Friday Night Cocktail

Posted on March 23, 2012 by nicdempsey

The Pegu Club Cocktail*

*

If I had to describe this cocktail in one word, it would be lovely. It’s refreshing and balanced. It’s grapefruity (one of those weird things as it has no grapefruit in it) and would be perfect for a hot, sunny day. Which makes sense as according to everything I can find, it was signature cocktail of the Pegu Club in what was Burma. It’s the magic base spirit, triple sec and juice combo I’ve banged on about before but not equal measures, lime instead of lemon and the addition of bitters.

*all of March’s Friday Night Cocktails come from The Cocktailian Chronicles by Gaz Regan, you should go and buy this book, it’s great.

What

2oz Gin

1oz Cointreau

0.5oz lime juice

2 dashes Angostura bitters

1 dash orange bitters

How

Shake over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

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Happy Monday

Posted on March 19, 2012 by nicdempsey

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Morning people.

It’s Monday, I’m on my way to work and the sun is shining. I’m not looking forward some parts of this week but it’s happening whether I’m feeling up to it or not and there’s enough good stuff in other parts to make the general act of being alive worthwhile!

And Chelsea have won 2 games in a row and although it’s probably not enough to save the season, at least they look like they’re trying!!

I’m English enough that all this positivity is making me cringe…time to go…

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Sunday Music

Posted on March 18, 2012 by nicdempsey

Yesterday was St Patrick’s Day and today is Mother’s Day.

I can’t think of a better way of honouring my inheritance from both my mother and my father than this. The Londonderry Air. This was one of my Grandad’s (Ma’s Dad) favourite pieces of music and is the setting for ‘Danny Boy’. For Grandad (and Ma), the brass version..

Then Harry..

And the Muppets, Ma wouldn’t approve and neither would Grandad, but I do…

And finally especially for Ma, Mario Lanza..

 

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Things I would like to see happen

Posted on March 17, 2012 by nicdempsey

via Bookshelves of Doom

A sequel to Dr Horrible

In case anyone doubts what a good thing this would be…

(Happy early Mother’s Day, Ma!)

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Friday Night Cocktail

Posted on March 16, 2012 by nicdempsey

The James Joyce Cocktail*

Tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day and I have just enough Irish heritage to want to mark it somehow.  This seemed appropriate.

It’s a variation of the Oriental Cocktail using Irish whiskey instead of rye and not having had the rye version, I like this one. It’s a sweet manhattan with added extras. Yum.

What

1.5oz Irish whiskey

0.75oz sweet vermouth

0.75oz triple sec

0.5oz lime juice

How

Shake all the ingredients over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

*all of March’s Friday Night Cocktails come from The Cocktailian Chronicles by Gaz Regan, you should go and buy this book, it’s great.

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Right now

Posted on March 15, 2012 by nicdempsey

I’m still really busy at work but we have another person that I’m training at the moment so I can see light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, with less stress, I’ll finally get the migraines under control again.

Speaking of which, one a week for the last 3 weeks, not good.

I have a medical next week, not really looking forward to it but it has to be done.

I finally pulled on my big girls pants and sorted out a work travelcard loan. I’m now the proud owner of an annual travelcard. This is a good thing but I feel like I’ve mortgaged an arm, it’s that expensive.

Saw Jo and Ms T on Monday. Ms T is really chatting now, amazing how quickly 2 years go.

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On Saturday, we’re doing the family thing for Mother’s Day, which means we get to see Oli, it’s been a while and he’s getting very grown up. See..

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Spring is spring in a very English way, it’s been quite foggy and chilly in the morning but by lunchtime you don’t need a coat and you do need sunglasses!

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Missing flowers in the house, but the plants have put on a growth spurt..

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Kamm & Sons

Posted on March 14, 2012 by nicdempsey

Last night’s LCS was at Detroit and was all about Kamm & Sons.

Kamm & Sons used to be Kammlings and has just changed it’s name so as not to be confused with Kummeling (which is something else but I can’t find anything on the web to point to it.)

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Kamm & sons is the invention of ex bartender and self professed drinks geek, Alex Kammerling. Alex talked to us about the creation of Kamm & Sons, he was (and is) interested in how alcohol has been used as medicine. Gin started life as a medicine and we talk about having a ‘medicinal’ drink even now*.

So Alex started to experiment, he wanted something that was a cross between gin and bitters, the dominant flavour in Kamm & Sons is ginseng. In amongst the 45 types of botanicals are 4 types of ginseng and he uses, the root, bark and blossom. Other than the ginseng there’s grapefruit peel, juniper, echinacea, ginko biloba and goji berries and manuka honey. It’s made like gin, with the botanicals being steeped in neutral spirit for 72 hours before distillation (Alex brought some of the distillate to show us and on my table at least, we liked it a lot!) and bottled at 33%. The slightly lower abv giving it more uses on the bar.

We drank it straight over ice with a twist of lemon peel. The ginseng really hits at first but then it mellows and manages for me (and please bear in mind I suck at describing tastes and don’t have a hugely sophisticated palate!) to balance nicely between the bitter and sweet.

There were also cocktails made with Kamm & Sons available, I had a Tipping Point (Chase Marmalade, Kamm & Sons and Punt E Mes) which was great and tasted a Grovensor (Islay whisky, Kamm & Sons and Antico) which was amazing

I’m really looking forward to trying this stuff at home and I learnt something. All in all a good Tuesday!

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*no-one is advocating a life of alcoholism here, but moderate drinking has been shown to be more beneficial that abstinence.

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This week’s Doonesbury cartoons…

Posted on March 12, 2012 by nicdempsey

…Gary Trudeau is getting into some hot water for pointing out “the lunacy” of the latest Texas abortion law.

I’ve written about this before, I know that others have different views and that’s ok. It’s the idea that women don’t know what they are choosing to do and that an invasive procedure followed by a lecture on the ‘dangers’ of abortion will change their minds.

Go and have a look at it.

Then make a decision about whether it should be published and whether it’s ok to ban something because it makes people uncomfortable.

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Sunday Music

Posted on March 11, 2012 by nicdempsey

Arctic Monkeys.

I loved “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” and as it sold 360.000 copies in the first week it was released, I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.

Mardy Bum

You Probably Couldn’t See For The Lights But You Were Staring Straight At Me

And oh I’m so tense, never tenser/Could all go a bit Frank Spencer

There are so many other songs of there’s that I love, I should maybe do them album by album…

Brianstorm


With your renditions and jokes/Bet there’s hundreds of blokes that have wept cause you’ve stolen their …thunder/Are you puttin’ us under/Cause we can’t take our eyes off the t-shirt and ties combination

This from ‘Suck It and See’

The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala

And they covered Girls Aloud…

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Things I like…

Posted on March 10, 2012 by nicdempsey

Graze

It’s a simple idea really, you send them money, they send you snacks. I first used them when Jenny and Jonny bought me a voucher for Graze for my birthday the year before last and I’ve used them on and off ever since. For about £4 (my current box costs £2.99, although I have a voucher so the next two are free and the two after that are half price so it’s not even costing me that!) they send you a box of 4 different snacks based on your choice of box and what you’ve said you’re happy to try. This week I got Wasapea, Savoury Roasted Seeds, Ying and Yang (blanched almonds, jumbo raisins, dark chocolate buttons and cherries) and This Little Figgy Went to Market (baby figs, cranberries and apple). They come with a little leaflet listing the nutritional information.

I’m not entirely convinced that Graze is perfect nutrition or as they have it ‘nature delivered’ but I’ve been struggling with the chocolate  machine at work and a Graze box is better than a bar of chocolate!

So it’s a healthier decision and a great idea.

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