Middle Eastern Dinner – Part 6 – The Beverages

Today concludes my Middle Easter Dinner Party series. I have presented everything I made for the party, which was a deliciously, successful and fun evening. I have one last recipe for you from my party. The beverages.

Believe it or not, NOT everyone enjoys wine. I know! I was shocked too! All joking aside though, of course I had wine, and lots of it too. But I also offered a deliciously refreshing Lebanese spritzer as well, for all the non-alcoholic drinkers.

This cool, refreshing cucumber and mint spritzer was delicious. If the weather had been a little more cooperative, and NOT dropping 5 inches of snow on us, it would have been even more appreciated than it was. It would be perfect on the dog days of summer, when the mercury is on the rise. I made two versions. One had ginger and the other did not. Both were all gone very quickly and enjoyed by all.

Lebanese Cucumber and Mint Spritzer

This cool and refreshing drink is so easy to make and only requires a few basic ingredients. The recipe called for lemon juice, which I didn’t have enough of at the time, so I used lime juice instead. I like lemon juice a lot, and use it for so many different things, but I much prefer lime juice anyway. So, from here on out, it is lime juice for me. 🙂 I am giving you the proportions I used to fill my large pitchers. You can adjust it for individual portions as needed.

1 1/2 32-oz bottles of club soda

2 cups, or more as needed regular water

1/4 cucumber, sliced very thin

1 cup sugar

1 TBSP ginger

10+ fresh mint leaves

2 TBSP lime juice or lemon juice

You can make a simple syrup with the sugar and lime or lemon juice and cucumber, but why? I liked it so much better just by adding everything together and mixing it all up, drinking it fresh.

Combine the lime juice, sugar, ginger and regular water and mix well. Pour into the pitcher. Add the club soda and mix well again. Then add the mint and the sliced cumbers. Chill until ready to use. Do not make too far in advance, because it will deplete the effervescence of he club soda. I did not mix the sugar, lime juice ginger and water at first, and when I added my club soda, it fizzed all over my counter. No big deal, I just had to clean it up. But why waste any of this delicious drink if you can help it, right?! 🙂 This is kind of like the non-alcoholic Lebanese version of the Cuban Mojito. 🙂

This is a wrap for my Middle Eastern dinner party. As you know, I have plenty more recipes and fun things coming your way. And their will ALWAYS be more dinner parties too. I feed people and love to entertain. That’s just what I do. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.