With summer well underway now, the next few weeks are a prime time to indulge in your favourite ice cream treats, cold drinks, summer fruits and more. Here are a few of the summer treats our staff love eating in the summer.
Yuja Yogurt Cooler from Café Jindo
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I tried Café Jindo’s Yuja Yogurt Cooler as part of the Calgary Meals on Wheels YYC Summer Cool-er initiative, and it was a perfect summer treat. A combination of traditional Korean Yuja citrus, Yakult yogurt and elderflower tonic, the drink is finished off with a lemon and butterfly peaflower, giving it an awesome shade of purple.The result is a sweet, sharp and tangy drink, somewhere between a smoothie and sparkling lemonade — super refreshing on a hot day! The cafe just opened this past January, so I’m looking forward to seeing what other creations it has in store. — Katherine Pickering, digital producer
Unit F7, 8330 Macleod Tr. S.E., 587-353-4728, cafejindo.ca
Screamers from Calgary Zoo
Why choose between a slushie and ice cream if you don’t have to? I can’t make it through the summer without at least one screamer, and I especially enjoy having one on a stroll through the grounds of the Calgary Zoo. Orange and Pepsi flavours are available at the Dairy Bar while blue raspberry can be found at the Penguin Café. Each flavour is available in 16 oz and 20 oz sizes, but let’s be real: you’re getting the 20 oz. Sip yours while you meet the zoo’s newest residents at the re-imagined Gateway to Asia, a Malayan tapir, two Komodo dragons and two white-handed gibbons. — Colin Gallant, associate editor
210 St. George’s Dr. N.E., 403-232-9300, calgaryzoo.com
Fresh Summer Produce from Crossroads Market
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Crossroads Market is my go-to for delicious food and fun finds in the flea market. But in the summer months, it becomes the absolute best place to buy seasonal fresh fruit and veg. From June to September, the outdoor farmers’ market at Crossroads welcomes vendors, many from small family-owned farms, to sell their seasonal harvest. From crisp early-season carrots and multiple varieties of juicy plums to sweet garden peas, Alberta-grown strawberries and boxes of B.C. blueberries, it’s the place for fresh-from-the-farm summer produce. Plus, once you’re stacked with peaches, you can still wander through the year-round flea market and treat yourself to a vintage comic book. — Meredith Bailey, manager, Custom Publishing
1235 26 Ave. S.E., 403-291-5208, crossroadsmarket.ca
Agua Fresca Sundae from Made by Marcus
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Every summer, I look forward to the return of Made by Marcus’s watermelon soft serve. This dairy-free creation is incredibly flavourful, refreshing and light, and tastes even better when used to make the shop’s agua fresca sundae. Available only at MBM’s 17 Ave. S.W. location, the sundae features drizzles of macerated strawberries that complement the soft serve’s watermelon flavour, while a sprinkle of lime salt and micro basil balance out the sweetness. The final touch, a fun little cocktail umbrella, solidifies this sundae as one of Calgary’s must-try summer treats. — Alana Willerton, digital editor
121, 1013 17 Ave. S.W., 403-452-1692, madebymarcus.ca
Fruit Teas from Thé Moon Tea House
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During this year’s heat wave, I’ve become a big fan of fruit teas from Thé Moon. The seasonal Pink Drink — rose juice, pink dragon fruit juice and chamomile tea with lychee, raspberry and rosemary — has been my favourite thirst quencher this summer, followed closely by the Watermelon Yakult Punch (watermelon and yakult with sparkling water, aloe and moon stones). I like Thé Moon because there are so many non-dairy options, but the menu isn’t overwhelming. If I need a caffeine-kick, my drink of choice is Hawaiian Light, which comes with jasmine green/kung fu black tea, seasonal fruit, aloe and moon pearls. — Tsering Asha, editorial assistant
212 14 Ave. S.E., 403-455-0778, tmoon.ca