Cranberry-ginger gin cocktail, with a sugared rim, cranberries and rosemary garnish.
Little tea party for Roshani’s birthday
Little tea party for Roshani’s birthday. I made tea sandwiches: egg salad, curried mushroom, curried beet, chili leeks, pork and potato. Others brought Sri Lankan fish rolls. Mini apple pies and carrot cake and a ghosty cake (from local baker Sugar Fixé). Tea. Pimm’s cocktails, tawny port, mango soda, wine and prosecco.
We managed to not think about the state of the world for several hours, although we did get into a rousing debate about a West Wing issue towards the end of the night. 🙂
I had two, so I must have liked them.
Made up a cocktail, was pretty good. Apple cider, honey whiskey, bitters, squeeze of lime, ginger beer, sugar rim. I had two, so I must have liked them.

Lilac & lime simple syrup
Lilac & lime simple syrup. Delicate sweet + citrus floral flavor, nice with gin and tonic (got to keep that malaria away), would also be nice with seltzer water. I’ll have 9 little bottles at the art fair Saturday.
I meant to make this earlier — by the time I got around to it, most of my purple lilac petals had fallen, so I ended up with mostly pink petals, which made a sort of brown syrup.
Usually, if you add citrus to lilac syrup, it’ll turn purple, but I think the pink is just not strong enough color for that, so I ended up with a sort of melon-y color? Still pretty, though it doesn’t particularly shout ‘lilac’ when you look at it. 🙂
Some recipes recommend adding a few blueberries to get a purple color — I didn’t have any on hand, but maybe I’ll try that next year. This recipe suggests that, for example: https://www.havocinthekitchen.com/lilac-syrup/
They also suggest uses: “Think of fancy cocktails, refreshing lemonades, or over your ice cream. Enjoy with pancakes, crepes, and French toasts. Besides, it would be great as a part of desserts, soak cake, topping for your oatmeal, and a dressing for your fruit salads.”
Maybe Don’t Get Up On The Ladder
Making fruitcake? Take that bottle of brandy and pour yourself a nice glug. Add some of the cherry syrup from the jar of glacé cherries, some cherry or orange bitters, some clementine and cherry for garnish. Juice the rest of the clementine into the glass.
Take that with you when you’re wrestling the lights for the tree…maybe don’t get up on the ladder, though.






















