Happy International Beer Day

 Happy International Beer Day! If you're looking for a fun place to go, check out the site www.Internationalbeerday.com for more info on events in your local area.

DIY LIMONCELLO

When life gives you lemons... make limoncello. The tart and tangy flavors brings back wild memories of my year abroad, running around on a wild goose chase on a train bound to Leige every Wednesday !!!! Have you been there ? 

Thanks Kristin for sharing your recipe!  


{Pre-edited images via Brit+Co}

Les Petits Secrets : HOMEMADE IRISH CREAM

I came to alcohol a bit early...But I had a fateful encouter with it..  i was a part of an all girl gang and we created a rucuss on the New Year's eve of Y2K... ! Since them I've tried everything that I lay eyes on... I am always up for sampling the goodies... 

When visiting the home of a former paramour for the holidays, some friends of his parents dropped by. They brought a bottle containing a creamy, mocha-tinged substance, which was almost immediately divvied up and poured over rocks glasses filled with ice. What these generous family friends had brought was their much-loved, seriously delicious and highly covetable homemade Irish cream. I was instantly smitten, and have been ever since.

For today’s Les Petits Secrets, I’m sharing my take on that tempting libation sampled so many winters past. It’s very easy to make (start to finish, the preparation is less than 30 minutes); can be whipped up with easy-to-come-by ingredients; and contains none of the artificial flavorings, coloring agents or preservatives used in commercially prepared Irish creams. Best of all, it’ll make anyone you choose to give it to very, very happy. Irish eyes are smiling, friends, when they’re knocking back a glass of this! 

See the recipe for Homemade Irish Cream after the jump . . .

My recipe varies a bit from other Irish creams. Actually, it varies a lot. Instead of blitzing everything in a blender as is the norm, I like to warm my cream slowly over low heat, resulting in a beverage that remains thicker longer than its whizzed kin. For the liquor, I use Bushmills, but any quality Irish whiskey does the job. As a head’s up, please know that this is an alcohol-forward drink, which helps it retain its flavor when added to other beverages, like coffee. That said, if the drink is too stiff for your liking, feel free to reduce the amount of alcohol called for.

Irish Cream Liquor
Makes 4 cups

The Goods

• 1 cup strong coffee
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 Tablespoon dark cocoa
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 14-ounce can organic, sweetened condensed milk*
• 2 cups Irish whiskey (I used Bushmills)

*The sweetened condensed milk I use includes organic milk and sugar and nothing else. It’s a time saver, to be sure. If you’d rather make your own, by all means, feel free. Just know that you’ll need to allocate several hours for reducing the milk before you’re able to proceed with the rest of the recipe below.

The Deal

1. Bring the coffee to a gentle simmer in a medium-size saucepan.

2. Add the cream, cocoa, sugar, honey and extracts, and whisk thoroughly.

3. Simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes, whisking frequently, until the mixture begins to thicken.

4. Remove the saucepan from the heat; whisk in the sweetened condensed milk.

5. Transfer the mixture to a heat-safe glass, ceramic or metal bowl, and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

6. Whisk in the whiskey until completely blended.

7. At this point, you can either allow the mixture to cool to room temperature and then serve or transfer it to a lidded container and store it in the refrigerator.

8. Serve over ice.

This beverage isn’t shelf stable, so if you intend to gift it, tell the recipient to keep it refrigerated. That is if it lasts that long!

What about you? Have any homemade liquors you whip up come holiday time or cocktail hour, regardless of the season? I’d love hear about them. Otherwise, the skies are darkening, 5 o’clock is nearing, the wood stove is blazing and I do believe it’s time for a glass of this good stuff. Cheers!

Photos and styling by Jen Altman

Celebrating the A-Z Challenge with a Beer Tasting !

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned from preparing for St. Patrick’s Day at Wilderness office, it’s that beer can be quite a divisive drink. Some of us love the occasional grain-based beverage. Others, however, simply can’t abide by the drink’s heavy, earthy taste. For those in the latter camp, St. Patrick’s Day.. or as I like to also say the celebrating the A-Z Flower Challenge  can sometimes be an unwelcome experience, given its association with copious beer consumption. It doesn’t need to be this way! To win over some of our less beer-inclined friends, we decided to throw a little beer-tasting party. Similar to a wine tasting, a beer-tasting party allows guests to try various brews and appreciate their subtle nuances in flavor — no unsightly chugging necessary! Better yet, you can mix and match various treats to enhance and complement the flavors. To take the idea even further, try choosing multiple blends from a local brewery. After touring Mumbai’s various Microbreweries, my husband Kunal Shah and I, we decided to highlight some of their craft beers. Check out all the photos, treats and decorations after the jump! 

Above image: No, those aren’t straws in those beers (who do you think we are?). They’re drink labels! Simply attach circles of decorative paper to a bamboo skewer and pop one in each drink for easy identification! The brews in this photo are, from left to right:Sweet Action, Resin and The Crisp.

Above image: We created six-pointed paper stars as a decorative homage to Sixpoint’s logo. Check out the DIY directions on Design & Form, one of my favorite blogs. Various decorative papers from Paper Source.

Above image: I love pairing beers with hard cheeses and hearty breads. Salty treats like potato chips and peanuts are also excellent beer snacks.

Above image: Three more fabulous brews from Sixpoint, pictured left to right: 3 Beans,Bengali Tiger and Righteous Ale.

For the Love of Cocktails

 oh that mrs. lilien. do you know her? if not, you need an introduction, pronto-like, before the weekend is upon us. for dear mrs. lilien of styling and blogger fame has just written a book,mrs. lilien’s cocktail swatchbook. i suppose you’d call this a non-fiction book, because it’s all about concocting the perfect little party cocktail, and my goodness, it’s bloody well color coordinated at that. match your cocktails to your wardrobe, perhaps your snappy sandals, heck match your cocktails to your undies! whatever color you can dream up, the mrs. has acocktail just for you!

A Bicycle Bar

While we are still on DELIVERY mode for food packedges... lets visit Ed and Joe dress up in old English gents attire and deliver cocktails to the good people of London on their vintage butcher's bicycle bar. They call their "pop-up drinks project" the Traveling Gin Co. It's a brilliant concept really. Reminds me of Tiffany's sandwich and cake delivery bike. I hope these boys cycle overseas soon!

Teaching at Mithibai College

I came back home from the party at 1 last night. After which I spent an hour reading the course work for my teaching class today. It’s at a time like this I wonder why I take up something more than I can handle - sure my 24 years and some days old bones are getting lazier ! It is one thing to know what you do – and excel at it day after day, but teaching that to a whole bunch of 60 students ( who are sleepy ) x 2 classes Export/ import is another ball game .

Honestly – I do remember very well , nodding profusely in a 7 a.m. lecture – back in the day when I was a student of Mithibai College, BMS – but not understanding a word of what is being taught. Especially on a fine wintery morning, where it’s just cosy enough to drift into outer space till everything around me turns dark pink and purple – and then.... then... a whole other world – which definitely looked more interesting than the OHP projector reflecting the transparency and its contents. The flutter of pages every now and then. The slightest irk caused by the chalk. The teacher hmming and ahhhing in between. The low hummmm of the A/c working – and then suddenly the entire class becomes silent !

I was woken up by a teacher – much to my embarrassment ! Today, being on the other side – and trying to snooze at a student felt so weird. Strangely it made me feel way older than 24. I said a silent thank you for not letting that guy buy me a drink last night – imagine this with the alcohol residue in my body – would have been disastrous. For the very first time I thought I needed to refuse the drink and behave older and more mature and get back into bed.

Being funny comes easy to me – but sometimes as a teacher – I feel awkwardly conscious cracking into a joke – will i be over stepping the friendliness border ? I added the first few of my students over Facebook today.. !! Will they accept the friendship request ? only time will tell ! But one thing is for sure – I am a lot more relaxed than I was when I had first walked into the class. I only hope i do not lose my drive to wake up morning after morning and come to the class. Especially saying goodbye to Friday night parties 2 hours before I would have actually come back is the hardest thing to do !! I hope in the end it is worth it. I hope in the end I make a difference !

Avacado Margarita

Receipe :
1 ripe and delicious avocado

¼ cup fresh lemon or lime juice

2 cups crushed ice

½ cup tequila

¼ cup triple sec

Put in a blender and turn it on. It's so simple; that's why I love it. Then, rub the rim of the glass with lime and dip in a coarse sea salt and chili pepper mix. Sit back on a Wednesday evening like today with some friends and enjoy the smooth goodness !

I am not an Alcoholic ... !!