one in her hometown of Philly, PA and provides online courses. Her own journey with wellness has been a lifetime in the making, having survived cancer from an early age in life. Ali is a shining light and shares her story and continuing journey through writing (her first book: The Roots of Going Green) television appearances and guest posts on my favorite corners of the web, like Crazy Sexy Life.
Connect with @AliMShapiro on Twitter and her community on Facebook. A great review of her group program “Truce with Food” can be found in Philadelphia Magazine’s “Be Well Philly” blog.
Why you should know Ali:
I’ve been in the health-counseling field for five years now. I work with accomplished women to show them the missing links in their weight-loss goals. I use a scientific and spiritual approach that combines my holistic nutrition and Masters from the University of Pennsylvania in Coaching/Change Management, along with my own diet dramas that masked the emotional wounding of a childhood cancer experience. I’m really proud of the work my clients and I have accomplished. My next steps are to bring my work to women on a national scale Thematically on one hand I’m trying to learn patience and the power of slowness. On the other hand, I’m finishing grad school (1 class and a thesis left!), creating corporate/speaking opportunities and adding more videos to my website. And trying to manage a long-distance marriage.
What are your big dreams in life?
To enjoy the process in whatever I do. I’d love to be a leading expert in health media/communications. I’d love to have a show where I interview the leading holistic and integrated medicine healers in the world. Asking questions is one of my favorite activities. I want to be part of the processes that help women invest their energy in social and business projects, where we really shine. Being thin or on a diet won’t solve any of your problems. It’s a distraction from doing the real work to be genuinely confident and secure.
When will you feel like you’ve succeeded?
I always focus on how my goals will feel versus what form that takes place. I have a lot of ambition, but I can’t say I have a definitive measure of success. I value freedom above all else. And I have that! I want to feel secure as much as possible without getting so comfortable I don’t take risks. I want harmony in my relationships. So far, I have those feelings in my life. There are times when I wish I was further along but I’ve done A LOT of work around that and today, am really content with my little organic plot.
Define wellness:
Being well to me means being able to embrace the uncertainty of life. That includes the spontaneity of eating something decadent and not feeling guilty. It’s staying present for the great, the routine and the yuck. It’s moving your body in inspiration instead of exercising out of stressful “motivation”. And, it’s eating/living as close to nature as possible.
See Ali in action, sharing her love of wellness (sorry doves – this opens in a new window for the video!):
How do you take care of you?
I’m mostly dairy and grain-free, always gluten-free and eat a mostly plant-based diet. I eat humanely raised meat and fish. I drink lots of water. I workout with friends, including my new found love of hip-hop dance. Learning is a creative outlet for me so after my mainstream Masters is done, I’ll probably be onto some other woo-woo healing classes. My husband, who is at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, will be home this summer and I’ll be spending lots of time with him, which means I’ll be laughing the 16 hours a day I’m not sleeping. I am religious about getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night. And most of my make-up and cleaning products are as natural as possible. I remind myself I’m doing the best I can.
How do you structure your day?
Every day is different for me. My creative juices flow best in the mornings and late evenings. I schedule admin stuff and meetings in the early afternoon and evening hours because my energy dips then. I’m extroverted so meeting with people energizes me! I try to workout in the morning or it won’t happen for the day. I’ve learned to let myself nap or take a rest versus try to grind through work. I’m not a pro at time management. Read my routine at your own risk!
Give us a sense of your work/creative environment.
I have an office where I see clients. Most of my clients comment on how restorative it is. It’s on the 19th floor and has lots of green plants. At home, different story! I live in Philadelphia so space is a premium. I sometimes work at a secretary desk in the bedroom or at the kitchen table. I am definitely dreaming of a gorgeous office one of these days. However, I hate clutter and am an extreme minimalist so it’s never really messy…my work just doesn’t have proper boundaries!
Tell us about your perfect day – start to finish.
I’d start with a hip-hop class that played Nicki Minaj, Beyonce and Rhiana. Next, a wonderful local organic brunch with my husband and closest friends where the weather is mid-70s, sunny and a light breeze. After brunch, I’d head to a workshop on some sort of healing modality. Then an afternoon nap and then dressing up in an outfit I love for an some sort of unique experience, like a concert with James Taylor or Paul Simon with my family and/or friends. Then probably in bed by 12. I love sleep!
Who would leave you star-struck?
I admire the visionaries: Gloria Steinem, Oprah, Martha Beck and Dr. Mark Hyman.
A quote that best describes your outlook on life:
I love quotes. To pick just one is so hard. But I think it would be this passage from Rainer Marie Rilke, in Letters to a Young Poet:
..I would like to beg you dear Sir [or wonderful woman], as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
Share a secret with us!
There is a lot of faith in science. Especially nutritional science. I find it incredibly fascinating that people think that if a diet works for them, it will work for someone else.
Images, video courtesy of Ali; via Pinterest & glassybaby.
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