Will ginger help my cold and general under-the-weather-ness, which has been lasting for more than a week and a half?

Jacob and I are in Shanghai right now, house-sitting, and the weather is pretty hot and muggy. I needed something ice cold to ward off heat fatigue, and something gingery to kickstart my immune system. A ginger-mint lemonade off the web sounded so good I bolted to the market to get ginger, lemons, and mint. I came back only to realize that the house, which belongs to Jacob's boss, doesn't have an ice tray. Bugger.

Another trip to the store later, I came back with some semi-fancy Japanese ice tray that makes round ice balls instead of cubes. (It was the cheapest one.) Oh well, ice is ice. A few hours later, after the water finally froze, I finally got to prepare the lemonade.

This was so needed on a hot afternoon. As to whether my immune system appreciated it, only time will tell.

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Other cold drinks for hot weather:

Mango Mojito
Yangmei Iced Tea
Coconut and Lime Lassi, Mango and Cardamom Lassi
Apple Soju Cocktail
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Ginger-Mint Lemonade

Adapted from Cork (Westmont, New Jersey) via Food & Wine Cocktails 2006

Makes 2 drinks

2 lemon wedge and sugar
Ice
12 to 20 mint leaves, plus 2 mint sprigs for garnish
3 ounces Ginger Syrup*
3 ounces water
3 ounces fresh lemon juice

*To make ginger syrup: In a small sauce pot, put in 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 5 or 6 slices of peeled ginger. Bring mixture to boil, remove from heat, and stir to dissolve remaining bits of sugar. Let it cool. Syrup can be stored in fridge for 1 week.

To make lemonade: Wet the outer rim of two glasses with lemon wedges and coat lightly with sugar. Fill the glasses with ice. In a cocktail shaker, muddle the mint leaves with the ginger syrup. Add ice, lemon juice, and water, and shake well. Pour the lemonade into 2 glasses and garnish with mint sprig.