This summer I had my first garden. Nothing fancy, just some flowers, veg (tomatoes, bell peppers and jalapenos), and herbs (mint and basil). All in all I'd say it was a raving success, though my poppies and johnny jumpups died, and I battled some sickly basil and cracking tomatoes before I figured out the whole fertilizing thing, haha. But witnessing the ruby red ripening of a tomato and coming in with hands that smelled of fresh, earthy mint was so rewarding, not to mention the splash of green that it added to the concrete jungle that is our backyard. With the nights getting colder and the fall frost becoming imminent I'm sure I'll be saying goodbye to my little garden soon. Luckily, Alan went out the other morning before Indy and I woke up and captured some beautiful shots for me to remember it by. I'm sure I'll sneak a couple of peeks at these in the dead of winter.

Summer is ice tea time, but when the heat wave a couple weeks ago brought temperatures in the 90's, I wasn't about to fire up the stove (especially since our single, dinky window AC unit doesn't exactly make it back to the kitchen).  

Perks of sun tea:

• utilizes the renewable (also read: free) energy of the sun
• steeping at lower temperatures results in a more mellow flavor and avoids the more biting tones that can result from using boiling water
• and. . . it's kind of fun

Cons:

• you have to be patient (it usually takes aout 3-5 hours to steep)
• since you don't use boiling water your tea won't stay good as long, but use within a day or two and you'll be golden

I picked this glass jar up at World Market for less than ten bucks, and used 2 family-sized Lipton's ice tea bags. I also threw in a few leaves from my mint plant. 3 hours later. . .