Sunset Slush

I originally wanted to call this one Strawberry Slush on Orange Rocks. But, by the time I assembled it and took this picture, it all began steadily melting and reminded me of a beautiful sunset lending golden hues to the earth. If you are beginning to think I am outta my mind whipping up slushes when the weather-man is still predicting snow... hang tight! I made this for my friend Madhuri who is hosting the 'Serve Me Some....Juices, Shakes, Smoothies' event on her blog. She happens to be located in Bangalore, my hometown, where people are apparently perspiring buckets already - And, summer has just begun! This one is to cool off all my Bengaluru Jana!

And Madhuri, this one is for you too! It's a edible drink - In the sense that you start off eating the icy strawberry slush and as it melts you begin drinking it. How cool is that? And, its simply perfect to end a long, tiring day. Make sure you have someone do the prep work (It's a breeze, trust me) at home after you head off to work to enjoy your cold treat when you return at dusk. Hmmmm...Another good reason to call it the Sunset Slush. Go on and try it.. for this one is no great 'shakes'!

Ingredients
3/4 Cup Orange Juice (You can opt to make fresh juice using fruit. I used Tropicana)
3-4 Fresh Strawberries
1 tsp Sugar (Optional/Replace with honey, if you want sweetness sans the sugar)

Method
- Pour the Orange Juice in a freezer safe dish and freeze
- Blend the strawberries and sugar/honey, with very little water (just enough to cover it in the blender) to a smooth paste/pulp
- Pour this in another freezer safe dish and freeze too
- Every hour just scrape the contents of the strawberry pulp bowl every one hour to make it 'slushy'
- After about 4 hours you should have a pretty frozen slushy strawberry pulp
- When you are ready to drink (or eat!) your slush, assemble as below:
a) Crush the frozen orange juice and place at the bottom of your glass
b) Add some water to make the strawberry pulp tad bit fluid, but not too much, and pour over the orange 'rocks'
c) Dress it up with funky shaped ice cubes and strawberries and your Sunset Slush is ready!!

The above method is a bit long drawn and is applicable if you DO NOT have the Ice Crush option on your blender/mixer. If you do then you can opt to go on adding ice cubes to the strawberry pulp in the mixer for an instant slush. All you will need to do is freeze the orange juice to make things rock!

SERVES 1 (You can actually split it with a friend, too!)