Kiwi Liqueur

8/21/10:

6 Kiwis purchased at Trader Joes, they were 39 cents each
2 cups Vodka (80 Proof)
1 tsp lemon juice (I find lemon juice keeps the color of the fruit nice)

Steep 2 weeks, shaking daily

Straining: 1 cup sugar syrup
add 1 cup Vodka


9/11/10: Straining, 1st straining ran through metal strainer

Let sit for an hour or so and you can see the sludge drop to the bottom of the jar

pour the clear top part into a nice bottle and strain the sludge in a smaller metal strainer

after that I ran the strained sludge through the Brita Filter, this seemed to help quite a bit in speeding up the process, I did have to run it through several times and did have to eventually rinse the filter.

I then ran the sludge part through paper coffee filters to get a very nice clear product.

Added 1 cup sugar syrup (1 cup sugar to 1/2 cup water, makes 1 cup syrup)
Added 1 cup vodka

Bottled (tastes fabulous! Jerry will love this)

2/27/11
This recipe turned out amazing. Gave some to my son-in-law for Christmas, he told me he had force himself not to drink it too fast. I will definitely make this again.

Homemade Drambuie

Drambuie ingredients

Saffron ¾ tsp
Cinnamon ½ tsp (used ½ cinnamon stick)
Scotch whiskey .750
Heather honey 1 Cup or 1 ½ c
Cloves 1/5 tsp (I used 8 whole cloves)
Angelica 2 tsp
Lemon zest 2 two inch strips
Fennel 1/4 tsp
Mace 1/5 tsp

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a tightly covered container.
2. Shake several times for the first 24 hours.
3. After 24 hours, remove lemon zest.
4. Cover and let stand for 2 weeks in a cool, dark place shaking gently every other day.
5. Strain through a sieve to remove the angelica and fennel seeds.
6. cover and let stand in a cool dark place for several months (preferably 6 months).
7. Pour clear liquid into carafe for drinking enjoyment.
8. Cloudy dregs may be saved for cooking.

I am looking forward to trying my Drambuie next to the real thing to see how it measures up.

Homemade Tuaca

After tasting Tuaca for the first time I was thrilled to find this recipe on the Livin' la Vida Roko blog site, thanks to them. I haven't finished it yet, but so far it smells just like the real thing. I have a bottle so I plan on comparing it when it's finished. I did use one more vanilla bean, it might be too much but I will see how it works.

Homemade Tuaca

3 cups brandy
2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise
Zest of 3 tangerines
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 grapefruit
1 3 inch cinnamon stick
1/2 cup simple syrup

Pour the brandy into a clean container and add vanilla beans and zests. Let sit 1 week, then add cinnamon stick and simple syrup. After 1 more week of infusing, strain out all ingredients, reserving the vanilla beans. Drop the beans into a clean bottle, then fill with the brandy mixture. (See simple syrup recipe)

2/27/11 - Came out fabulous tasting.

Vanilla Brandy

I put 1 vanilla bean cut in 1/2 and split down the middle
added 1 cup Brandy

Let steep for 2 weeks, you can either leave the vanilla bean in the bottle or you can remove it, but it just makes the brandy taste better.

Mixed Berry

I started a mixed berry vodka and Brandy today

2 cups fresh strawberries
2 cups frozen blueberries
2 cups frozen raspberries

Mashed them together and it gave me 4 cups of mashed berries, I split them up for 2 cups for the vodka mix and 2 cups for the brandy mix

Vodka mix
2 cups mixed berry mixture
I added 1 cup of vodka/blackberry mix to the bottle (I had started the blackberry vodka a few days before)
added zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp of fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups of red label smirnoff vodka.

Mixed together to sit

Brandy Mix
2 cups mixed berry mixture
I added 1 cup of blackberry/brandy mix to another bottle (I had started earlier)
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp of fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups Christian Brothers brandy

Steep for 2 - 4 weeks, strain and add simple syrup (see recipe)

This turned out to be my daughter's favorite brandy. Both turned out amazing, you can drink it either straight, it makes a wonderful Belini, or just with a little bit of Sierra Mist. Be careful thought it almost tastes like punch and can hit you easily.

Making my own Grenadine

After reading so many different ways to make Grenadine, the cold method, the hot method etc.... Everyone has their own methods it seems. I decided to experiment with an idea I had about making my own. I basically combined the hot and cold method of making it.

I decided to make a simply syrup very thick with water and add my pomegranate juice. I have to say it came out fabulous. No cooked flavor and with the ease of heating. :)

I took 1 cup water to 2 cups of sugar and about 1/8 cup of karo syrup, I know some don't like this, but it will help keep the sugar from crystalizing. I brought this to a boil until the sugar was dissolved and clear. I set it aside to cool

Once the simple syrup (will be very thick) is cool, not cold, it was pretty much luke warm so it was still easy to work with, I added the pomegranate juice and Vodka.

My proportions were 1 cup simple syrup to 1 1/4 cup pomegranate juice. I have to tell you, not only did it come out beautiful, but the taste was incredible. No cooked taste and so simple to put together.

I added 1 oz Vodka to the whole bottle of grenadine to help with preserving.

8/14/10

Comment: I tried the Grenadine and it turned out fabulous, I hope it keeps for a while. I will let you know

Pear & Raspberry liqueur cont.

ok today I filtered the pear liqueur with the vodka and honestly it was too sweet and not enough vodka in my opinion, I added about another 1/2 cup of vodka to the 16 oz bottle of pear and about 1/4 cup to the Raspberry. Both are a little sweet so I am going to let them sit for a while longer to see how they turn out

13 days and 64 days and counting

It's 13 days until the ladies weekend in Lincoln City. There will be 11 of us this year. We will miss Kathy and Racheal, Kathy is traveling around the US right now, they are in Texas or Oklahoma, last I heard. On the search for good barbeque. Don's favorite. Racheal has a new job and can't get the time off, we are sad to be missing them. But for the 11 of us 4 days at the beach will be so much fun, we always laugh a lot and eat and shop. What more can girls ask for!!

64 days until our Anniversary Cruise. We just got upgraded to and SB suite guarantee, due to price decrease on the web site, the price only went down for 2 days, so it was great that I found it and now we will either have an SB or better suite. I am so excited for both of these trips, I am sure enjoying this Spring and planning for all these vacations.

I spent yesterday with my daughter, grandson and son-in-law. We enjoyed the day and got to see about 1/10th of the pictures they have of their trip to India, we will have to go back to see more. It is a beautiful and yet there are very poor areas of India. They gave us some gift from their travels. Larry got some cooking utensils and some spices, I got a wall hanging, a table runner and some bed pillows, all with traditional Indian designs and all hand done. Very beautiful!!!

Plans for Alaskan Cruise

Well, we just booked and paid for our cruise we are taking in May for our 31st wedding anniversary. This will be our 2nd honeymood. We are going to Alaska for 7 days. I am so very excited, we decided to book a suite and go as first class as we could afford. This will be the first real vacation we have taken in our married life. Don't get me wrong we have been to the beach many times, camping, to Wisconsin to be with family and to Las Vegas, all were fun, but this to me is a vacation that we can really enjoy by ourselves and be pampered, ok, that's what I want, I think Larry will enjoy it, but I will have to let you know on that piece.

I will post from time to time to give updates on the next few months.