Our life, our way

As I sit here and enjoy the last of the Gin Rickeys I made earlier, I cannot help but think about what a nice weekend we had, and as much trouble as it is, the yard work which I had planned and then executed on, and what a darned good investment we made when we bought the gas trimmer I’ve been using for well over a year now.  It’s one of those units that takes the various branded attachments, and between my brush blade and chainsaw attachment, I made quick work of our hill in the backyard. Muwahahaha. Die brambles!  Die vines!  Die sumac, you frakking rash causing plant!

Okay, enough of that.  I also got a chance to work on the flower bed in front of the house which we kind of let get out of control.  These was once a time it was a nice, circularly stoned flower bed with yellow marigolds and red salvia evenly planted.  Yeah, not so much anymore; the marigolds have completely taken over, and also have bent as they grew outwards and only has a few inches of soil for support.  Today, I trimmed them back within the confines of the stone circle, and then dropped in another row of stones (making 3) and yanked out the centipede grass that was growing between the stones and weedblock under the bed’s soil.  Much prettier now, and until the marigolds die out, that will probably be the end of that work.  Shouldn’t be too long now, and then I can add some more soil and level it out for the next round, where maybe will do it right and put the salvia on top and the marigolds on the periphery (sorry, we didn’t know).

Now with that work done, I can look at taking a road trip or two to peep some leaves…

One of the things I am noted for in the circle of friends is my relative lack of familiarity with mixed drinks, with the only drinks I generally made or drank were: screwdrivers, Margaritas, white Russians, and Jack & Coke.  Now, of course, these are nice because a least there’s some variance in the primary alcohols used (vodka, tequila, and whiskey).  However, I admit my total ignorance of stuff beyond these.

To remedy this, Kim and I challenged ourselves to make a “drink of the week” to broaden our abilities to make drinks as well as appreciate new flavors.  We’re working from a little book written by Salvatore Calabrese called “Complete Home Bartender’s Guide.”

Because this is new stuff for me, I’ve started our first two weeks with relatively simple drinks.  Last week, I made us some Cape Codders to say good by to summer with, and we both were happy with the results, though at the same time, it’s not something we’d make all too often because it didn’t rank above our favorites.  This one is very simple: 1 2/3 oz. of vodka, and 5 oz. of cranberry juice poured into a taller glass filled with ice.  It’s a nice refreshing drink.

This week’s drink did not go over so well for Kimmie, though.  I tried making some Gin Rickeys (1 2/3 oz. gin, 1 oz of fresh squeezed lime juice, and club soda, over ice in tall glass).  She said it tasted bitter to her, which I believe is a function of the club soda.  I didn’t mind it too much, though I think a little something to sweeten it would make it more palatable to me (thinking I might cheat and use a little Rose’s Sweetened Lime Juice as an experiment, or maybe try again when I’ve made some sugar syrup for myself).

Ah well, isn’t this the point?  Try new things, find some disgusting combinations and occasionally find ourselves a new favorite, as well as what makes good combinations (sweet, sour, bitter, salty). Not only that, we can also learn each other’s taste preferences and be able to start filtering out drinks.

I won’t be slinging drinks for others for a while yet though…