The Homemade Gin Kit is a bit different than the strange beaker-and-Bunsen-burner contraption but it was frightfully easy to make.
I had to leave for work early in the morning which meant that I texted Jen at 8:30 AM to perform the last task of the homemade gin which was to strain out all of the aromatics and bottle it up.
The result was a slightly green-tinted gin.
After a typical morning of gin-making Jen bundled the babies up and put on the baby sunglasses they got for Christmas to take them out for a stroll. This apparently got the babies even more attention than they normally get when they're not dressed like Tanookis or wearing sunglasses. I'm kind of glad I wasn't there because it's really hard to make your way down the street when every other person is stopping you. Well, every other woman stops you. Men don't seem to give a rat's ass about a cute set of babies.
When I got home from work we put the babies down for a nap and attempted to have a little snack of aged cheddar cheese, crackers, and sour cherry jam with gin and tonics made from the fresh gin. The gin was pretty good. It had slightly more fennel flavor than I'd have anticipated. I'm surprised you could steep that much flavor out of the juniper berries and other aromatics in a mere thirty-six hours.
After about five seconds of enjoying the afternoon Martin was quick to wake up and want to participate in the event. He inspected and smelled my gin and tonic and found it to be satisfactory. This was in keeping with Jen's latest theory that Martin is actually a young Oz Clarke.
There is a striking resemblance. Perhaps we are actually the parents of Oz Clarke and he will later be the recipient of a time machine where he will go back in time and become the world's undisputed wine-tasting champion.
Elliott, on the other hand, just stayed asleep showing off his killer abs to any who wanted to see.
In keeping with my ten-minute meal trend I threw together this casserole exclusively with things we needed to clear out of the freezer. I sauteed some garlic, onion, celery, and red pepper in butter and olive oil then tossed in some Andouille sausage, kale, crumbled cornbread, shrimp, and vegetable stock and baked it in the oven for about forty-five minutes at 350 degrees. The end result was quite tasty. I would definitely make something like this again if I had the ingredients about.
For beer I cracked open this Hefeweizen from Pyramid Brewing Co. It was a fine accompaniment for the first hockey game of the 2013 season.
This was one of the first craft beers I ever had and certainly the first hefeweizen. In the 90s I picked up beers from this brewery because I am a fan of pyramids. It turns out the beer was pretty good too! This hefeweizen is still really good and I am glad I've been able to findly find a source for this beer in this area. It reminds me of the days of my youth where I had virtually no expenses and could actually spend a tremendous amount more money on beer without any negative effects.
I still probably spend more than I should but it might mean that the boys have to go a week without diapers. Everyone has their priorities.
This morning there was a bit of a role reversal and Martin was the big sleeper while Elliott was awake. He was delighted when he realized that this meant he would get to have all of the toys to himself without Martin stealing them all away from him.
Nana STIM has not been feeling well so the boys put together a nice little get better sign for her. While their penmanship is pretty shabby I was nonetheless impressed with their spelling which was spot on. Of course they were too lazy to hold the sign (at least without trying to eat it) so Jen was kind enough to perform this task for them.
Little prima donnas.
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