By July. My birthday month. I turn thirty-two on the 14th. I have been alive for thirty-two years and a mother for eighteen months and a full-time founder for one year. Each of these timelines contains more living than the one before. The acceleration is real. Time moves faster when you have a child, not because the days are shorter but because each day contains more — more words, more steps, more meals, more moments that you want to freeze and cannot.
Hana has discovered the sprinkler in the backyard. James set it up on Saturday and Hana ran through it in her diaper, screaming with delight, the water arcing over her in silver curves. She is a child who loves water. She is a child who loves everything, actually — she is nineteen months old and the world is still entirely novel and entirely wonderful and the novelty has not yet worn off and the wonder has not yet been replaced by knowledge. I want to protect this. I want to keep the wonder alive as long as possible. I know I cannot. I know the world will teach her things that diminish the wonder — about race, about adoption, about being different, about the questions people ask when you don't look like your grandparents. I know these lessons are coming. But right now, right now, she is running through a sprinkler and screaming and the screaming is joy and the joy is pure and I am standing in the kitchen watching through the window and the window frames everything I love.
I started developing the fall Banchan Labs collection early — September feels close when you're developing recipes. The theme: "Homecoming." Recipes for returning, for settling in, for the food you eat when you've been away and you're back. Doenjang jjigae (always). Kimchi bokkeumbap. Japchae. And a new recipe: Jisoo's mandu, adapted for the subscription card. The mandu recipe will be the first card with Jisoo's name as co-developer. I asked her permission. She said, "My name, on your card?" I said, "Your name, on our card." She said, "Yes."
The recipe this week is watermelon-hwachae — a Korean fruit punch, because it is July and Hana and I need something cold and sweet. A small watermelon, halved. Scoop out the flesh. Combine watermelon balls with Korean sprite (chilsung cider) or sparkling water, a splash of condensed milk, and a handful of ice. Serve in the watermelon shell. Eat the fruit with a spoon. Drink the liquid with a straw. This is a Korean summer dessert. This is the thing children in Korea eat at the beach. This is the thing Hana ate in the backyard, in a watermelon shell, with a pink spoon, laughing. Summer. Korea. Home. All three.
The watermelon hwachae was Hana’s, made in a shell with a pink spoon — but I needed something I could hold in a glass while I stood at that kitchen window watching her. This Mango Orange Quencher is exactly that drink: cold and citrusy and unapologetically bright, the kind of thing that tastes like a July afternoon and asks nothing of you except that you slow down long enough to drink it. If summer has a color, it’s the orange of this glass, and if it has a sound, it’s Hana screaming through a sprinkler somewhere just out of frame.
Mango Orange Quencher
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 1 cup frozen mango chunks
- 1 cup fresh orange juice (about 3 medium oranges)
- 1/2 cup mango nectar or mango juice
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon honey or agave syrup (adjust to taste)
- 1/2 cup sparkling water or club soda
- 1 cup ice cubes
- Orange slices and fresh mint, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Blend the base. Add the frozen mango chunks, orange juice, mango nectar, lime juice, and honey to a blender. Blend on high until completely smooth, about 45 seconds.
- Taste and adjust. Taste the blended mixture and add more honey if you prefer it sweeter, or a squeeze of extra lime for more brightness. Blend briefly to combine.
- Fill the glasses. Divide the ice evenly between two tall glasses. Pour the mango-orange mixture over the ice, filling each glass about three-quarters full.
- Top with sparkle. Pour sparkling water gently over each glass to add effervescence and lighten the texture. Stir once or twice with a long spoon to combine.
- Garnish and serve. Tuck an orange slice onto the rim of each glass and add a sprig of fresh mint if desired. Serve immediately with a straw.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 165 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 41g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 15mg