By Summer 2029. Sofia turns twenty-one. Diego turns twenty. Camila turns sixteen in October. The children are adults now — or almost adults, or the particular kind of Gutierrez adult that means: responsible, working, building, singing, nursing, engineering, baking. The building is the family. The family is the building. Both are Rosa.
The cookbook is in its final stages. One hundred and forty-seven recipes. All tested. All typed. All argued over. Isabella and I finished the manuscript in August, and the manuscript is three hundred pages of Rosa's kitchen translated into English (mostly) with Spanish phrases that I didn't translate because some things only sound right in the original language, and the original language is Rosa's, and Rosa's language is the recipe, and the recipe is the book.
When Isabella and I finally closed the manuscript in August — three hundred pages, one hundred and forty-seven recipes, every argument and every tasting and every late-night rewrite behind us — I knew we needed something to pour into glasses and lift into the air together. Sofia is twenty-one now, Diego is nearly there, and Camila is almost through with being a child, and the summer felt like it was asking us to mark that somehow, to fizz a little. This Sparkling Citrus Punch is the drink I made that afternoon: bright and cold and just sweet enough, the kind of thing you can hand to everyone at the table regardless of age, and it tastes like the particular relief of finishing something you have been building for a very long time.
Sparkling Citrus Punch
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh-squeezed orange juice (about 6 medium oranges)
- 1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
- 1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice (about 4 limes)
- 1/2 cup simple syrup (or to taste)
- 1 liter ginger ale, chilled
- 1 liter sparkling water or club soda, chilled
- 1 orange, thinly sliced, for garnish
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced, for garnish
- Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish
- Ice, for serving
Instructions
- Juice the citrus. Squeeze the oranges, lemons, and limes and strain the juices through a fine-mesh sieve into a large pitcher or punch bowl to remove seeds and pulp.
- Add the syrup. Stir the simple syrup into the citrus juice mixture. Taste and adjust sweetness as needed — the punch should be bright and tart with just enough sweetness to balance.
- Chill the base. If making ahead, cover and refrigerate the citrus-syrup base for up to 24 hours until ready to serve.
- Add the bubbles. Just before serving, slowly pour the chilled ginger ale and sparkling water into the pitcher or punch bowl over the citrus base. Stir gently to combine without losing too much carbonation.
- Garnish and serve. Fill glasses with ice, ladle or pour the punch over the ice, and garnish each glass with a slice of orange, a slice of lemon, and a sprig of fresh mint. Serve immediately.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 75 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 19g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 20mg