And what a way to bring it back, even if I do say so myself. Today we a celebrating the 1764 birth of a British Lord, with a drink inspired by our favourite filicidal maniac!
Charles Grey, born 13 March 1764 was the Second Earl Grey and the Prime Minister of Britain from 1830 to 1834. And yes, he is THE Earl Grey that gave the tea it’s name.
Earl Grey Tea, which is traditionally black tea flavoured with bergamot, is reputed to have been made for the Earl by a Chinese Mandarin to offset the taste of the dodgy water at the Earl’s ancestral home.
And today we are celebrating the Earl with my version of a drink named after Leland Palmer, which in turn is a twist on the Arnold Palmer. I know, it’s like going down a rabbit hole isn’t it?
For those of you not of a certain age, Leland Palmer is a character from the tv show Twin Peaks. He is the father of Laura Palmer and ****spoiler alert***** (if you can still have spoilers on something that is 25 years old) later revealed to have killed her whilst under the possession of an evil entity called Bob.
The Leland Palmer cocktail is the creation of Daniel Boelte who was inspired to make it after being hungover at his girlfriend’s house and watching an episode of Twin Peaks. The original Leland Palmer uses jasmine tea, whilst, in honour of the day, I used Earl Grey Tea – as well as being Charles Grey’s Birthday, it’s also my wedding anniversary. So I guess I can switch up my cocktails however I want.
So, did my twist on the Leland Palmer result in unleashing a Bob of cocktail? I am totally, utterly may be slightly biased but I think not. This was delightful!
The bergamot in the Earl Grey combined beautifully with the fresh citrus and the limoncello. The herby notes of the tea also works really well with the botanicals in the gin.
The bitterness in the grapefruit and the tea is balanced by the sweetness of the honey and the limoncello with the lemon adding some zing.
This is totally gorgeous. Everything balances beautifully and you can add as much or little soda as you like depending on your needs. We drank them quite long (ie with lots of soda) over a summer afternoon and it was perfection however I can also envisage drinking it with just a splash of soda in winter in colder months.
Happy Birthday Charles Grey, Happy wedding anniversary to me and the fussiest eater in the world, thank you Daniel Boelte for the original recipe and to Leland Palmer for inspiring you to make a drink.
As you may already know, in our family we have a scent hound, Lulu and a half greyhound, Oscar.
And now we have a third. Welcome the Salty Gin Hound!
Mmmmm….the 6 week no alcohol challenge is over. Welcome back booze! Possibly. To be honest, I think having that break has changed the way I feel about alcohol and certainly the way that I want to re-engage back with it. Oh, and we went to the dog beach, so whilst I prattle on about my six weeks of ahem “no” boozing whilst I sip my Salty Gin Hound, how about I show you some photos of our day at the beach?
The challenge was a lot easier to do than I thought it would be – I did take Valentine’s Day weekend off and I had the wine I spoke about last week which were both good breaks. The February Fast website says that quitting alcohol can help you to increase focus, sleep better and lose weight. I experienced all of that albeit not nearly as much weight loss as I would have liked – primarily due to a dodgy foot that has limited my ability to go to the gym.
I felt really good not drinking – fitter, healthier, more focussed. Having said that, I think it also made me a bit more moody. I think feeling more in control of myself made me less tolerant towards people around me acting like dicks – whether they were drinking or not. I feel it also made me a bit more introspective – which, you know, it’s not like I wasn’t already halfway there to start off with!
I also really started to think a lot more about events from my past and try to resolve a few unanswered questions. For instance, I spent way too many hours thinking about my first boyfriend, the one I spoke about in the Valentine’s Day post – why did he dump me? How has that impacted the rest of my life and the choices I have made since then? Etc, etc. Ad nauseam. It’s not like I came to any life changing (or even just any) conclusions about any of the things I was navel gazing about. Except maybe that I’m ok with not knowing and I am totally ok with the way things have turned out.
Another thing I noticed after the sneaky vinos with my friend Aiden was how much alcohol can depress me. Not in a way that makes me sad or maudling but just sucks my energy and motivation. That evening I was like a zombie. I had no energy or drive to do anything except veg out in front of the tv. Not that I am averse to vegging out in front of the tv but I guess I want to do that when I choose to not because I can’t be arsed to so anything else.
Another benefit was that we returned to one of our favourite restaurants. It is an Indian/Pakistani restaurant which, last year decided to become an alcohol free zone. I like to have a glass of wine when I go out for a meal; I think it helps to add to the ambience and the enjoyment of the meal, so we had not been there for some time. Not drinking was the perfect opportunity to head back there for some of the best tandoori in Melbourne.
One of the tough points for me was cooking. Particularly on the weekend, if I need to add some wine to a sauce or something, I will generally pour a glass for me. Then we would have a glass or two with our meal. Not pouring that “glass for the cook” was really hard the first few times!
Socially was also hard. Going out for meals or even to people’s houses for a meal. There was one evening we went to my mum’s and everyone else had a glass of wine with their meal and I had a Fanta, like a six year old. Othertimes, I felt like I had to explain why I wasn’t drinking.
Next time maybe I’ll be cooler about it.
Because there will be a next time. The benefits far outweighed the negatives. I’m thinking I might do a four- six week stint every season.
You might be wondering why, given the obvious benefits why I am not quitting altogether. One reason is that I do enjoy the social aspect and I love doing the research and making the cocktails for history happy hour.
However, I think that I will be a lot more mindful about how I drink from here on in.
Speaking of which….let’s talk about the Salty Gin Hound!
Gin, grapefruit juice and lemon with a splash of sweet vermouth! Yum! That is the Gin Hound.
I had an awesome merlot salt which I used to rim the glass making it a Salty Gin Hound. I also increased the lemon from the initial recipe, just cos that’s how I like it.
The Salty Gin Hound was delicious. Just the right blend of sweet, salty, bitter. So refreshing for a hot summer day! It would have been perfect down at the beach with that tang of salt air on the breeze.
And speaking of salty hounds…we had the two schnooziest of schnoozers on the way home. So tired after so much fun!
I got a mention on a Christian website the other day. And no, they weren’t damning me to hell for my potty mouth and occasional smutty innuendo. Far from it. They actually described this as:
“the cutest Australian retro site”
And just in case you think I’m fibbing, you can link here.
And shame on you!!! As if I’m going to lie about the Christians!!! Let’s just say I’m taking Pascal’s wager on that one. If nothing else.
And…
YES!!!!
I believe for only the second time ever that Philosophy major I undertook at university has come in handy. I knew all that time and money would be worth it someday.
And consider yourselves lucky I’m not doing a Paleo blog – otherwise the references to Plato and his cave would be coming thick and fast.
BOOM! – That would be three.
Happy Easter
But given it is Easter, how about a quote from the modern-day philosopher Bill Hicks:
“A lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks. You think when Jesus comes back he ever wants to see a fucking cross? It’s like going up to Jackie Onassis wearing a rifle pendant.”
And farewell to the readers I picked up from the Christian website, it was nice knowing you.
So let’s talk about how I celebrated Easter….
First there were cocktails. Then sandwiches. Then home made Easter Eggs.
Not one of them normal….because what would be the fun in that?
We’ll get to the others in due course but today is all about the cocktail.
Remember back in February when I did the post with the Parfait Amour? At the time, I said:
A cocktail recipe called the Simply Divine which uses Parfair Armour, Gin and Citrus. And it is AWESOME!!!! So, so tasty…sweet and tangy and floral and delicious….except for one thing….
The citrus mix was a very pretty peachy colour.
The Parfait Amour and gin was purple.
So the result should have been a pretty pinky purple as per the original recipe.
That didn’t happen.
If you were looking for some sexed up paintchart name for the colour this went, you’d probably call it Dove Wing Grey. Technically, I think the weird browny purple grey colour it turned is called puce. Unofficially, it prompted the so-called-beloved to ask if I was drinking bong-water. After I explained that I had no idea of what he spoke of, we decided that this is not so much Dove Wing Grey but that this is what it looks like when doves cry.
As long as you don’t mind drinking something that looks like the water you washed your socks in, this is a super drink – the citrus and gin really do cut through the sweetness of the Parfait Armour to create a drink that has a really nice balance and is very refreshing.
And because I changed the ingredients slightly from the recipe and nothing that colour can be truly called Simply Divine, ladies and gentlemen meet the:
WHEN DOVES CRY
Ingredients
30ml gin – I used Hendricks
30ml Parfait Amour
1 red or pink grapefruit, juiced
1 lemon, juiced
1 tangerine, juiced
Instructions
Fill a glass with ice
Add the gin and Parfait Amour
Top with the mixed citrus juice
Stir.
Wince at the colour.
Enjoy!
You can mix up the citrus too – lime would be great, as would orange!!!!
I’m going to try to redeem myself in the next post which will feature some of the cutest sandwiches you ever did see.
Oh and I’m now on instagram. You can follow my feed by clicking on the icon at the top o’ the page.
I was really worried that it would be an epic fail…It was the garlic in the spice rub that threw me, how would that work in a cocktail? However, in the end the strong flavour in the simple syrup was the thyme with the pepper and spices providing more of a background notes and warmth. (Yes, I’ve been reading wine labels again!)
I based this on a recipe from Martha Stewart which you can find here.
I also used tequila not vodka. Just because I had some that has sat on my drinks trolley for about 10 years. Seriously. I think it was given to me as a housewarming present for the last house I moved into.
I really, really wanted to use the Spice Peddler Big 5 mix in a cocktail but I thought it would be better to infuse the mix into the simple syrup. So, I mixed a teaspoon of the pepper mix into the sugar and water, and then I threw the thyme in as well to make a thyme and pepper simple syrup. Dammit, I should have thrown the grapefruit rind in as well…ah well, next time! Maybe some chilli too…
Then I kind of completely forgot about it as we were trying to hang some pictures in the new house and either the beloved or I have a skewed view of reality because it took us over 30 minutes and the use of spirit level before we could agree that a painting was straight….and this was before we started on the cocktails.
Thyme and Black Pepper Simple Syrup
So what I ended up with was the thick black syrup you can see in the photo above. What you can’t get from the photo is that this mix of thyme, sugar and pepper smelled ridiculously like marijuana.
Or so I was told.
By the complete stranger who just happened to knock on the door at that exact moment. Then disappeared equally as quickly. Didn’t catch his name, Officer. So sorry.
Which in turn reminded me of something that never happened and is a total figment of my overactive imagination.
So imagine if hypothetically you turned up unannounced at your parent’s house. And the imagine that said house smelled overwhelmingly of….erm…thyme and pepper infused simple syrup. And imagine they were being a little silly and giggly.
Move over Quentin Tarantino, I think I just bested you in the Mexican Standoff stakes…
The problem with accusing your parents of “imbibing the thyme and pepper simple syrup” is that then then they know that you are also familiar with “thyme and pepper simple syrup”.
So, what do you do?
Borrow the drill you came to get and GTFO of Dodge is what.
Cos, you know possibly they were also just making cocktails.
I mean, if that had ever happened.
Which it didn’t.
Grapefruit, Thyme and Pepper Cocktail3
Wow, this post is making my head spin. What will not make your head spin, or spin only in the right way is this cocktail. Which is super. – tangy from the grapefruit ,zingy from the pepper, aromatic and resiny from the thyme….
Drink it, enjoy, have a fabulous, fantastic Christmas everyone!
Special thanks to Mercy and the team at The Spice Peddlers for their trust and belief in me.
And major thanks to everyone for reading and your kind words over the year.
I fully intended this week to be devoted to Eat your Way To Love and Beauty, but somehow I ended up drinking my way to oblivion and incoherence!
But you know what? I can now honestly say that I didn’t spend the weekend getting tanked on cocktails. I spent the weekend doing research and development. For you dear readers, I did it for you! I’m selfless like that.
Oh Calcutta Cocktail
I found a version of the first cocktail I made, the Oh Calcutta, in Eat Your Way To Love and Beauty. This combines pineapple, grapefruit, lime and…. curry powder! Yep, a curry flavoured cocktail!
The Swami’s version of the Oh Calcutta suggests you mix the ingredients with spa water. I assumed that was a euphemism for vodka when making my version.
O Calcutta – mixing pineapple and curry
Now, I normally like my cocktails pink and sweet so this was a bit of a shock to my system! Initially I wasn’t too keen on it. Gradually though, the Oh Calcutta won me over. It’s actually has quite a complex flavour profile (whoo hoo, look at me using the foodie words!). There was a slight bitterness from the grapefruit, sweetness of the pineapple, heat from the curry, sour from the lime…the more I drank it the more I liked it!
Oh Calcutta Cocktail
I was still thinking about it the next day and I decided that, interesting as it was, it needed something more and that something was a little salty kick. So, I made it again but this time I edged the glass (badly) with some ginger salt. I made the ginger salt by bashing some ginger to death in the mortar and pestle and then adding some salt to the mix. I twirled the glass in this. It doesn’t look great but it tasted amazing!
In my first version I toppped the entire drink with grapefruit juice instead of using a mixer, in the second version I mixed grapefruit juice and sparkling water. The result was slightly less bitter which I preferred. I also used ruby grapefruit juice so there was a pink tinge to my cocktail!
I’m now thinking ginger beer would be good in this too….version three may well happen next weekend!
O Calcutta Cocktail 4
But the weekend of cocktails was not over because it’s feijoa season and thanks to a tree that is fully laden over at my mother’s house we are swimming with them…
Feijoas
For those of you unfamiliar with a feijoa (aka the pineapple guava), it is a fruit much beloved by New Zealanders, and apparently Russians and Californians. It is:
“green, ellipsoid, and about the size of a chicken egg. It has a sweet, aromatic flavor. The flesh is juicy and is divided into a clear gelatinous seed pulp and a firmer, slightly granular, opaque flesh nearer the skin”
Boo, Wikipedia boo! That does nothing to convey the joy of the feijoa – huh…come to think of it from now on, I’m going to be calling them fe-joy-as. I once read in an aromatherapy book that you need to be careful when burning Clary Sage oil because the smell of it can make you feel as if you are drunk! I feel a little bit the same about the scent of a feijoa, it is a kind of fruity, floral, heady smell that…it’s what I imagine heaven smells like. Not that I’m likely to find out. There is no doubt in my mind which way I’m heading.
Feijoa Marketing Board…don’t even think about it stealing this, I’m slapping a ™ on “Fei-joy-as…what heaven smells like” ASAP. Happy to negotiate with you on the licensing of my intellectual property for your commercial gain though. Call me. I’m easily bought.
Odessa Cocktail
Mind you, someone at the FMB is doing their job. These babies are currently selling in the supermarket for $2 each!
When I told mum I was going to do some feijoa cooking for this she wanted to know if I was going to make jam. It’s that kind of comment that makes me wonder if I’m actually adopted….Jam. Pffft…why make jam when you can make cocktails?
I found a wonderful blog called Feijoa, Feijoa which is bursting with recipes for feijoas and has an whole section devoted to cocktail recipes.
I made the Odessa Cocktail purely because I had all the necessary but each one of the cocktails sound delicious. And as for the recipes…this may well become one of my favourite sites! There are also several jam recipes for my mother to make.
The recipe for the Odessa Cocktail can be found here:
If you’re wondering why my simple syrup looks like Coke or coffee , it’s because I only had brown sugar in the house. I think it worked though, it added a treacly depth to the syrup. (coincidentally, Treacly Depth would be the name of my indie band…)
The Odessa is a lovely cocktail, it’s sweet but with a little tang from the lime and exactly the kind of cocktail I normally love! Coming after the Oh Calcutta, it seemed a little simple but it was still delicious! My advice to anyone making it would be to strain it really well. I put mine through a tea strainer and it was a little gritty. I would use a finer strainer next time.
Odessa Cocktail 3
I’m going to be spending my week sidling up to people outside the supermarket and asking “Psst…want a feijoa? ..One fifty each or three for three…and they smell like heaven”
Charles Grey, born 13 March 1764 was the Second Earl Grey and the Prime Minister of Britain from 1830 to 1834. And yes, he is THE Earl Grey that gave the tea it’s name.
Happy Birthday Charles Grey, Happy wedding anniversary to me and the fussiest eater in the world, thank you Daniel Boelte for the original recipe and to Leland Palmer for inspiring you to make a drink.
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