The jet lag from our adventure lingers, but there is light at the end of the tunnel and whenever I feel like tucking into bed for a nanna nap, I remind myself of the 'KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON' message on a fridge magnet that we picked up in London. Sage advice to push through and get back to the land of the living asap, methinks. 

'If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.' - J.R.R. Tolkien

According to news reports on the ABC this morning, 2013 was Australia's hottest summer on record and 2014 is likely to be the same, if not hotter. With that in mind, I'm gearing up with a range of refreshing spritzers that are health-giving as well as thirst quenching and cooling. 

'I'm going to take a stroll along the boardwalk,' I said to Peter as I headed out the door of our holiday apartment. 'Oh, are you,' he replied, turning his gaze away momentarily from an action-packed movie he'd been watching. 'Yes,' I replied. 'And if I'm not back within half an hour, you'll find me at Berardo's having oysters and cocktails.'

'Your cinnamon looks rancid'.
'Well, it's not cinnamon, it's a special kind of chilli pepper.'
'Chilli pepper in hot chocolate? Psh.'
'Mm-hm. It'll give you a lift.'
'Tastes like something I had when I was a girl.'

Armande Voizin, the landlady to chocolatier Vianne Rocher, Chocolat by Joanne Harris

'Would you like to taste a special drink with your barg kabab?' our gracious host asked, with a beautifully rich accent. 'Um, yes please, but may I ask, what is it?' I replied. 'It is called dugh [pronounced duːɣ], a salted yoghurt drink and it will be very nice with your lamb,' she explained with a smile.

The richest memories can be evoked by the simplest things—a basket of cherries, a soda pop, and a convivial afternoon in good company, for example. 

'The famous, very sweet, mint tea is a symbol of hospitality: it is served [with pastries] as soon as guests arrive at a house and at all times of the day'.
             – Claudia Roden on beverages, Arabesque - A Taste of Morocco, Turkey & Lebanon