Experimenting with Vodka Infusions

The title says it all, really. My father infuses vodka bottles with lemon peels (4-5 lemons per liter), and around the time of Succot, one etrog per bottle as well. In an act of experimentation, I've tried to create new, perhaps better, infusions, using this Wikihow guide and this (now defunct) blog.

Grapefruit mint vodka was ... interesting, but not to be repeated.

Yerba Mate-infused vodka (one day was about enough) was also interesting, akin to a caffeinated alcoholic beverage of some sort. Definitely something to try when in need of a downer-upper (or a double downer for those who fall asleep from caffeine).

Grapefruit peel was impossible to drink. It's rather difficult to avoid getting the pith as well as the peel, but maybe using just the zest could work.

Strawberries lent a slight sweet flavor and red color to the infusion, but the taste was nothing special.

This is blueberry vodka (but not with wild blueberries):

Its taste is about as unremarkable as strawberry-infused vodka. Perhaps wild blueberries would work better.

Next up will be vodka infused with cantaloupe, pineapple, and vanilla beans.

Tart Tarte

Today is Sunday and also Mother's birthday. A double whammy! Cooking day and a day to make gifts to Mama coincide!

There was a lot of one-hand egg cracking in this one. Presenting Tarte au Citron:


and muffins au Citron:


Update: Delicious! (A lack of vegetable oil sprayed onto the muffin pan before baking required careful disposal of the small ones.)

Protest SOPA

If ever there was a time to associate your name with an online cause, perhaps this is it. When people like Rupert Murdoch say this:

"Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying," Murdoch wrote.

Murdoch said he searched Google for Mission Impossible clips and found "several sites offering free links."

Then you know it is time to take action.

Call your state representatives, tell them to vote NO on the SOPA/PIPA vote, set to take place on January 24.

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Programming Cat

She is a beautiful Scottish Fold named Sita.

Adventures in Cooking

I've taken advantage of winter break to start cooking again. It is so exciting to make delectable things out of almost nothing!

This was Mushroom Omelette with Pita Bread. (Kind of looks like a large slug, no?)

This was Apple and Cranberry Brown Betty. It was much enjoyed by the adults. Next time I will manually crush bread to make bread crumbs, as the ones here are more suitable for coating meats.

Flood of 2012

Yesterday, in what was probably a freak occurrence, an upper low dumped 1-2 inches overnight over the area. Then, between 9 and 11 AM, an additional 4-5 inches came down, with rainfall rates of 2 inches in 15 minutes on a bayou two miles away. That skinny trunk of a bayou couldn't handle the elephant of water and flooded the neighborhood streets, despite the fact that it (the neighborhood) sits nowhere near a flood zone. Here are some pictures:

That's the bayou nearly cresting in the Medical Center area.

A familiar intersection along the way to school, nowhere near a bayou.

The high water at this point of the highway swallowed up a Mustang.


The end of our street, which didn't even flood during Allison 10 years ago. It was truly astounding (water 2 feet deep at the end), since it happened in just half-an-hour, almost as fast as the infamous 1000-point Dow drop. People unaccustomed to flooding found themselves facing yawning lakes, and turned back because of the alligators.

टेस्ट पोस्ट इन हिंदी

अस ऑफ़ लेट, इ हवे देसिदेद तो लीर्ण हिंदी। थिस कोमेस अस अ रिजल्ट ऑफ़ इन्क्रेअसिंग उसगे ऑफ़ थिस लन्गुअगे इन थे वर्ल्ड, एंड अप्परेंत्ल्य अल्सो बी थिस ब्लॉग, व्हिच थिंक्स आईटी तो बे सुफ़्फ़िकिएन्त्ल्य प्रेवालेंत तो सिम्पली स्किप थे इंग्लिश एंड तूर्ण व्रित्तें अंग्लो वोर्ड्स इन्तो हिंदी। सो, नो अ टेस्ट फरसे: अ वोंदेर्फुल डे आईटी इस।

उन्तिल लाटर.