Grapefruit Fizz

   As warmer weather creeps in, I have found myself obsessed with this drink.

   It’s simple—only two ingredients—and takes less than five minutes to make. It’s a very rewarding beverage, the effort expended to make it minimal and the results uniformly delicious. (Trust me, as someone who has gone through two bags of grapefruit in as many weeks: I know).

     It’s actually so simple I felt a little silly at the thought of posting it, but then I remembered that it has taken me over two decades to come up with the idea, so why not spare others the trouble?

   So, here goes:         

Grapefruit Fizz

1 part fresh grapefruit juice

2-3 parts soda water, to taste

                                                                                     

Combine ingredients, ice well, and give a gentle stir. 

   See, wasn’t that disgustingly easy?

   Now that I’ve proven a simpleton could successfully produce the Grapefruit Fizz, I will add a few words to whomever is still with me at this point. So far, I have only used freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, which sounds very Martha, but isn’t really. I don’t recommend using a juicer because the albedo—that white pith between the body of the fruit and the rind—is actually quite bitter and will alter the flavor of the juice. Simply cut your fruit in half as if you were going to eat it with a spoon and squeeze the juice out into a bowl.

    There will probably be pulp hanging pathetically out of the pressed rind at this point, squeeze it out and if, like me, you do not mind a little pulp in your juice, toss it in and add it to the drink. If you wanted to be very fancy I suppose you could macerate it a little bit, but I did not, because just typing "macerate" makes me tired. I just chop at it a little with the straw as I’m drinking; which is the closest I’ve come in my life to macerating anything. 

     So there, a delightful little summertime drink. It’s incredibly refreshing; since “quitting” coffee (see what I did there? With the quotation marks?), I have been taking a little jar of grapefruit juice to work to have as an afternoon pick-me-up instead of an iced latte or frappe. And yes, I feel quite proud of myself.