Having moved to France from Texas, I used to bemoan the mild summers and seemingly eternal cold season. But after experiencing the extreme temperatures that recently scorched most of the country and western Europe, I’d happily trade in these unbearable heatwaves for those cooler summer days. In the 12 years that I’ve lived here, never has the mercury climbed that high before the summer solstice even arrived. My body went through a bit of a shock when the temperatures went from cool to nearly 40°c in the snap of a finger during the first heatwave this year.
Then the second one arrived a couple of weeks ago, which lasted a bit longer. Being on the top floor with three skylights and no air conditioning, I essentially roasted in my apartment. The only way for me to get any relief was to go hang out at the frozen food aisle at the grocery store. But I couldn’t spend the day there because I still had to work. Not able to escape the oven that was my apartment, the heat depleted my energy, killed my appetite and robbed me of my sleep. Fortunately, the drinks in my latest vlog kept me hydrated and replenished. Though I don’t follow any sort of recipes when making these drinks, I did share how I make one of the drinks in a blog post awhile back – Vietnamese Basil Seeds & Malva Nut.
I hope y’all are managing to stay cool this season and that some of these Vietnamese drinks will give you a refreshing dose of cool.
Thanks for reading & watching,