The Tom Collins hoax of 1874 is infamous. A friend would greet you and ask “Have you seen Tom Collins?” and then begin to relate all the horrible things that this gossiping Tom had been telling people about you. “He’s been trash-talking you all week! But wait a second, there’s a bar just around the corner that he likes to frequent! Let’s confront him!” As newspapers of the time chronicled, this lead to many young men frantically running around town, seeking to confront the slanderous Tom Collins as a matter of honour, and seeming to act foolish in the process.
The original Tom Collins recipe dates from 1876, just two years later. Bartenders have been christening their creations after inside-jokes ever since. The Collins is made with old fashioned lemonade mixed with gin and is usually served in a Collins glass. I like mine in a high-ball with a straw. Divine on a hot day.
Tradition calls for the juice from one ripe lemon. You can use less if like. I like to chop my lemons into quarters and muddle them in glass, but squeezing them with a citrus squeezer is perfectly alright.
Aha! Remember this? Add 15ml or more of simple syrup. Change your ratio of lemon to syrup to taste. Lemon cordial is also a delicious substitute.
Add the gin of your choosing. This time, it’s good old Tanqueray Ten which is ripe with citrus and blends with the lemon to make something truly heavenly.
Top up with soda water (or tonic if your feeling sour and sassy). The 1876 recipe calls for only two cubes of ice. I say bah humbug. If you want lots of ice, add lots of ice. Garnish with a maraschino cherry if you like. I find they’re too sweet for my tastes and prefer a lively cocktail umbrella instead. These things cost $2 for a pack of 12 and they make life amazing. I promise.
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Cocktail Hour | Hendrick’s Gin Martini Amuse-Bouche
We celebrated New Years with a fancy dinner party for two. I knew that I wanted to serve an Amuse-Bouche that had something to do with cucumber and thought that cute cucumber cups (like the ones made by Monika at Vegetarian Surprises) would do the job. But what would I fill them with? I made a simple chilled cucumber and dill soup that I thought I could serve in the cups. Maybe I could add some honeydew melon somewhere? But then we went to the bottle shop and I saw the miniature bottles of Hendrick’s Gin. I was more excited than any person has a right to be in public. A light bulb went off in my head. Why didn’t I see it before?!
Hendrick’s Martinis in Cucumber Cups
1 Lebanese cucumber
50ml Hendrick’s Gin
Honeydew melon to garnish
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Cut the cucumber into 4cm rounds. Peel skin and scoop out flesh leaving a 1cm layer at the bottom. These keep in the refrigerator for a few hours if you want to make them ahead of time. If you’re using the 50ml Hendrick’s botttles, chill them in the fridge or freezer beforehand. Otherwise, shake or stir the Hendrick’s Gin with ice and pour into the cucumber cups. Add any aromatics, such as cocktail bitters or a dash of rosewater. To garnish, use a melon baller (I used a tiny measuring spoon) to scoop out little globes of honeydew melon and style on a toothpick, like you would with a martini olive. Enjoy!
They ended up being delicious! I served the chilled cucumber soup alongside the martinis. It made for a refreshing start to the meal.
Chilled Cucumber Soup
1 Lebanese cucumber
8 springs of dill
1 cup vegetable stock
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Place everything in a food processor and blend till smooth. Strain through a muslin and serve chilled. Also makes a great base for savoury cocktails!
My Grandfather used to work on a cruise ship. He said that when they made fancy Champagne cocktails for the first class passengers in the ship’s bar they would use cider instead of Champagne and no one could tell the difference! The traditional Champagne cocktail was garnished with a cherry or twist of lemon, but the orange works well, especially if you want to be fancy and add a dash of Cointreau or Grand Marnier.
I love Champagne cocktails, they’re the perfect way to spice up a bottle of cheap sparkling white wine. Here’s my no fuss four step recipe.
Mmm. Chai tea. What’s not to love? On cold rainy days I get the urge to brew a big pot of chai tea and wear fluffy socks. Ya know? There are some amazing chai blends out there, but making your own can be really fun. It’s also easy, and you probably have one or two of the spices in your cupboard right now.
Traditionally, masala chai is made with ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, pepper and black tea blended with milk and honey. I like to add a bit more spice with nutmeg, star anise and sweeten it all with a touch of vanilla. It’s also traditionally brewed over a stove, but this blend is just perfect for a tea pot or press.
There isn’t any hard or fast rule when it comes to the proportion in which you use your spices, or even which ones you choose to use. If you’re not a big fan of cardamom, leave it out. I will say that with spices, the fresher, the better. But if you can’t find cinnamon quills or fresh ginger, use cinnamon powder or dried ginger powder. Add dried apple, orange peel or cranberries to make Christmas tea. Mmmm.
Masala Chai Blend
2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons black tea
1 tablespoon ginger
2 teaspoons cardamom
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
the tiniest amount of star anise possible!
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Mix it all up and add to a pot of freshy boiled water. Let steep for three to four minutes. Serve with warm milk and honey. You can scale up this recipe and keep it in an airtight jar, away form direct sunlight. If your willpower is strong enough, it should last for several months.
I like to start by breaking up a couple of cinnamon quills. You could use a mortar and pestle for this, but I’m tough and macho and like splitting them open with my fingers.
Add ginger. I’m making this masala mix to use later, so I decided to opt for dried ginger chips. You can use fresh ginger, or the powdered kind. Or, you know, whatever.
Cardamom smells lovely. You can use the whole pods, or the tiny black seeds inside. Grocery stores will sometimes sell both kinds. I like the pods because they’re a pretty shade of pistachio green.
Cloves can be overpowering, so beware of using too much.
Like cloves, star anise can be really overpowering. Break off bits of the star a piece at a time. A little goes a long way!
Grate your nutmeg using a microplane, or just use the powdered kind. It has such a spicy sweet smell.
I used a black tea that had bits of vanilla through it. Then I mixed up a big bowl and scooped it into cute paper bags to give away as gifts. Now my friends can have something warm to drink the next time it’s cold and rainy!
Inspired by Luxirare, I thought I would try my hand at making my own vanilla extract. It’s very easy and works out to be so much cheaper than the stuff you buy in the supermarket. Even imitation vanilla extract is expensive these days.
I used 42 below vodka and Tahitian vanilla beans from the Natural Vanilla Store. Before you begin, make sure that you’re using clean utensils and that the jar for your extract is sterile. Elaine shares three very easy ways to sterilise your containers here.
The vanilla beans were sooo fragrant! After I opened the bag our whole apartment smelled amazing. I slit them open lengthways to allow the seeds to infuse more readily. I felt like a lecherous old lady with sticky and delicoius vanilla innards all over my hands. Yesss.
I used one vanilla bean for every 50ml of vodka and then added one more for good luck. Pour the vodka in, seal the jar and leave in a cupboard somewhere for four weeks.
Wait a bit…
…Four weeks later and you’re all done! Decant the extract into cute little bottles. It also makes a lovely gift!
Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of the famous Harry’s Bar in Venice, invented the Bellini roughly sixty years ago. Cipriani was inspired by the beautiful glow that seemed to emanate from the paintings by Giovanni Bellini and decided to name his latest drink after the artist. The original cocktail was made with white peaches macerted in white wine and then puréed. It’s a delightful drink in summer and works best with firm ripe white-flesh peaches and chilled prosecco.
Remove the stones from three ripe peaches. Chop roughly and add to a blender with 30ml of peach liqueur or for a floral touch, 30ml of Saint Germain elderflower liqueur. Purée till smooth and velvety. Your peach nectar can be kept refrigerated for up to four days.
Pour 50ml of the nectar into a champagne flute. Add more peach liqueur or Saint Germain if you’re feeling saucy.
Top with chilled prosecco and enjoy immediately!
For a lovely non-alcoholic version, substitute the prosecco for soda water and the liqueur for elderflower cordial. It’s sublime at the end of a hot day.
Rosemary Salt is super easy to make and is sooo delicious. It is wonderful sprinkled over baked potatoes, popcorn, and I’m told, rubbed into roast meats.
Packed into small jars, it also makes a lovely gift that’s cheap and useful.
Rosemary Salt
1 cup fresh rosemary leaves
3 cups course rock salt
In a blender or food processor, blend the rosemary first, add the salt and blend briefly a second time. That’s it!
It is important to wash the dust and dirt off the rosemary before you begin. You don’t want any surprises ending up in your finished product! Give your bunches of rosemary a good rinse and leave to dry overnight.
When dry, strip the leaves off the twigs. To do this quickly and easily, hold the tip of twig and rub your thumb and forefinger downwards. Remove any woody pieces and any discoloured or dead leaves. Put the fresh leaves in a blender and blend for thirty seconds or so till ground to a workable powder.
You can keep the twigs; they make excellent skewers for vegetables or bits of lamb. You can also put them in a jar of apple cider vinegar and leave to macerate for a fortnight. Rosemary infused apple cider vinegar makes a lovely rinse for oily hair. It’s also amazing over hot chips ;-)
Add the salt to the blender and blend very briefly. Ten seconds or so should do it. Any longer and you will end up with salty rosemary flavoured dust. I like to stir in one cup of sea salt flakes after blending for a bit of texture. Decant into jars and enjoy. It’s that easy!
“The bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you. They balance each other.”
-Orson Welles
My absolute favourite cocktail is the Negroni. It’s a hella-sexy mix of bitter and sweet, and is perfect all year round. Recipes on the internet vary, but in its most simple form, the Negroni is a mix of equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and bitter citrus. For the gin, I like to use whatever is handy, but I can recommend Hendricks Gin for a delicate hint of cucumber and rose. For the vermouth, I use Martini Rosso, but after reading about the different types of sweet vermouth, I’m thinking about experimenting. Unfortunately, Martini Rosso, is just about all my local bottle shop is willing to stock, so this will have to do for now. For the bitter citrus I like to use Aperol or Campari, really the difference between the two is alcohol percentage. I probably don’t need to say this, but when using orange peel, make sure you have washed the orange beforehand. Now, onto the fun part!
The Negroni
1 part Gin
1 part Sweet Vermouth
1 part Campari
1 dash Orange Bitters
Orange Peel
Fill a glass with ice. And when I say fill it with ice, girl, I mean fill it with ice. This drink thrives with lots of ice. Pour in the liquids and give it a really good stir. To finish the drink, take a small piece of orange peel and flambé over the glass. Rub the peel over the rim and then stir it into the drink. At first I found flambéing the orange a little tricky (if not dangerous and daunting!) so have included a quick little video showing you this step.
1. Listen to sad & downbeat music. Music has a profound affect on mood. So if you’re looking for a sure-fire way to feel grumpy put on some sorrowful or angry tunes.
2. Drink a glass of wine. Or a bottle of vodka. Most drugs & alcohol are mood amplifiers & will enhance whatever your feeling at the time. Drinking heavily or taking drugs when you’re feeling down will only make things worse. Bonus points for drinking alone.
3. Pick a fight with someone you care about. Be a completely selfish diva & yell & call them names. Not only will you feel really guilty, but you will also have no one to talk to either.
4. Drink soft drink or eat lots of sugar. Sugar provides a temporary high. But after your body has processed all that glucose you’ll be left will sugar withdrawal & feeling lethargic & depressed.
5. Think nasty thoughts about everyone. The people on the bus, the chick at the checkout & that guy who’s walking in front of you taking up all the room on the footpath. Selfish bastard. Spread your negative vibes!
6. Watch the news. The nightly news is full of conflict, violence & horror & it’s all real. If you want to feel bad in no time then immerse yourself in stories about people at their worst.
7. Stay at home. Don’t go out & don’t talk to anyone. Even the most hardcore introverts will eventually become lonely if left by themselves for too long. Follow their example. Black out your windows.
8. Frown lots. Also, don’t forget to be rude & inconsiderate. Like attracts like, so you’re bound to bump into other grumpy people this way.
9. Read depressing stories & poetry. Shakespeare’s tragedies are a good place to start (Othello, Hamlet etc) East of Eden & The Bell Jar are two other contenders.
10. Likewise, watch gloomy films. A Scanner Darkly, The Grave of the Fireflies or just about any film about the Second World War are three that come to mind. Watch them alone.
11. Eat unhealthy food. You’ll feel really sluggish & guilty for treating your body like crap.
12. Remember every horrible thing ever said to you. All the insults & hurtful things that people have said to you over the years. Believe each one. Give those other people power over you.
13. Bottle it up. Refuse to cry & instead bury all your emotions. Then you will be resentful & even passive aggressive to those around you.
14. Wear lots of black. Don it with a sombre significance as if you are in mourning.
15. Quit smoking & drinking caffeine cold turkey & without any help or support. Watch as you grow more anxious & moody. If you do thins right you’ll go back to smoking or drinking coffee pretty quickly & then hate yourself for it.
Alternatively, you could realise that happiness is decision that you have to make on your own. Life is a matter of perspective & you can make the choice to be happy. Read 15 ways to lift your mood & feel awesome! & congratulate yourself on a job well done. Because you’re awesome & you know it!
