Yajna Patni

Any one try st Elder yet? I used to really like st. Germaine, until it seemed to be in every single thing i was offered, rendering it bland and over sweet. But a st germaine cocktail with lemon and "champagne" and soda water and lemon, remains the most refreshing summer drink bar campari and soda to me. There is also a campari and st germaine cocktail i like. But its rising price... around forty bucks a bottle where i live have rendered it obsolete in my bar... (also it really does not last well... chartreuse may cost a bomb, but makes my favorite cocktail (last word) and still tastes perfect after a year or sitting in my kitchen. St Germaine.... not so much. BUT a few weeks ago, i noticed a local (somerville MA) knock off called st. elder. I am in general terrified of alcohol that comes from somerville (Rubinoff vodka) but this seemed interesting. I have seen it priced from thirteen dollars, at Atlas in medford to as high as twenty five dollars in liquor world in porter. Curiosity got me and i purchased a bottle. The bottle is not at all fancy and obviously does not add to the price. It is fairly clearly a st germaine knock off. To my palette it tasted a little sharper, stronger and the alcohol was more obvious (all good things in my book) I only had the end of a bottle of st germaine to compare it too, and the st germaine i had gotten some time at the beginning of last summer and was discolored and not very tasty. Happy to have got the bottle. St germaine is a crowd pleaser, and i spend a lot of the summer batching up cocktails for parties and such, so i think it will be a hit at half the price. It is also tasty in a gin and tonic. Now i just need some super sweaty hot weather to get into the long cold refreshing drinks.

If a last words smells like a sneeze, perhaps I should start sniffing sneezes more often.

I should try a bottle of punt e mes. I like the more bitter.

I love a martini, and aviation (I especially love an aviation) Vespas, I adore a papa doble, sour and strong is yum to me.... but I am not fond of a manhattan. I like my whiskey neat. I think I find red vermouth challenging.. it is a little sweet and syrupy.

I have been drinking these the last few nights. http://www.cocktailmusings.com/2010/11/lucien-gaudin-cocktail.html The lucien Gaudin is like a negroni but with dry vermouth and Cointreau. It is a little lighter and less sweet than a negroni, which I often find a little sweet and heavy. I1 ounce gin 1/2 ounce Cointreau 1/2 ounce Campari 1/2 ounce French vermouth I used Gordons gin, and Luxardo Bitter for the Campari, and I think my vermouth is cinzano. Another thing I like is that it has no citrus, so that when I run out it is an easy one to cobble together.

Let us hope....... I have ron barcelo, j wray , and some appleton. Maybe i will cut back on the sugar. and use white instead of demerara in the oleo sacchrum.

eeeek. I realize I have a "situation". I am making Regent's Punch for tomorrow, and all is well.... except I forgot to get brandy. I have a selection of rums ,whiskies, cachaca, gins ...but not brandy. I have grand marnier, which is brandy based I think... but that would be such strong orange, and also...expensive....Do you think I could use a lot more rum and no brandy? Is my punch blown?

Fort Washington flip is my favorite with Apple Jack and benedictine. I usually google the recipe, it is around on line.

the cognac with pear and ginger sounds really good.

Hot Whiskey. My grandmothers cold cure recipe. Whiskey, Lemon, whole cloves, and sugar or honey, boiling water poured over. The most comforting Drink I know. I made it with Tyrconnell Whiskey.

I found an unwanted tree full of ripe peaches so I am making jam. I thought I would put a little boubon in, then got hit by inspiration. I am sipping a derby cocktail, and am making derby peach jam...Peaches wtih bourbon, lime and grand marnier, (which i have a big bottle of because it was on sale) Should I add some vermouth too? Maybe I will just go with some bitters.I hope it turns out.

I used the recipe on David Leibovitz.com.. it was a bottle of red wine, with about 40 peach leaves soaked in it for a week. Then you add sugar and some brandy. You drink it as an apperitf over ice, and it was so good!

Thanks.... When your tomato plant flowers, how do you pollinate it? Most, if not all, tomato plants do not self pollinate - they rely on the wind, bees, etc to do it. So, indoors (greenhouse or apartment) you have to do it manually. The easiest way to do this is with a electric toothbrush. It vibrates at the right frequency to shake the pollen out - it's actually similar in frequency to bees wings! Just hold the toothbrush under the truss with flowers on it and press lightly. You should see pollen dust fall out of the flowers. Best to do I the morning, or late evening. I'm not sure if the same is true for peppers. Some hot peppers are notoriously difficult to set fruit indoors. Keep me posted as to your results! I had not thought of it needing pollination! I will try that out. I will be getting some plants in the next few weeks. I have an electric tooth brush even! thank you!!! I will let you know.

wow... your set up is amazing! I am trying to do a little apt gardening too. I have not had luck with tomatoes in teh past. I have done best with leafy greens that I can tear off a few for salads. I have a thai lime tree that is just a few years old, it never gives limes, but the leaves are the thing and they are plentiful. I also have scallions , lemongrass, and my most hard producing... pea sprouts! in a shallow pot, just dried peas from the super market, they make about a salad a week. I need to figure out the tomatoe. IN the past they have flowered repeatedly and not set fruit. I had a hot pepper that did the same thing. Your set up is super impessive1

I have been foraging a lot. Partly at least due to being broke, but I miss it from childhood. I have so far gorged on dandelions (I love bitter so they are great) violets, and most recently garlic mustard greens. I live in super suburbs and most of what i find is too close to the road or in placest that may have been sprayed, but if I have energy i ride my bike a mile or so to where there is some wilder land. Garlic mustard is intresting. I put it in a spinach and cheese souffle and that was my fave so far. I have also been "foraging" peach leaves and making some vin de peche, which is glorious and tastes like spring. Foraging is not the right word, stealing from my neighbors tree is what it really is. Same with the mint I get that has overgrown the front porch of a local restaurant. I am dying to find some more stuff, and I have a local mulberry tree pegged for later on. Also hoping to make some dandelion wine.