Ok kids, it’s crunch time.  I turn 31 in just 23 days, so I am going to make a strong effort to finish up with my 30-while-30 list before the official deadline.  I actually have made a bunch of items off of it, but just haven’t gotten around to blogging about them yet.  Get set for some rapid fire blog posts.

I love all kinds of Sangria, but I realized last summer when constructing my 30-while-30 list that I had never made it!  Weird.  Anyway, I figured that this summer I would have to go ahead and take the Sangria plunge.  I was particularly excited about giving a white wine Sangria a try as I figured it would look very pretty in a nice wine glass sitting on our porch.  I meant for this to be a July 4th post, as my concoction was very red, white & blue given the ingredients, but…well, that’s how summer goes I guess!  You can make it any day, really – it was that delicious.

I made a number of modifications to this recipe – first, I was assembling this drink down on the Jersey shore at my in-laws summer condo, and all of my kitchen appliances were not on hand – so adding pureed and strained watermelon was out of the question.  I just added cubed melon and it was great.  Also, sangria, turns out, typically calls for fortification with hard alcohol; I personally think my wine contains just enough ethanol as it is for a summer-time drink, especially on a hot day, and opted not to add any other liquors.  I think it came out great.  If you do try adding something stronger, I would recommend something like triple sec or a fruit-infused drink of some sort.  I also do not like carbonated drinks; some people would argue for adding a seltzer or tonic to sangria, but again this was not really up my alley.  The long and short of sangria is – it’s the fruit punch made with wine, so add whatever tickles your fancy, and enjoy!

Watermelon Sangria

adapted from bewitched via Allrecipes.com

• 4 cups cubed, seeded watermelon
• 1 (750 milliliter) bottle dry white wine
• 1/2 cup simple syrup (1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1/2 cup water – helps to do this on the stove!)
• 1 medium lime, sliced
• 1 orange, cut into wedges
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

• Place watermelon into a large pitcher.  Over top, pour white wine and simple syrup.  Add in the remaining fruit ingredients.  Stir gently, and refrigerate for about 4 hours before serving.