daily delights - february 10

what a world we're living in! you can order all kinds of things to be brought to you. including gin from a little domestic distillery called volsted. it's albatross, navy strength and it will come in handy this coming weekend when we're celebrating husband's birthday and our anniversary. they were kind enough to include a hand-written note and a can of fever tree tonic that goes nicely with the gin. i love the label as well and i thought that was a cool sticker, but it's just the notecard they wrote on. this post is not even remotely sponsored, but if you're interested, they just might send to you too. i haven't tasted it yet, but the packaging and the little gift and the hand-written note have totally won me over. definitely today's delight.

party preparations

gin cocktails, freshly-squeezed lemonade. guacamole (to go with grilled burgers). yup. we're having a party. more when it's all over. so much fun it almost doesn't even matter that my sister is apparently still not speaking to me. #getoveritalready #whateveritis

adding to the gin collection

a little gin review

every time i go down to germany, i pick up a few bottles of gin. i try to get old favorites (geranium, hendrick's) and a couple of new ones that we've never tried before. they have an awesome selection at the big grocery store, citti, and even a good selection in the various border shops, so there's always something exciting. to try. this time, i got blackwoods and tann's. with various guests, these two bottles are already gone! we definitely liked the blackwoods best of the two and i would even buy it again. we've been on a schweppes bitter lemon kick and used that with these gins instead of tonic, just for a change of pace. the blackwoods stood up to it better than the tann's, with just the right amount of juniper able to cut through the bitter lemon.

tann's is a much milder, less ginny gin. and by that i mean that there's hardly any juniper taste to it. in fact, if we'd had it with tonic, we'd have been sorely disappointed. it's a good gin to mix with bitter lemon. it's also a good gin to serve to people who say they don't really like gin, as what they likely don't like is that piney juniper flavor and tann's definitely lacks that. as a result it also lacks the crispness that i think that gin should have. i don't believe we'll be putting it in the cart again, despite the pretty purple bottle.

this is very interesting - it's a gin liqueur, not a regular gin. i'd bought hayman's before and we liked it and i'll admit i thought i was buying the normal hayman's again, expecting its crisp, clean finish. it was only after i got it home that i discovered that it was a liqueur. it's part of a trend i just read about in the new york times - liquor with split personalities. the article doesn't mention gin, but instead oak-barrel aged tequila and bourbon that's been sent to sea. but a gin liqueur is a similar hybrid. and it's just up husband's alley, as he's much more partial to sweet drinks than i am. we have used it like normal gin, mixing with the bitter lemon and he really likes it. me, less so, as i'm not keen on sweet. but it's good to have something on the shelf that's good for husband's evening drinkie poo and this is definitely perfect for that.

what are you drinking these days?

the weekend thus far

the very first strawberry.

new gin.

scandinavian summer. personified. (depicted?)

a visit from a fox.

vignettes of a life (while we wait for spring)

i can't believe it's almost friday.

the week is flying by.

things are picking up, getting busier.

that is both good and bad.

time hurries at breakneck speed.

but we still haven't seen spring.

we've hardly even scented it on the air.

the only evidence is in the birdsong.

and even they sound a bit chilly.

i took frankie to the vet today.

he has a sore on his haunch.

he's fine, but he's wearing a collar of shame.

seeing him in it makes me laugh.

which seems a little bit mean.

i'm aware this isn't a poem.

i just wanted to play with margins.

my writing is going elsewhere this week.

can you tell?

it's like i'm only allotted a certain amount of words.

and when they're used somewhere else.

i have none left to use here.

apparently they're not like doritos.

the horses were mysteriously out in the pasture today.

i couldn't imagine how they got there.

and locked themselves in.

turns out they didn't.

a kind person driving by saw they were out.

(no one was home.)

and put them back in.

isn't that fantastic?

the danes can be nice.

when they want to be.

they just don't want to be very often.

that's not really fair.

another dane was nice today.

she gave me a whole shoebox full 

of vintage embroidery thread.

in colors from the 70s.

ones you can't get today.

it was wonderful.

and it made me happy.

i could see it made her happy too.

i'm working on a project

that i'm finding difficult (what else is new?).

it's difficult because it breaks my heart

to hear the stories i'm hearing.

i'm not sure yet what to do with them.

what i have a is a chance to make a difference.

if only i knew how.

my family will arrive in a week.

i hope the weather improves.

because this house isn't great.

and it's not going to get better in one week.

but we'll make it through.

if we stock up on gin.

and laughter.

* * *

this made me laugh so hard today.

repeatedly.

and hysterically.

* * *

go see ulrika's gorgeous photos of kristina's wonderful home!

* * *

inspiration on making a difference here.

* * *

and a thing of dark, exquisite beauty here. 

gin soaked

i found a new premium gin today - it's called whitley neill. i hadn't heard of it before, but i was won over in a second when it said "inspired by africa. made in england." because we all know how much i love cape town. on top of that, they give 5p from each bottle to tree aid, so you might even say it's green gin. it has a spiciness that's different from the coolness of usual gin. a cinnamony ginger undertone. it's absolutely perfect with my homemade tonic.

because yes, i made tonic! i followed this recipe. i had to order cinchona bark powder. i was very pleased with the quality (as little as i know about it as of yet, but there's no bitterness that some of the comments complained of, so i interpret it as good quality) and how quickly healthy village sent it. one pound of it will last me a long time, so i'm pleased with it. homemade tonic ends up rather reddish in color because of the cinchona bark, but once i strained it (several times through coffee filters), it got quite clear, even tho' it was still red. it's just something we have to get used to.

and it's so delicious that it's easy to get used to. we served it to guests the day we made it and they wanted a second cocktail, so it must have been good. and the slightly stronger taste is really gorgeous with the whitley neill gin.

the gin blog recommends trying it with honey, so that's next on the list, since, as you know, we have our own honey (45 kilos we recently harvested!). 

cheers!

putting the gin in imaGINation

we're on a gin kick around here. summer cocktails featuring this fresh tipple are the norm nearly every evening. the latest is a dash of homemade strawberry syrup and a generous bit of gin topped off with water freshly fizzed in our soda stream (i can HIGHLY recommend acquiring one of these little babies) and a couple of slices of strawberry, freshly plucked from the garden.

we've decided we're too old to drink cheap gin, so we've invested in some good stuff. picked up the botanist yesterday - i thought, hmm, i like the islay whiskies, so why not gin? it's cool and oh-so-very smooth. a very good addition to the posh gin collection. haven't tried the london no. 1 yet, but just the packaging (and the price €32), make it sure to be in the posh end. geranium, i told you about previously. and hendrick's is the gin that made me like gin. all we're lacking at the moment in the posh end is beefeater crown jewel in the purple bottle. will have to keep an eye out for that as we pass through the duty free next week.

happy weekend, one and all!

posh gin

i went to the doctor today (remember that cough i had? i still have it) - it was only a hop, skip & a jump from germany, so i slipped over the border to a proper (read: has tapas, yogurt in jars, black beans, quinoa, amaranth and a whole wall of olive oil) grocery store. and i picked up this whimsical looking little gin. geranium gin. and am i ever glad i did!

while it's nothing like hendrick's (loved by a small handful of people, all over the world), it is definitely in the same category poshness-wise. i'd never stick a cucumber in it, like i do with hendrick's, as it's too gently floral for that, but it's just gorgeous - modern, light - precisely how a gin should be anno 2012.

the gin blog did a great review/history of it that you must read if you're at all gin-interested (and if you're here, i assume you are). it was actually developed by a danish guy and his father, tho' it's made in the UK. it's no ubiquitous grocery store gin, so you'll not find it everywhere, but look for it, you'll likely be able to find it in posh liquor stores or the duty free, or the finer(?!) border shops in your area. well worth the hunt.  and the 179kroner ($25) pricetag.

in spring a (not so) young woman's fancy turns to...cocktails

the sun came out at long last this afternoon. the garden table beckoned. the birds sang. and after a long day at work, the lure of a relaxing cocktail was irresistible. but i didn't feel like an ordinary glass of my old pal chardonnay, nor was it quite warm enough to break out the rosé. the sun-kissed late spring air whispered of something a bit more exotic, something a bit seasonal, something sweet yet tart. in short, a cocktail worthy of one of the first late spring sunshiney days.

i stared into the refrigerator and caught sight of the bright jar of rhubarb syrup i made last weekend, bright and inviting, flecked with black specks of real vanilla suspended in its sweet, slightly thick pink goodness. we'd start there. there was also the ubiquitous bottle of schweppes indian tonic in the fridge-that's-not-a-smeg (sigh). i turned to the liquor cabinet and spied the bottle of thylandia genever, a danish-made, slightly golden historical (tho' newly produced) gin precursor with a whiff of juniper about it. hmm, it sounded perfect. and it was. i give you the rhubarb gin fizz...

the rhubarb gin fizz
it's pinker than this, i couldn't resist a bit of processing

much closer to the true color

you don't need controversial historical gin relatives to make this, use your favorite gin or even vodka. to make the rhubarb syrup, i cooked down about 30 rhubarb stalks (mine are a bit thin, if yours are thick, use less), very slowly with only a little water. after it was cooked, i put it in a strainer over a bowl and let the gorgeous pink liquid drain through, overnight, actually. i didn't press it a whole lot, as i didn't want any bits or pulp in it. then, the next day, i put the clear tart juice back in a pan with a generous cup of sugar (it was probably 3+ C of liquid) and a whole vanilla bean pod that i sliced in half and slowly brought it to a boil. i put it into a canning jar and sealed it, but it's already half gone, as we've used it to make sodas all weekend. as a soda, we had it mixed with plain water or schweppes lemon or fizzy water - it just depends on what you're in the mood for. but it's pretty heavenly with the genevere. tomorrow, i'll give it a whirl with the real stuff - hendrick's, my best and favorite gin (loved by a small handful of people, all over the world).

to make the cocktail, i poured about 3 shots of the rhubarb syrup into a tall glass, one generous shot of genever and filled it up with tonic. perfectly tart yet a bit sweet and with just the right hint of vanilla.

normally, i post recipes over on domestic sensualists, but this one seemed more like a moment of perfect clarity. i am brewing a rhubarb post for over there, so do check in with us soon. but first, grab yourself a nice springy cocktail.