These Foolish Things

As I had a very dear friend coming over last night, I thought it would be nice to welcome her with a cocktail - and I had just the thing: "Imbibe A Pop Of Spring Colour", an ad in the Guardian said, and the accompanying picture (above)  looked very tempting indeed.

But as nothing ever goes my way, and minor catastrophes and disasters will be thrown onto the path of  good intentions - my supermarket's strawberries had been reduced in price, hence sold out; I couldn't find where on earth (or rather: where in this obsessive-compulsive hoarding house) I had hidden the cocktail glasses; and upon plan B ('find 3 matching, suitable glasses'), I smashed one in the process of cleaning the dust off.  I also discovered that the bottle of Freixenet Rosada I had deemed to be in the cellar, must have been imbibed on an  earlier some such occasion. So, while I will record the recipe, as created by Shaken and Stirred (Oxford) for Freixenet, that is not what we actually had last night...

I had to use raspberries instead of strawberries, and a bottle of pink sparkling perry, instead of the real thing, and then my friend declared alcohol  a no-no, because she was driving...

Mind you, her raspberry puree with apple, raspberry and cranberry juice looked the better cocktail, as I served hers in a (single, lonely) Margarita glass!

But without further ado, here's the recipe, which is probably even better than the one we had, and that was GREAT!

Freixenet These Foolish Things

2 fresh strawberries chopped or 25ml strawberry puree
15 ml maple syrup
25 ml golden rum
2 squeezes fresh lime
Topped with Freixenet Cordon Rosado

Method
Combine the strawberry and maple syrup
Add golden rum and lime
Shake over ice and strain
Top up with Freixenet Rosado
Garnish Strawberry fan

Glass: Martini



I found the photo on Madhousefamilyreviews, where Cheryl reviewed several spring time recipes using Freixenet.

And if you want to learn more about Freixenet, you can here and here - on spittoon, a blog by AndrewBarrow who actually knows about wine!

According to my cut-out from the Guardian, Freixenet are sponsoring this year's Hay Festival (of Literature and the Arts), so I'll add that link, too. - Just in case... (Every year, I intend to go, and then LIFE happens, as usual...)  

31/5 - 10/6

PS: In case anyone is wondering how the diet is going -- not so well, as I can't keep away from the alcohol! But the men are very keen on Gino's recipes - apart from one, they've all been a great success. More about that some other time. Have to get myself organised, The Cherry Orchard starts on Friday, so I'm doing Box Office tonight, and at the weekend, I'll attend the Little Theatre Guild's annual conference. After that, I'm off to the Fatherland, where - austerity measures or not - dieting and/or staying away from the alcohol is usually quite impossible.

Snowballs on Ice

Just a snapshot in Canon Hill Park yesterday. (For the Cocktail, see below!) I was lucky enough to be able to spend the day in the snow with both my boys. One had the day off anyway, and the Birmingham schools were closed, too. Apparently, the Midlands were least affected by the snow, and nice as it was, it has to be said: it wasn't a lot. This amount would never warrant 'no school' in Germany. Mind you, the kids would be able to enjoy it anyway, with lessons finishing at 1:30 the latest. (Unless you go to a Gesamtschule , a school based on a Comprehensive; and there aren't many of those about.)
It is a source of never ending amusement to me, how there's method in this madness of maintaining the myth that it never snows in this country. Not often enough to have enough snow ploughs anyway, or any other policies concerning snow. I'm not complaining!! If this were Germany, I would have been forced last night to go out (again) and remove all snow and ice from the pavement in front of the house. As a house-owner, or a resident of a ground-floor flat, it's your liability if someone slips and injures themselves.
I think it's also law by now that, during the months of October to April (or thereabouts), cars have to change their tyres to the winter variety. Whereas here, they gave me a look normally reserved for the mentally insane, when I inquired about winter tyres!

For the Cocktail,
you need 2 shots of advocaat over ice in a long-drink glass, top up with lemonade.

Did you know that 'advocaat' is so-called because it was originally made from avocados? Want to make your own advocaat? You can check it out in an old post of mine: December 2005 - Was mache ich mit dem Eigelb? (What do I do with the egg yolk?)
[I wish I could just link it, but alas, that's far too technical for little me....] [edit, 02/09]