Iced Tea

I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day. Mine was particularly celebratory because I bid adieu to my twenties and turned the big 3-0. Yes, that's right...I'm thirty. 

I always thought that my thirtieth birthday would be traumatic and terrifying. But you know what's a million times scarier than turning thirty? Having a baby. Guess what I'm gonna do in, oh, a week. Have a baby. So the big birthday was nothin'. 

My fantastic husband hosted an end-of-summer/Labor Day/birthday/don't-have-a-baby-yet barbecue in our backyard in celebration of my special day. It was great. He planned everything so I could just enjoy myself. He even decorated with signs and balloons and a horse-shaped pinata.

Did I mention that I have the best husband ever? Yeah, I do.

Anyway, the husband ordered ribs and smoked pulled chicken sandwiches from my favorite BBQ restaurant. He bought my favorite cheesecake for dessert. But we were stumped when it came to a special birthday beverages for me. I'm off the hard stuff, so I let my friends enjoy the booze. Pop makes me too burpy, and no one wants that. So I decided to make iced tea. 

Lightly sweetened and refreshing, this iced tea was just what the birthday girl needed. 

Iced Tea

Adapted from Eating Well

12 tea bags (Use your favorite black tea. For decaf tea, I like Typhoo.)

4 cups boiling water

1/4 cup sugar

4-6 cups cold water

Lemon wedges, for serving

Steep tea in boiling water for 3-5 minutes. 

Remove the tea bags and pour tea into a large pitcher. Stir in sugar until it dissolves. Add 4 cups cold water and taste the tea to see if it's diluted enough. Add the extra 2 cups of water if necessary. (In case you were wondering, I steeped my tea for the full 5 minutes and used all 6 cups of water.) 

Refrigerate the iced tea until it's totally chilled, about 2 hours. Serve with lemon wedges.