Indulge me - strawberry lemonade

Image from Star5112

So I have a thing for Southern food (no idea why). While in San Francisco we ate at the fabulous Famer Brown's, where BCB and I had candied sweet potato and grits and succotash and hush puppies and fried catfish for the first time ever. Fabulous. So from the nearby Borders I purchased The Glory of Southern Cooking (even the title is wonderful) to recreate those wonders at home. Last night we had mac'n'cheese for the first time in my life.

But before that, I used up some slightly squishy strawberries and excess lemons making strawberry lemonade. It was delicious and easy (and not too sweet), and might be something to consider for a summer kitchen tea, or to serve straight after the ceremony. So here's the recipe:

1.5 cups water
1 cup of sugar
1.5 cups fresh lemon juice (6 - 8 lemons)
1 cup of ripe fresh strawberries, stems cut off and cut into quarters
1L club soda water

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir until sugar dissolves (about 2 minutes).

Let the sugar syrup cool a little, then stick it in a blender with the lemon juice and strawberries. Blitz until smooth. Chill.

To serve, stir the club soda into the lemonade base.