Wash. DC BBQ Meetup: July 4th, Burke Lake Park, Burke, VA

[Kizyr]

Just got back home. Thanks, to everyone. Me and Jenner both had a fantastic time--at the park, at DJP's, etc. Maybe we can get together and play a more extensive cricket game sometime {^^}.

Oh by the way, here's the scene in Wristcutters that me and Jenner were referencing a couple of times today:

KF

[Diodes]

I just wanted to say I had a great time with everybody yesterday! Thanks djp for hosting the BBQ and everyone for joining us. We got to do a lot of awesome things: cricket, frisbee, mini-golf, sit around in the shade and just chat while listening to remixes, rockband, time's up, and of course eat way too much delicious food. I hope to have more of these in the future and that more people will be able to join us for future ones

I'll post some pics later, and the strawberry lemonade recipe since at least a couple of people were asking me about that.

[zircon]

Sorry we couldn't make it, guys! We hope to see lots of pictures, and are definitely looking forward to meeting up with everyone we missed at Otakon.

[HalcyonSpirit]

Aaaaand I've gotten through the rest of my trip. Between yesterday's festivities and today's travel... exhausted. But so worth it.

Many thanks to everyone who made it and made it a great time, and to djp for the BBQ hosting awesomeness. It was awesome meeting everyone for the first time! Hopefully I'll be able to join in on future meetups.

5 stars, would go again.

[Arrow]

VUVUZELA

But no, seriously, it was loads of fun and the food was fantastic; couldn't ask for a better 4th celebration. Glad we all got together for that for sure.

Of the seven bags of chips I brought home, I haven't even finished the first I opened. XD

[Diodes]

OK took me a while but I have a few pics:

Playing cricket in the park

Mini-golf:

Rock band:

And I think we were all too busy stuffing our faces to take any pictures of the epic food, but let it be known that it was delicious and there was a lot of it

[HalcyonSpirit]

And I think we were all too busy stuffing our faces to take any pictures of the epic food, but let it be known that it was delicious and there was a lot of it

Strawberry Lemonaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade!

Also, is it just me, or do I look like a blind man in the second photo? Seriously, that's the impression I get from it, especially since you caught me when I was not directly facing the camera at that second.

[Diodes]

Strawberry Lemonaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaade!

Also, is it just me, or do I look like a blind man in the second photo? Seriously, that's the impression I get from it, especially since you caught me when I was not directly facing the camera at that second.

Oh yeah I was going to post that recipe! Also, I didn't notice it until you pointed it out, but sunglasses + cane-looking golf club totally = blind man

So onto the recipe, for all of OCR to enjoy:

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade

3 cups water

3/8 cup brown sugar (or regular sugar? never tried it, it might work too)

3/8 cup strawberry syrup

handful of strawberries

4 medium sized lemons

1 8 oz. bottle of club soda - keep this refrigerated

Some notes about this recipe:

- The strawberry syrup I use is Torani strawberry syrup, it's the kind of syrup they have at cafes and they add it to club soda to make italian sodas, not the kind of syrup you'd pour on pancakes. It's not that easy to find, I haven't ever seen the strawberry flavor in any grocery store, but I got mine at World Market.

- I prefer my lemonade a little on the tart side. If you like yours sweeter, you can increase the sugar and strawberry syrup to 1/2 cup each instead.

1. Add the brown sugar and strawberry syrup to the water in a saucepan. Heat it up until it boils, then you can remove it from the heat and let it cool. I do this to dissolve the sugar really well into the water so it's nice and smooth and even. But don't let it heat too long because you don't want too much liquid to evaporate.

2. Juice the lemons with a citrus juicer. Each lemon should yield roughly one tablespoon of juice. You can measure the liquid to make sure you have the right number of lemons since lemons may vary in size. Chop up the strawberries into very small pieces.

3. When the liquid is cool, you can add the lemon juice and strawberries to it. Mix it well. I like to let everything sit together in the fridge for a few hours to let all the flavors mix.

4. Right before serving, add the club soda. This is what makes it sparkling, so don't add it too far in advance because then it will lose its fizz. If you don't have club soda or fizzy lemonade is not your thing, you could skip it and do 4 cups of water instead. But personally I think the sparkling variety is awesome and adds something special to the lemonade. Plus if you have both the strawberry syrup and club soda on hand, you can make strawberry Italian sodas! (1 shot (2 oz.) of syrup for one 8 oz. or 10 oz. bottle of club soda.)