Lemonade for Barbie
Hillary sat quietly playing with her Barbie dolls. Actually it wasn’t all that quiet. The blonde Barbie spoke to Ken, the male Barbie version.
They were having a row about who was to look after the kids when blonde Barbie went to the shops. Hillary would play the double part, talking in her natural voice when she was voice-overing blonde Barbie and mimicking a male voice, with as deep a voice as possible, when pretending to be Ken.
Her mother working nearby in the kitchen, listened subconsciously to this soliloquy. Every now and then she would smile as the make-believe doll conversation would come pretty close to the real thing. She realised that her daughter had obviously overheard some of the arguments that had taken place between her and her husband.
Suddenly, Hillary jumped up and came to stand near her mother.
“Guess what mom, Barbie is expecting again.”
“She’s what!”
Normally Hillary’s mother was quite calm and understanding when it came to Hillary’s outbursts, but this time her mind had been elsewhere. Her daughter’s remark had brought her back from her thoughts too quickly and she didn’t have time to process the information properly.
Hillary placed her hands on her hips,
“I said Barbie is going to have a baby!”
“Oh” The mother replied. “and how do you know?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I will when her tummy starts to get big.”
“That’s going to take a long time. Doll’s tummies don’t get bigger….. they’re dolls!”
Hillary’s mother had unwittingly fallen in the trap. Hillary continued.
“They do, mom.” The new Barbie has a baby in her tummy and you can take it out, just like the doctor took me out of your tummy. “
Hillary’s mother, thinking that her daughter just had a vivid imagination, again said the wrong thing.
“I don’t think there’s a doll like that, not even a Barbie. I will help you and we can stuff some cottonwool under your Barbie’s dress and you can pretend she’s pregnant.”
Little Hillary was highly indignant. She glared at her mother. Her mother was normally ‘with it’, buttoday she was just plain old fashioned and completely out-dated.
Hillary marched across the room and grabbed her mother’s cell phone. Returning, she thrust the phone in her mother’s hand and demanded,
“Please get me to the Barbie’s website.”
Mom obeyed. Once there, Hillary took the phone and scrolled down till she found the advertisement she was looking for. She held the phone, screen facing her mother, and in a ‘I told you so’ voice said, look. “
Her mom quietly read the ad and looked at the pictures. She raised her eyebrows and slowly nodded her head.
” Well, well, well. Bless my soul. You’re quite right. They do make a pregnant Barbie, and you can remove the baby. Whatever will they think of next.”
Mom’s words were hardly cold when Hillary attacked.
“Will you buy it for me…. please.”
Her mother carefully explained that they didn’t have the money now to spend on another doll, but that there was a good chance she would be lucky and receive one for her birthday or Christmas.
Hillary wasn’t having any of that. She wanted the Barbie now. So she put on the show that normally worked quite well. She burst into tears!
Mom stopped what she was doing and dried her hands. She led Hillary to the nearest chair where she lifted her up onto her lap. Stroking her hair, she cooed.
“I never said you couldn’t have a pregnant Barbie, It’s just that daddy hasn’t got the money at the moment. Can’t you wait till the end of the month?”
Hillary’s face clouded over and shaking her head violently from side to side, she answered,
“No”
The tears started rolling afresh down her cheeks.
Her mother racked her brain for a solution.
“You could work for some money.”
“I’m too small to go and work.”
“You could sell some of your toys.” Suggested her mother.
“I love all my toys.” countered Hillary.
On the kitchen table stood a bowl, stacked high with lemons. There was a lemon tree in the garden and Hillary’s mother had picked a whole basket full the day before.
Whether by chance or a push from some mysterious unseen hand, one particular lemon became dislodged and fell from the bowl onto the table. It carried on rolling and was just about to fall off the table, when a hand descended and plucked it up.
Hillary’s mom had absentmindedly watched the plight of the poor lemon and only in the nick of time aroused herself from her self-thought to be able to stop the lemon from falling off the table. She brought the lemon to her nose and smelt it’s refreshing fragrance.
Hillary watched her mother through tearstained eyes.
“Yuk! Lemons are sour.” she exclaimed.
Suddenly her mother’s face lit up. She turned to Hillary and smiled broadly as she said.
“I have an idea how we can make some money to buy your pregnant Barbie.”
Hillary was instantly excited and curious at the same time.
“How mom, tell me how, please tell me how.”
Mom held up the lemon in her hand, and answered.
“We’re going to make some lemonade from all these lemons and you can sell it to people passing by the house. We still have paper cups over from your birthday party. We’ll set up the fold-up table and you can make a sign, saying : Hillary’s homemade lemonade, 50 cents per cup. “
Hillary flung her arms around her mother’s neck and kissed her on the cheek.
” You’re the best mother ever. “
Home-made lemonade
INGREDIENTS
- SYRUP
- 200g (1 cup) sugar
- 250ml (1 cup) water
- juice of 5 fresh lemons
- TO SERVE
- soda water
- No. 1 Pimm’s
- pomegranate rubies
- fresh mint
- orange slices
- ice
INSTRUCTIONS
1
Make a simple syrup by combining the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and a thick syrup has formed.
2
Remove from heat and add the lemon juice. Cool and place in the fridge for 1 hour before serving.
3
To serve, combine the syrup with 2 – 3L soda water and a dash of Pimm’s, and mix well. Serve with plenty of pomegranate rubies, fresh mint, orange slices and ice.
Home-made lemon and ginger tonic
INGREDIENTS
- 200ml lemon juice
- 120g sugar
- 5cm fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- a pinch of salt
- 500ml (2 cups) crushed ice
- 1L (4 cups) tonic water
- lemon leaves, to garnish
- sliced lemons, to serve
INSTRUCTIONS
1
Combine the lemon juice, sugar, ginger and salt, and mix well.
2
Add the crushed ice and top with tonic water.
3
Garnish with lemon leaves and serve with sliced lemons.
Frosted coconut lemonade
INGREDIENTS
- 125ml (½ cup) lemon juice
- 65g icing sugar
- 310ml (1¼ cups) water
- ½ x 400ml tin coconut milk
- large handful ice
- lemon slices, to garnish (optional)
- mint leaves, to garnish (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
1
Whisk the lemon juice, icing sugar and water together. Pour into ice trays and freeze for at least 4 hours or overnight.
2
Add the lemon ice cubes to a high-speed blender along with the coconut milk and handful of ice. Blend until smooth and icy.
3
Garnish with lemon slices and fresh mint, if desired, to serve.
Cucumber lemonade lollies
INGREDIENTS
- 125ml (½ cup) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 375ml (1½ cups) water
- 30ml (2 tbsp) castor sugar
- 200g cucumber, seeded and grated
INSTRUCTIONS
1
Add the lemon juice, water and sugar to a food processor and blend until smooth.
2
Pour half of the mixture into the moulds to fill them about halfway, leaving enough space to add the cucumber at a later stage. Freeze the mixture until it has a slushy consistency, about 1 hour.
3
Divide half of the grated cucumber, followed by the leftover mixture and the remaining cucumber, evenly among the moulds. Freeze for a further 4 – 6 hours.