You said I must eat so many lemons: Limoncello.

I made this limoncello for a friends birthday. I was really late with the present, but with something as nice as this, I'm sure he won't mind. It was pretty simple, really. Just zest all the lemons, juice them, put them in a pan with some sugar and water, simmer, mix it with some vodka, bottle it all up. See? How easy was that! If you want to impress your friends, def make this. I've already decided that I need to make this again for some people who's birthday's are coming up.

Limoncello.
From 'Gifts from the kitchen' by Annie Rigg


5-6 unwaxed lemons, washed
250g caster sugar
100ml water
700ml bottle of vodka

Zest the lemons. I just used a vegetable peeler for this.
Juice all the lemons, and set the juice aside.
In a small pan, mix the water, sugar and zest.
Set over medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.
Reduce heat and simmer for 15 mins.
Add the lemon juice and simmer for another 5 mins.
Set aside to cool.
Pour the vodka into a large sterilised* jar (The jar needs to be big enough to hold the vodka and the lemon syrup).
Add the lemon syrup, zest and all, and give it a good shake.
Leave in a cool, dry, dark place for a week. Shake the jar every day.
Strain the liquid into a pretty bottle. If you're going to put the liquid back into the bottle that the vodka came in, there will be a bit left over. Feel free to keep this for yourself.

*Sterilise your jar by washing it in hot soapy water, and then setting in a 200C oven for 20 mins, on a shelf covered with newspaper. Take the jar out and leave to cool before pouring the liquid in. (Remember, cold liquid in a hot jar equals cracked jar.)

Fight for your right to birthday party - Gin and Tonic Jelly.

I made this Jelly for Brent's sister, Kirby's Birthday. She likes gin a lot.
Unfortunately it didn't look as pretty as I'd hoped, but it tasted good and Kirby and her boyfriend, Arie, seemed to enjoy it.

Nigella Lawson suggested putting white currants around the jelly, but I've never seen a white currant before, let alone know where to buy them. I used cucumber instead because Kirby and Arie often put it into their gin and tonics, and it looked pretty.

I was so excited about the jelly when I was making it. I told everyone at work about it, and I was so excited to give it to Kirby instead of a regular cake. I waited until the very last minute to unmould it, because I didn't want it to collapse from sitting around for too long. Unfortunately, the jelly wasn't firm enough and after I put the jelly on a plate, one side of it slowly, ever so slowly, fell away. Like a cliff crumbling after a storm.
I thought this was the last of it, and I turned away to get the cucumber and lemon out of the fridge. When I came back, a little crack had appeared in the middle. As I watched, the crack got bigger until it had split the whole way across. Luckily this part didn't fall away from the rest, but it didn't look good, and golly I was worried.
I perservered and cut up thin slices of cucumber and lemon and lovingly arranged them, hoping to distract from all the cracks.

The car ride over to Kirby's house was definately an interesting one. Brent thought it was hilarious that the jelly wobbled around so much. It looked like a little translucent squid, covered in cucumber. Thankfully he drove carefully and the jelly didn't crack any more.
In the end, I think I'd file this one away as a success and I'm planning to make lots of different flavours. Imagine the possibilities! Vodka and Cranberry! Rum and Coke! Martini! Man Panda!
I'm excited just thinking about it...

Recipe:
From Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a domestic goddess'.

300ml water
300g castor sugar
zest and juice of 2 lemons
400ml tonic water
250ml gin
8 sheets of leaf gelatine

Put water and sugar into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 mins.
Take off the heat and add lemon zest. Let sit for 15 mins.
Strain sugar syrup into a measuring jug. (If you don't strain the jelly, you'll get all those little zesty bits that are on the top of my jelly.)
Add lemon juice, gin and tonic. This should reach 1,200ml
Soak gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 mins.
Put 50ml water into a small saucepan and bring to the boil.
Take off the heat and whisk in the gelatine leaves (squeeze excess water off the leaves first).
Pour some of the gin mix into the sauce pan, then pour it all back into the jug.
Pour mix into a 1 1/4 L greased jelly mould and leave to set in the fridge for at least 6 hours.

whisky disaster cake

It rained all day today. It was super cold and it snowed on the mountain. The first day that it snowed heaps all winter, and I have to work all weekend so I'm not gonna get to see the snow even a little bit! That's just typical.

It stopped raining just long enough for me to walk to the shops and buy the ingredients for a chocolate whisky cake. I've been thinking about this cake since Brent's sister left a bottle of Canadian Club at our house 2 weekends ago. We've got a cake at work that is a Grand Marnier Chocolate mousse cake which is delicious, and I thought I could make something similar using the CC. Then I saw a recipe for bourbon cupcakes on everybody likes sandwiches, and I thought I'd adapt it a little bit to make a whole (non-vegan) cake.

I was super excited about it. Chocolate? Booze? What's not to like.
Except, something went wrong. On this cold, rainy day, somewhere, something went wrong and I just didn't make a very good cake. The sauce was ok, but it wasn't thick enough. It just ran straight off the cake and it was Super alcoholic. It was like eating chocolate liquors, but without the satisfaction.
The cake was soft, but wasn't as chocolatey as I'd hoped. Basically, disaster.

Originally I'd made this to take to a dinner party, but the party was cancelled at the last minute. This was a stroke of luck, really. How could I face anyone with this horrible, boozey cake I'd made? Thank god no-one else had to eat it. No. Not really. It wasn't seriously that bad. But it wasn't seriously good. It wasn't even plain good. I guess we can't all be good in the kitchen all the time. I'm not even gonna give you the recipe for this, because I'm sure you can find a nicer one somewhere. Maybe you could just have some whisky and some chocolate and you'll be happier than me.

So I'll just sit here, while Brent watches the footy, and eat my boozy cake. Maybe if I eat enough, it'll start to taste good. We'll see what happens.