Dog Days of Summer
It always seemed to happen on the hottest night of the summer: the Tarpy family slide show. We’d all be visiting my grandparents at the lake (parents, brother, aunt and uncle, cousins). An adult would float the idea into the after-dinner void “since we’re all together, won’t it be fun!” The kids wanted nothing more than to NOT watch hours’ worth of family photos cast from a Kodak carousel slide projector onto a crooked white screen set up in front of the picture window in the living room. But we were not in a democracy. So, grandpa would start fiddling around with the projector (he was an expert fiddle-a-rounder), and other adults would start filling up the carousel with slides from their respective trips over the past year, first holding them up to the lamp and squinting to ensure the images were right side up (80/20 success rate). Meanwhile, us kids were strewn about on the floor with scratchy throw pillows, begging for ice cream (“no”) or root beer (“absolutely not”). Once the equipment was in place and the lamp turned off, the whirr of the projector filled the room, dust particles danced in the light beam aimed at the screen, and the show began. Slide by excruciating slide we heard lengthy details of each moment captured on the trips, until the still heat, the darkness, and the boredom sent us drifting off to sleep, dreaming of all the swimming to be done the next day.
Makes 1 drink
- 4 ounces watermelon juice (see below)
- 2 ounces rum
- ½ ounce crème de cassis
- 1 teaspoon cardamom simple syrup (see below)
- Ice cubes
- Crushed ice
Add the watermelon juice, rum, cassis, and simple syrup to a shaker. Add ice cubes and shake to chill. Strain into a Collins glass. Fill with crushed ice.
Garnish: watermelon wedge on the rim
Watermelon Juice: Puree ½ pound of seedless watermelon chunks in a blender. Strain the juice through a fine-mesh sieve.
Cardamom Simple Syrup: Lightly crush 1 tablespoon of cardamom. Add to a small pot with ½ cup water and ½ cup sugar and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. When the sugar dissolves, turn off the heat and let the syrup cool. Strain into a small jar.
