CarmEmily » Drink

Last skills acquired in 2009…

Carmen — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:07:07 +0000

Right before the end of 2009 I learned how to saber a champagne bottle! This is a useful skill to have especially if you happen to be riding a horse and someone hands you a bottle of champagne to toast your nobleness. Well obviously you would just bust out your trusty sword and slide the blade upwards with a smooth, swift motion hitting the top lip of the bottle at its weakest point and the top shears off. Of course the force of the bubbly keeps any glass from entering into the bottle but if you do it right there are no extra pieces of glass anywhere. Brilliant!

Happy New Year!

Carmen — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:09:48 +0000

Well, this is my first drink of the evening… its called The Blue Moon.

nice package

Emilily — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:40:39 +0000

So yesterday (yes, this is a banked post!) I was standing at the water cooler, chatting with two of the engineers from our office (I know, how cliche) and we were talking about what snacks and beverages we were going to have in our booth at next week’s trade show. We always have Red Bull, water, Hershey’s Minis, and Quaker Oatmeal Bars. Sometimes we have a keg on the last day of the show. The staff is pretty evenly divided between those of us who snack on the oatmeal bars and water (me, about 89% of the time), and those who consume the Red Bull and candy, but everybody likes beer! Another thing we agreed on was that we really need to try some of those energy drinks with the alcohol already in them – not because they’re going to be any good, but because they are horrifyingly fascinating. I’m going to equate them to shooting a gun – there is great potential for bodily harm, but despite one’s better judgment, curiosity wins out. (Speaking of not listening to one’s better judgment, it was also at a trade show that I tried one of those 5-Hour Energy drinks and had an incredibly bad reaction to the toxic levels of niacin it contained.) But back to the alcoholic energy drinks…is there any other (legal) substance that can give you a buzz and keep you up for the next 24 hours? (That was a hypothetical question, but the answer is: NO, and for good reason.) So, with my opinion of these so-called beverages as nothing more than highly toxic sludge improperly marketed to teenage binge drinkers firmly in place, I hopped on the internet and did a little research. And the result? I totally have to try this. Why? Not because my opinion of alcoholic energy drinks has changed, but because I like the packaging.

So how much of a sucker am I? There are four pictures below. The leftmost two are energy drinks currently on the market, one called Sparks that looks like something a 15-year-old might be able to score at his/her local 7-11, and one by Monster featuring new Nitrous Oxide technology. Technically, I think this one may not have alcohol, and I don’t think they’re trying to imply it’s like a shot of espresso and a whippit; I believe they’re just trying to give their disgusting, foul-tasting brew the foamy frothy consistency of beer on tap. Somehow I am offended by the mere fact that they are trying to improve this crap. Now, for the next two. The first one is called Mojo, and looks like one of those anti-oxidant infused water bottles you might find at Whole Foods. All of a sudden, I am not bothered by the fact that it is 7% alcohol and has 2.5 times the caffeine as the equivalent amount of coffee. It’s French, and comes in three flavors: Tropical Fruit, Star Fruit, and Dragon Fruit. ‘Nuff said. The next one (far right) is a concept drink called Tagged, and the smooth, matte aluminum bottle makes me pray the proposed state ban on alcoholic energy drinks doesn’t nip this pretty baby in the bud.

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On another note, I found Mojo and Tagged through a Google image search which led me to a great blog called Dieline, featuring what else but package design! It was just a happy accident that through a post about my complete and instantaneous lack of free will when faced with a nice package that I stumbled upon this website, but it pretty much reads as a shopping list for…everything. I mean, look at this wine bottle! And these tampons…seriously? A non-repulsive tampon box? The only way that box could be improved upon is if you could also use it to bludgeon people. And, last one I promise, this rum bottle looks like it was designed by the same lettering artist who did that Wired article on pirates.

Dude, nice design just makes me happy, and gives me hope for humanity.

Speaking of tea…

Carmen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:10:05 +0000

Thanks to my sister I’ve been drinking alot of this green tea called Kukicha or Twig Tea. Its really good and tastes like a forest or something, I can’t quite put my finger on it. After a little research I have read that it is a balance between bittersweet and umami (one of the five generally recognized basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human tongue, some people would refer to it as savory). Its also macrobiotic and it supposedly balances the acidity in your body! Not only does it alkalinize your body it also is a good source of calcium, zinc, selenium, copper, manganese, and fluoride! I could go on and on, but really its just tasty.

Honeymoon cocktail…

Carmen — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:16:07 +0000

Only 4 ingredients – its delicious…

2 oz Calvados, half oz cointreau, half oz Benedictine (made by monks!), and a half oz of lemon juice. Garnish with a burnt lemon (see pic below… its magical!)

The Communist…

Carmen — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:51:19 +0000

Time for a nice cocktail! Behold – the Communist!

1 oz Gin

1 oz Orange Juice

1/2 oz Cherry Brandy

3/4 Lemon Juice

Delicious!

Tonight…. a good ending to a somewhat crappy day

Carmen — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 04:54:06 +0000

So, after a busy day at the office – while the sun is shining outside and I can hear all those damn tourists having such a grand time, all the while I’m looking forward to riding my bike home, dreaming of enjoying the waning sun on my 40 minute ride home – I go say hello to my bike and find a flat tire. Damn. A bit disappointing. I really can’t be too upset though. I live in such a great place that even if my ride home gets a flat I can hop on a train that will get me home in 10 minutes and a nice boyfriend to pick me up at the train station. C’est la vie. And then I saw this!

View out of my living room window - nice!

So then, obviously, it was time for a lovely cocktail…

I chose "The Boulevardier". It was invented in 1927.

Ingredients: Bourbon, Campari and Sweet Vermouth

Delicious!

Max made a really good dinner of sausages, turnips and carrots. And now I’ve decided that this has been the best day ever. Wish you were here!

A test of blogging skills, i’ll change this title later…

Carmen — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:06:41 +0000

So, Max and I have a lasting fancy for old fashioned cocktails. We try to pick different ones and make them. Tonight it was “The Corpse Reviver”!

Corpse Reviver

It involves gin…

Hendricks

Lillet (blanc)…

Lovely Lillet

Little lemon juice…

lemony

a bit of cointreau…

Cointreau

A large shaker, well, i guess it doesn’t have to be large but thats how we like it. and a maraschino cherry at the bottom…

oh yeah

and here’s the final product! except i am bad at focusing in the right spot – dangit! It was pretty tasty!

drink it!

my first pina colada

Carmen — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:15:22 +0000

this is what i did tonight. oh yeah… 3 cherries, 2 grapes, 2 lemons and a flippin umbrella! Take that minimalism!