Drinks on the house

Allow me to breach my own code by introducing some chemistry to the blog. Last night's events (=having some lovely friends from work over for drinks) revived my dormant hobby of mixing cocktails. :) I felt a bit too busy to get really improvisational and creative, but some old favourites were unearthed and that felt like plenty enough. Sometimes it's just nice to have a limited but functional repertoire.

The first revival was Ulf, invented at Olga's cocktail party in 2007, although some of his original glory had to be sacrificed as there were no plain (=Earl Grey) tea bags in the house.

So yesterday's version was:

ROOIBOS ULF
1 part vodka, enought to soak
1 bag of rooibos tea (red)
ginger ale for volume
4 sprigs of thyme
A squash of lime

Normally (i.e. 6 years ago ;) I'd have insisted on a cognac glass, but since I own none, the tea bag was steeped in vodka and then bathed in ginger ale, sprinkled with thyme and topped with the lime juice in an arbitrary glass.
This cocktail was a bit less 'manly' (?) than was proposed in the original recipe from 2007, but gained approval from the guests. It also inspired a lot of bad puns involving the greenery ("It needs a little more thyme" and the like...)

Revival #2: E, L and I have for a long time been on a quest to re-create our favourite found-on-the-town cocktail ever ("Gin and Ginger" from Heaven 23 - swoooon) and thanks to a blender and some juice filtering cloth, the result was pretty close this time (although this version includes elderflower juice, which is a sidestep from the original). I actually ended up making a whole pitcher because the blended ginger + pineapple was almost painfully strong and needed to be soothed... Although the guests seemed fine with that :)

GIN AND GINGER (...and fläder, to be fair)
Chopped fresh ginger root (a handful)
1 small can of sliced pineapple + juice
juice of 1 1/2 lemons
elderflower juice for volume
Gin (a slosh)
Slices of the remaining 1/2 lemon 

The ginger and pineapple were puréed in a blender and the juice was filtered using the cloth (this mixture has quite a sting if tasted). Then it was mixed in a pitcher with the lemon juice, filled almost all the way up with elderflower juice, and topped with a 'lid' of gin and lemon slices.
Happily, the resulting cocktail had a pretty good zing (and is probably a royal acid attack on your teeth, but such concerns are worldly. ;)

This and the good company (plus a slew of off-colour conversations) made for a great evening. :) Although the coat rack in the hallway got torn out of the wall (!) due to the weight of people's coats... So I see a date with a hammer drill in my near future.

Totally worth it. :)