Strawberries, Vinegar, Mario, Strawberries
We have some fresh strawberries today, so I used the Cocktails+ iPhone app (hey, free this week only!) to make a “Blood-Hound Cocktail”:
- 1/4 dry vermouth
- 1/4 sweet vermouth
- 1/2 London dry gin
- 3 crushed strawberries
- Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass.
It is delicious. Shannon is generally anti-gin and yet agrees that it tastes like a field of fresh strawberries. I heartily recommend that if you have the implements on hand, you should whip yourself up a Blood-Hound. (I believe that’s 1920’s-style hyphenation.)
What else? I owe you some updates, people.
So, we’re on a budgeting binge. Shannon’s working on replacing all of our cleaning solutions with vinegar, baking soda, and a giant bottle of Dr. Bronner’s, which should be easy on our wallet, but I suspect our house may just start to smell like salad dressing. She also ordered some Crunchy Clean All Natural Detergent, which she claims is 100% “green”. It’s 9 bucks for 80 loads, so I’m a fan, as long as the “crunchy” part of the equation is purely metaphorical.
We’re going to cut back on cable. When we bought our HDTV — a magical wall of beautifulness — we also upgraded to The Digital Cable Premium Ultra Plus Pack, or whatever. In true Comcast style our promo period ran out, and our bill mutated into a sentient, malevolent being and rampaged through our wallets on a monthly basis.
No more, I say! We can watch Netflix Instant Watch on the iMac and on our TV (through the XBox), we have $30 in gift cards to iTunes, we have the 1-disc plan with Netflix, there is a Blockbuster down the street, and Hulu exists. We don’t need OnDemand, and we sure has heck don’t need 200 TV channels. We’re going down to Arbitrarily Limited Basic, as soon as I gather up the necessary personal constitution necessary to dial 1-800-COMCAST and battle the evil robot lady voice.
I’ve also listed a bunch of stuff on Craigslist. Hopefully somebody will take our electric organ (I impulse-bought it for $50 a while back but can’t actually play keyboards), or our Dance Dance Revolution mat (it came with a GameCube system and pile of games that I bought off of Craigslist, but the only DDR game on GameCube is Mario Mix, which features Mario characters throwing down to techno remixes of various public-domain songs, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, not kidding) or this pile of movies (because we got 3 free Blu-Rays of lousy movies when we bought our TV, and while we like VHSes in some respects, nobody actually needs Quantum Leap: The Leap Home in VHS format).
Saving money. It’s what’s happening with the Daigles! Oh, and drinking Blood-Hounds. Mix yourself up a Blood-Hound. Or at least have a strawberry.
Dialogue
Balie
on a Saturday
at 1:14 am
It’s a budget revolution! Josh and I are already making post-merger plans that involve checking out DVDs exclusively from the library. No Netflix, no cable. And since we can avail ourselves of free wi-fi in various locations, here’s hoping that we can stick to our plan not to get internet service until the weather turns nasty.
Cameron
on a Sunday
at 1:07 pm
I respect your budgeting cajones. Between Hulu, Netflix instant-watch, my design work, and video games, we couldn’t survive without the Internet. Also, I think the library has a warrant out for our arrest.
Shannon
on a Tuesday
at 4:25 pm
Ahhh, yes, “before the weather turns nasty.” We had a blissful 6 months of marriage with limited basic cable before the weather got “nasty” and we caved and upgraded. Clearly, as Floridians, we were not exactly accustomed to it being cruelly cold outside for at least 4 months of the year. Yeah, and we live in Tennessee. That’s pathetic.
Jared
on a Monday
at 10:35 pm
I recommend a) use the neighbors internet, and b) work insane amounts of hours so you never have enough time to spend your money. Someone recommend to me with a straight face that I should get a wife to “spend my money for me.”
Jared
on a Monday
at 10:36 pm
I recommend a) use the neighbors internet, and b) work insane amounts of hours so you never have enough time to spend your money. Someone recommend to me with a straight face that I should get a wife to “spend my money for me.”
And since I love gin and strawberries I can’t wait until they are in season. In June.
Cameron
on a Tuesday
at 9:39 am
Gin is always in season, my friend.
Jared
on a Friday
at 4:58 pm
Review of the Bloodhound.
Now that strawberries are almost in season I bought some at the public market and made some bloodhounds at a friend’s house. The consensus was that they are good but need some club soda. This would make them fizzy and also bigger. You either have to sip the drink slowly or get buzzed quickly off of drinking pretty much straight alcohol. One person thought the drink needed sugar but that opinion was not universal.
3.5/5 stars.
Shannon
on a Friday
at 9:14 pm
Sorry it was too strong for you, Ms. Tomlinson!
In all seriousness, glad you got some enjoyment out of the cocktail. :)
Jared
on a Sunday
at 9:48 pm
Hey. I’m a light weight these days! Nothing like being on call every 2nd to 3rd night to put a dint in your drinking…
Shannon
on a Tuesday
at 4:25 pm
Haha! Coincidentally, last weekend I saw a recipe for something similar to what was described in your improvements, called a “Strawberry Fields Ice Cream Float.” Sort of a desserty, lower alcohol-content take on the same flavors. AND it has ice cream. We’ve not tried it yet, but I am looking forward to giving it a whirl.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sunny-anderson/strawberry-fields-ice-cream-float-recipe/index.html
Jared
on a Wednesday
at 12:44 pm
Mmmm. Icecream. And I’m planning on making them with a splash of club soda tonight…