Upcycling recipes

This is the same recipe as was used to make the blueberry crumb bars, but I swapped the blueberries for cherries. 

They were created to be a subject for Gavin, with the intent of entering a photography contest. We swapped for cherries in an effort to add red, and more contrast, but sadly the only way to get cherries the lurid shade needed would have been to use pie filling or maraschinos.  So, after lots of arranging and lighting and a drizzle or two, they were deemed unworthy.

The batch was brought in to work and shared.  Everyone thought the taste were just fine. 

4 Letters or more?

I'm not sure if this makes me a prude.  

How often do you curse?  And not 'eye of newt, spleen of toad', but those outed by George Carlin.

I seldom think about my cursing, unless there are children around, but expletives aren't something that make up my daily vocabulary.  Even my internal dialogues tend towards more flowery and arcane descriptors.  I picked up 'buggerit' from Terry Pratchett DiscWorld novels and find that it covers most situations rather well, from the frustrating to the painful.

But for some reason, the past few days I'm seeing more swearing online.  And in contexts where it doesn't make that much sense. On a story about a pedophile, the number of WTF's reflected a confounding, painful crime that most people can't comprehend since protecting children is built in to our biology.  But a post on chocolate?  Economic theory? The upcoming football event?  Do they really warrant the f-bomb?

I'd encourage people to reach outside the four letter window and find more graphic and descriptive means of describing things.  Yes, I get the visceral appeal of calling someone a fucktard, but isn't 'puerile troglodyte' more satisfying to roll off the tongue?  Those few fragrant syllables will leave an opponent unsure he's been insulted, floundering for something more witty than 'huh' as a response.  That is well worth the effort!

Oh Dear

Well, clearly trying this as a daily thing failed.

Sorry.

Other than all those things that must be done each day to keep living, doing something every day is more than I'm willing to commit to.  It was silly of me to try.

But, I'm going to give this another go.  Not daily, but I will strive for 2 weekly posts...and I'm going to try making those weekly posts worth reading.  Not just something slapped together in an effort to comply with a random expectation.  So, something that might actually be WORTH reading as well and enjoyable to read.

Thanks to DavBob and Mr Long for provoking me to try again.  Keep pushing!

The topic for today will be a continuation, however tenuous, of the flavored vodkas.  As noted by my Limey, we made our own flavored vodka.  It's not terribly hard--get vodka, get flavorings, add to vodka.  Set aside.  Wait.  Test. (That means drink!)

We made 2 varieties, ginger, and ginger lime.  We used Pearl.  It was on sale.  :)  Ginger was peeled and cut into matchsticks.  For the lime, rather than try using flesh, rind was peeled off zest was removed with a peeler.  Ginger was divided between two glass flask, and lime peel added to one.  Both flasks were shaken and retired to the basement for a week.

Ginger Lime and Ginger

Last night we tasted.  The ginger has a good ginger flavor, not as spicy as I expected, but nice.  I think I was surprised by the difference between ours and the Pinnacle Ginger vodka--apparently, the Skyy Pinnacle variety is sweetened.  The ginger lime was also good, but the lime flavor dominated.  I could barely detect the ginger--though this may be my palate, not the actual product. I really like the color or the ginger lime.  I'm not sure if using a better vodka would make much difference, though it's possible.  Other recipes advise filtering the solids out, but I don't think this will last long enough for that to be a concern.

Sediment!

Over all, though, I think it was a success, and worth repeating with other flavors.

We'll need more vodka.

*corrections based on comments.

**We'll need more vodka.  :)

The flavored vodka experiment continues

My friend on the other side of the country made a cherry limeade martini a few months back.  This began an adventure in vodka that continues today.

Flavored vodkas have been around for a long time, but recently the variety has soared, with most makers offering a couple varieties.  The quality of the vodka and the flavor varies widely. Most are best mixed--I think espresso and butterscotch are the only flavors we truly enjoyed as shots (so far).

Pineapple is my favorite so far. I've tried Skyy and Smirnoff.  Not surprising, the Skyy is better than the Smirnoff, but both are acceptable.  Equal parts ruby red grapefruit juice and pineapple vodka is yummers.

Vanilla and caramel are decent in cola and coffee.

Cherry--three brands tried, Three olives, Skyy, and Smirnoff--is good with juice, cola, and in the cherry limeade martini.  The Skyy and Three Olives are much better than the Smirnoff, and I prefer the Skyy to the Three Olives.
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Strawberry Smirnoff, tonight's choice,  is not impressing me.  I've tried it in oj and cola.  It's interesting with orange, but not great.  Cola is a better combination but it still isn't fabulous. I suspect it would be decent in a daiquiri but I'm not feeling the need to go that far...frozen foofiness isn't the goal for me.

On the list: Watermelon.  Passionfruit.  I'd really like to find Herb's, since I think fennel would be amazing in a bloody mary.

New Hike, conquering a fear

I love hiking.  I love going new places, getting away from roads and seeing the world from places I got to on my own.  California has a LOT of hiking opportunities, many just a short drive away.


Today, my sister who is in town visiting, and I headed up Highway 1 with the goal of a hike I did last year in the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park...but due to me not remembering how far up said park was, and a lot of road construction on the highway...we didn't make it that far.


We did make it to just north of Gorda, and hiked there.  Wasn't a long hike, only about 1.5 miles round trip, but there was a pretty significant elevation gain...and mostly traversing up switchbacks.


I hate traversing.


Not in a 'oh, this is tiring' way, but in a 'inner child is SHRIEKING about falling backwards and sideways' kind of way. I have to pause after each turn, and balance myself so I don't feel like I'm going to fall.  If it's bare rock on both sides, my heart pounds and I don't always make it through.


Stupid.  I have no problems with heights, I can cross plank bridges over streams with no problems.  But going up a hill at a slant makes me fight the panic.


I won the fight today.  There weren't any truly bad places, a few with little vegetation on the sides, but enough that my heart raced...and I pushed through.


So, yay, me!


And some pics!

Elephant Seal rookery, north of San Simeon

Lots of elephant seals.

View from the top.

Ladybug on Lupine

New

Went to the tidepools this morning (not new) and saw coyotes! (new!)  I'd seen tracks in the sand on previous visits, but this was the first time seeing them out in the tidal area.  I don't know what they were eating, but obviously it's something tasty.

Also saw several of these little creepy crawlies.

Edit to add:  I'm going to try getting back in to the swing of this. Life is stabilizing a smidgen, in a beautifully happy way.  Will be more so shortly, but until then...I'll try!

Not happening daily

For those who have been following me...and noticed the, well, rather painful gap and failure to post daily...

And update.

I'm in the midst of a divorce.  It's not as messy as it could be, as my previous divorce was, certainly, but the admission of failure, the untangling of lives, the apologies and the ongoing 'what if' questions...Have taken a priority over doing something new at all, much less every day.

Nothing is easy.  I'll make an effort to get something new planned for each week, and try to get it posted.  I have several items done that were never posted, and hope to get those uploaded as well.

:/

Not how I wanted this to go.  Hopefully, later in the year my life will be stable enough that this can be part of my days again.