Iced Cappuccino

Jen's favorite cool drink on a hot and humid NYC day is iced cappuccino.  Fortunately we have a Nespresso machine to make super good coffee.  The problem was that the ice was watering down the coffee too much so to make sure that didn't happen, we made iced coffee cubes using slightly sweetened coffee in a regular ice tray.

After much delicious trial and error, we discovered that the Soy Dream brand vanilla enriched soy milk works better than any other milk (we tested real milk, 2 brands of soy milk and with flavors and not, along with almond and rice milk) for the most froth from the aerator.

This iced cap uses 2 lungo shots of Decaffeinato Lungo (if you like stronger and with caffeine, I recommend Arpeggio), 6 coffee cubes, 1 Splenda and 1 C soy milk fully cold aerated. Jen, of course, added some cocoa powder and a wafer cigar :)

Images by MadeForJen

Watermelon Agua Fresca

A dinner out at Cascabel Taqueria (review to come) in New York City inspired us to try making some watermelon agua fresca at home and now Jen is hooked (it's become a thrice weekly ritual).  It's so easy to make, I can't believe we've never thought of it.  It works with almost any good summer fruit - oranges, limes, grapefuit, berries.

Recipe Card (PDF)Start with a good seedless watermelon (chilled if possible) and cut it into chunks. For about 6 cups of agua fresca, we used about 1/8th of a medium melon. Drop the chunks into a blender (use a good one that can crush ice for the best result) along with 6-10 ice cubes and 1/4 cup of agave (or other sweetener).

Blend on a high crushing speed until near smooth - about 2 minutes - then add an equal amount of chilled seltzer water.  Serve in tall glasses with 2 more ice cubes and a spear of watermelon. A good garnish is a sprig of mint or a cool straw (these were Jonathan Adler designed for Pepsi)...now sit back and enjoy!