Category Archives: Drink
Tube map of cocktail bars
I’m absolutely enamored with this tube map of cocktail bars in London, as seen on Ginmonkey.co.uk.
All cocktail bars are within walking distance of their respective tube station. It’s a great concept and still a work in progress! If you have any suggestions, you can contact Ginmonkey. And many thanks to Martini Mandate for leading me to it!
Here we come a-wassailing
Larry Crowe/AP
Have you ever had wassail?
On NPR’s “Morning Edition” this morning, reporter Kathleen Osborn discusses her search for this very traditional English drink in New England. Have a listen.
I’ve never tried it, but the following are three very different variations on this festive drink.
Randy Baril’s Wassail Recipe
1/2 gallon beer (Preferably a very malty English-style old ale. Mayflower’s Thanksgiving Ale works really well.)
5 sticks of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon whole cloves
5 slices fresh ginger
3 whole allspice
1/2 teaspoon sweet orange peel (optional)
On stovetop or in a slow cooker, add spices to beer. (Can use a tea bag for
the clove, allspice and orange so they can be removed easily. Allow
the cinnamon and ginger to go free-range.)
Warm to just under a simmer and hold for at least 30 minutes.
Adjust spice blend to your taste. For extra sweet wassail, add a bit of brown sugar.
Enjoy on a cold winter night in the company of friends and family while singing to keep the dark at bay.
Clarence Zimmerman Family Wassail Recipe
1 to 2 bottles of champagne
1 pint vodka
1 cup brandy
32 ounces fresh tart juice (cranberry or orange)
Mix all ingredients together and pour into a decorative vessel that the whole family can drink from.
The Prince and The Pauper Wassail Recipe
Fresh apple cider
Little bit of orange juice
A little less lemon juice
Cinnamon stick
Clove
Dash of nutmeg
Dash of ginger
Steep all ingredients for a half-hour on a low boil. Add brandy, rum or vodka as desired.
Make mine a (British) pint
I used to think that measurements were standard. An inch is an inch. A cup is a cup. No matter where you are in the world, right?
Well, apparently not.
Order a pint at the pub in the UK and you’ll get 20 ounces. Order a pint in the US and you’ll get a mere 16 ounces. Yes, a British pint is about 20% bigger than an American one.
This is usually the point when Brits can rightly beat their chests and guffaw at Americans with their tiny pints and their extra-cold lager and their “American football” played with all of that padding (sorry, that has nothing to do with beer. I just felt like throwing that in).
But here’s the science: Pints are units of measurements in something called US customary units as well as the imperial system, which is what the UK uses. And so, although they have the same name, they are two different animals.
Even more fascinating is this little tidbit, courtesy of Wikipedia: “A ‘pint’ of beer served in a tavern outside Great Britain and the United States may be a British pint, an American pint, or something different, depending on local laws and customs.”
The moral of this tale? If you must choose between a pint in the UK or the US, go with the British pint and choose some real ale, while you’re at it!
Time Out’s Eating & Drinking Awards
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – London is home to some of the best restaurants in the world and this week Time Out is highlighting the best of the bunch in their 2011 Eating & Drinking Awards!
Even better, they’ve posted all of their picks on their website.
This year’s categories include best new restaurant, best sushi bar, best new bar and best new cheap eats.
I’ve already bookmarked it for my next trip to the Big Smoke.
Make tea not war
About two years ago, I bought this for my tea-loving husband:
Great shirt, great sentiment.
Since then, the Plain Lazy brand has gotten less lazy and expanded its line to include hoodies, posters, mugs, duvet covers and buttons bearing the “Make Tea Not War” mantra. Plus, the UK-based company delivers to the US without a whinge.
I now have my eye on their novelty self-stirring mug. Behold!
4 ingredients for a great cuppa
Every Brit has a secret to a great cuppa. After all, we’re talking about a nation of tea drinkers. Our family relies on these four ingredients: 1. Breville One-Touch Tea Maker, a real luxury but it is programmable so you can wake up to freshly brewed tea. 2. Chicken-Shaped Tea Cosy keeps the teapot warm. 3. Crate and Barrel Tea Bag Squeezer helps get every last drop from the tea bag. 4. Twinings Everyday Teabags makes a tasty brew of classic “builder’s tea.”
When life hands you lemons …
The first time I saw this print, I was watching the ever-lovely Emily Henderson makeover the living room of the equally-lovely Joy Cho on Secrets from a Stylist. Watch the episode here!
Joy had a wall full of pictures and prints that she wanted to continue to display in an engaging way and Emily was on the case. This charming print was just one of over a dozen on the wall, but its sunny yellow disposition caught my eye.
After a little online digging, I discovered the print was from the Etsy shop of New Zealand-based designer dearcolleen and I’ve since sent the tea towel version to one sister-in-law in New Zealand and another sister-in-law in England. Gin and tonic is the cocktail of choice in most UK households and we love that tradition. It just seemed like a fitting tribute to our favorite elixir.
As a side note, if you’ve never watched Secrets from a Stylist, you don’t know what you’re missing! Full episodes are available online so you can have your own mini marathon any time you like. With or without gin and tonic.
The Sound of Music
Much singing can be heard at night in Edinburgh's Grassmarket
After doing a few minutes of searching on the Internets, I’ve decided that what the world sorely needs is an anthropological study of the drinking habits of people across the globe. A cultural analysis of the inebriated, complete with full color pictures. Maybe a coffee table book.
If such a book were written, then much could be said about the copious amount of singing that goes on in the United Kingdom, following last orders.
For a time, we lived in a cozy flat (translation: apartment) in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket area, a stone’s throw from quite a few pubs. And so it was that every Friday and Saturday night, we would inevitably hear the lilting melodies of “Flower of Scotland,” Scotland’s unofficial national anthem, from roving bands of merriment makers. It was like clockwork. The pubs would close and then, cue the singing. Nothing resembling The Warblers. Always “Flower of Scotland.” Sometimes something by the Pogues.
Now I’m no anthropologist but I think it’s fair to say that such a thing doesn’t happen in the US. There are bar fights, yes. Shouting, of course. Loud chatter and giggles and the clip-clop of heels hitting pavement but strains from “America the Beautiful”? Uh, I think not.
BRITRISH.COM 