Bright and Breezy

The hurricane has passed. The water is ebbing, the power is being restored, businesses are reopened and people are back to work.
Most of us in New York City, the surrounding boroughs and across the Hudson in Jersey City embraced the usual jaded, whatever attitude. It's not that there wasn't concern about the severity of what could have been coming, but we couldn't stop the storm, don't experience this very often and besides posting out of boredom on Facebook, didn't know what to do except to eat and drink. I admit, I was caught up in it as well. Saturday afternoon I had a sudden flash that if power went out and I didn't want to cook in the dark  I didn't have enough snacks! Off to my local 7-11, which as both open and well supplied. I didn't lose power (gratefully) and just ended up with a weekend of too many snacks and perhaps a few too many glasses of wine. This seemed to resonate with many of my friends.
So if the official drink of last weekend was the Hurricane and perhaps a close runner up should have been the Dark and Stormy, I propose a post-hurricane drink: the Bright and Breezy. It's a refreshing and alcohol-free way to embrace a little personal recovery. After all, it's almost Friday of a holiday weekend and that will certainly be a new reason to celebrate.

Bright and Breezy
Makes 1 drink

4 small cubes watermelon, about 1/4 cup
1/4 lime, cut into small pieces
4-6 basil leaves
1/2 to 1 teaspoon honey, to taste
1 cup chilled seltzer, flavored or plain

Place watermelon cubes in the freezer until just frozen, about 30 minutes. In a glass, combine the lime, basil and honey. Crush them together with a muddler or a spoon until the limes have released their juice. Add the frozen watermelon cubes and top with seltzer.