DRINK | Cucumber & Elderflower Gin & Tonic

Is it Friday yet? No? Oh well, let’s pretend it is and make ourselves a drink to celebrate! TGIW! Amirite!?

Can we talk about elderflower for a second? It seems that despite seeing it everywhere on places like Pinterest and in recipe books, I am completely unable to track down this mythical ingredient in local stores. ‘Pick up from your grocery store’ they say. They are damn liars the lot of them! At this point, I was almost convinced that elderflower was something more akin to unicorns, or pixies, or a movie based on an 80’s cartoon that doesn’t suck - you know, things that sound wonderful, but don’t actually exist. You guys, I was totally ready to give up and then, just when I least expected it…

It was like the heaven’s opened up! There was a shining light and a chorus of angels singing, and there, in the beam of light I saw it: Elderflower…. cordial!? Eh! Close enough!

This stuff is good. Like, too good! So good in fact, that I am a little concerned how much I will love the real thing when I finally track some down. I’ve been putting it in everything. Popsicles, lemonade, cakes, icing. But by far, my favourite concoction is (of course) the alcohol related one! A dash of elderflower and a few slices of cucumber in your old fashioned G&T is next level delicious! The flavour is sweet but subtle and a perfect mix with a good quality gin (Tanqueray is what I usually have on hand, but use your favourite brand!)

Cucumber is in my opinion the perfect cocktail ingredient. It’s crisp and refreshing, and when mixed with the elderflower undertones… perfection!

DRINK | Rum Soaked Cherry Shooters

So, I know that we only just made sangria, so maybe I should hold off on the alcoholic drinks for at least a few days. But to hell with being responsible! Instead we’re going to make Rum Soaked Cherry Shooters! Hooorraaaaayyy!

In my defence, these little drinks need to be made in advanced, so really, even though we’re making them today, we wont actually be drinking them for a week or more!

Rum Soaked Cherry Shooters are exactly what they sound like; cherries soaked in rum! Eat the cherries and drink the rum. No one, not even the most useless amateur cook in the world, can mess that up! But here’s the secret, when soaked together the cherries and the spiced rum mix together to create something extra special. The cherries, keep they crunchy texture, but suddenly have a whole lotta kick to them! And the juices from the cherries marry together with the rum, resulting in a sweeter, fruitier taste. Kind of like a strong schnapps! And don’t let the name fool you, these drinks are designed to be sipped and enjoyed, not shot down tequila style ;)

At first glance there’s not a lot to this recipe -grab some cherries, a bottle of spiced rum , add together a voilà! And really that’s the beauty of it! It takes literally 5 minutes to prepare and then you can set it and forget it! While there isn’t much to the method, there are some tricks that will help you get the most out of your shooters:

• Make sure you get fresh, ripe, crunchy cherries! You want them to crisp and full of flavour!
• The cherries will lose a lot of colour the longer they are soaked, but don’t worry, they should retain that crunch factor as long as you keep them refrigerated.
• If you want to make and serve these the same day, simply slice the cherries all the way around  before soaking and allow to sit fir a few hours. The flavours wont be as strong as if you soak them for a longer period of time, but you will get a similar outcome. The best way to do this is prepare the shooters in the morning and serve after dinner.
• Simarly, if you are short on time, instead of refrigerating, store in a warm, dry, dark place, like a cupboard or pantry. This will expedite the process, but your cherries will end up a little softer and mushier than if refrigerated.

DRINK | White Christmas Sangria

Now that we’re adults, Christmas has changed from being all about the presents, to being all about the food and booze. C’mon, don’t look at me like that - you know its true! Everyone loves to talk about all the amazing food they are going to overeat on the big day, but (in my opinion), not enough is said about the liquor situation. I’m not sure how well that reflects on me, but I’m going with it!

Here in Australia it is HOT on Christmas Day. It’s actually the hottest time of year for us. So my Christmas usually revolves around staying cool: air conditioned houses and friends pools are at the top of my list, just after keeping ‘hydrated’. A refreshing beverage can make all the difference, so I’m happy to present my Christmas time/summer time favourite - White Christmas Sangria.

The beauty of sangria is its simplicity. Grab some of your favourite fruit - drench it in a good bottle of wine - add some more liquor (brandy, rum, or in my case; apple cider (coz I love a bit of fizz!) and top with some soda water or ginger ale for extra bubbles! If you’re feeling really adventurous you can always add fruit juice or extra sweeteners. And of course, a few herbs or spices are always a welcome addition fora bit of extra kick! This being a Christmas Sangria, I usually add a cinnamon quill, but you can replace this with some leafy herbs or omit it all together.

Essentially, we’re just making fancy punch, and you can never go wrong with punch. Merry Christmas!

DRINK | Rosella Cocktails - 3 Ways!

The boyfriend has the greenest thumb of anyone I know, so when he started growing a rosella tree in our yard I shouldn’t have been surprised when it grew crazy big seemingly overnight! With an abundance of these tart red fruits, we turned out attention to finding as many uses for them as possible. A bottle of vodka later and we had some pretty great cocktail recipes!

I can already hear some of our international readers scratching their heads. “What is this ‘rosella’ you speak of?!” they ask. It may be little harder for you to obtain the key ingredient for this recipe, but trust me, it’s totally worth the extra effort!

The Rosella goes by many names, but essentially it is a plant in the Hibiscus family. It both flowers and produces these vibrant, fleshy, flower-looking ‘fruit’ that, while not actually a fruit, is totally edible and can be used for cooking and flavouring. The red flesh of the rosella has an amazing tart, tangy sweetness and can be used to make tea, made into jams and even used in many folk medicine remedies.

For those of you who may not have access to rosellas straight from the bush, I am told you can buy the fruits from health food stores in the US (sometimes packaged as “Flor de Jamaica”) or Caribbean or Asian supermarkets in the UK.

For our cocktail recipes we infused a bottle of vodka with the rosellas. The rosellas themselves snap away from the branch quite easily, after which you will need to remove the large seed from inside, leaving only the red outer layer.  To do this, run a sharp knife around the base of the green leaves on the pod, pressing firmly through the flesh until you can feel the seed inside.  When you have scored a line around the base of the whole pod, you should be able to firmly pull on the stem and the seed should pop out from the red flesh.  Do this over a sink so you can run the rosella under the tap as you go as ant sometimes like to live inside.

Once you have your rosellas prepared, ensure they have been thoroughly washed and then simply cram as many as you can into the vodka bottle. The longer you leave the mixture, the stronger the flavour.  We were impatient, so we only let our vodka infuse for a week, but the taste was still delicious! I’m looking forward to making these cocktails again in a couple of months when the flavours have really developed!

Alternatively, if you don’t want to infuse your alcohol (or you want to use different alcohol), you can boil the rosella down to create a syrup that you add to the drinks, similar to a basic sugar syrup.

First up an easy fruit cocktail: The Rosella Screwdriver! Perfect for you Rosella First-Timers, mixed with orange juice, it’s not too strong as the juice softens out the rosella flavour. As an added bonus; check out how pretty it looks as the colours mix together!!

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Next up, my personal favourite: The Rosella Sour! Served on the rocks, this baby is almost too easy too drink, if you know what I mean! I had a few too many of these for ‘testing’ purposes….

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Last but not least, this cocktail was for the boys who are all about the classic: Tom Collins (with a twist!) Now your usual Tom Collins is made with Gin, so of course you can infuse your own to make these bad boys. However, a Tom Collins is just as good with Vodka, so seeing as we already had a big bottle on the go, we pressed on…

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And there you have it! So easy to make and you won’t see these cocktails on a bar menu! All your friends will be super impressed with your exotic new mixes at your next dinner party. Don’t worry, we’ll let you take all the credit! Enjoy!

Recipe | Homemade Iced Coffee

Alright coffee lovers, this one is for you! You know who you are: the folks who can’t function in the morning without your daily cup-o-joe. Sometimes, I wish I were like you. I wish I liked the taste of coffee. It smells so SO good and some days I could really use a magical, miracle drink to wake me up properly. But alas, no matter how many sugary or chocolatey incarnations I try,  I simply have never enjoyed the bitter taste of coffee.

If missing out on the general social experience of a morning coffee wasn’t enough, the boyfriend and housemates are obsessed. They are on a first name basis with all the barista’s in our area. We have not only a proper coffee machine, but also a bean grinder. Not to mention the bags upon bags of boutique, high end beans that line our pantry. My mornings begin in a haze of whirring machinery and rich, earthy scents. As you are probably gathering, I am the odd one out in my house. When everyone around me is enjoying their warm liquid wake up call, I am still stumbling around the house grumbling and silently cursing the day.

In these times, my only saving grace is iced coffee. Not that it is my favourite thing, but if it is sugary and milky enough, I have at least a small gateway down through the rabbit hole to caffinated Wonderland. So it was only natural that my desire to be included would lead me to conjuring up a home-made recipe (Look at me everybody! I used the coffee machine!) Everything about this recipe can be tailored to your liking, so I’ve tried to stay away from using strict measurements. A serve for me includes only one or two coffee ice cubes and a metric tonne of milk, cream and sugar, but for the coffee lovers (ie: what is pictured), you’re looking at a richer more balanced coffee flavour. Either way, this one is a winner if you have even a hint of love for that ‘magic’ bean….

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