Still Hot!

We've been experiencing a heat wave in SE England . . . they are expecting scorching weather until Friday, when we *might* have some rain.

Everyone associates England with rain, but we've only had one shower a week ago, and little else in-between. Ninety-plus temps in my garden wouldn't be so bad if we had air conditioning in the house.

Yesterday morning, I was thrilled to be shopping at my grocery store, Waitrose, because they have wonderful air conditioning.

I was feeling quite spent and dehydrated by the afternoon, and I couldn't wait to jump in my car -- with air conditioning! -- to pick up my son from school. I even thought about spending the afternoon driving around, just so I could stay cool. :-o

The NHS has advised us not to drink alcohol or TEA! What, no tea??? Impossible.
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Summerhealth/Pages/Heatwaveredalert.aspx

I still drink hot tea in the summer, because I like it :-) and since hot drinks are supposed to have 'cooling' affects according to ancient Chinese traditions. However, I have also been making some decaf iced tea. The owners of this house are an international pair, and my large American-style side-by-side fridge-freezer has an automatic ice dispenser! This is almost unheard of in a UK kitchen. We also have a wine fridge -- how cool is that? I just wish I could crawl into it right now and cool off.

I added a twist to my iced tea yesterday . . . I filled my tall glass with ice and tea two-thirds of the way up, and then I topped it off with diet ginger ale. This isn't just any ginger ale . . . it's a Tesco's variety and it's called American-style ginger ale! The thing is, it's strongly peppery and gingery, unlike anything I've had in the States. The slight bubbles and the ginger background were wonderful in the iced tea and fantastic cooling agents in this heat.