summer relaxation

Have I mentioned what a lucky Mom I am this summer?  Why, you ask?  Because my girls are letting me sleep until 8:30 almost every morning.  Yes.  I know it seems impossible, but it's true!  I am so so happy it's ridiculous.  That is the reason for the much later blog posts than normal.  

Thanks so much to all of you for showing your support of echoes.  Already, we have a few people joining in over on flickr and I love seeing the daily journal pages.  Be sure to stop over at flickr or our blog if you haven't already.

I thought I would close the post with my recipe (if you want to call it that) for jamaica, or hibiscus tea in English.  You can purchase jamaica anywhere you can find a fairly large variety of hispanic foods.  For me, I get it from the Price Chopper in Roeland Park.  Although you might find the leaves marked "hibiscus", more often they are labeled as "jamaica... pronounced ha-mike-uh.  

Put 1/4 c sugar into a pan with 2c water.  Heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and turn off the heat.  Add 1/4 c jamaica.  Stir and then leave to steep for 10 minutes.  At this point it is ready to transfer to a pitcher.  I recommend doing this into a glad pitcher over the sink, for hibiscus dyes anything pink.  Now you can taste it to determine if you would like a bit more water in it.

To serve, pour over ice and squeeze a wedge of lime over top.  Enjoy.