This month's ingredient makes me think of a story. Years ago my family would go fairly regularly to this local Indian restaurant. At the end of the evening us kids would be hanging around the front of the restaurant while the adults squabbled over who got to pay. This restaurant always had a little dish by the cash register with little sweets in it, usually those sugar-coated fennel seeds (another of the 12 bottles ingredients) or sometimes what looked like little coloured cubes of sugar (and taste like little coloured cubes of sugar; I'm sure if we had asked what they were, the response would have been "they're coloured sugar cubes"). On one particular evening Ben (the cousin) and I had stuck our hands in the little dish and were munching away.
"These taste shit."
"Yeah."
"I think there's a stick in my mouth."
"Gross, it's all dusty."
"What's that blue thing?"
"Is that a rose bud?"
Almost at the same time, we both paused with our jaws frozen open in our closed mouths, staring down at the contents of our hands.
"Ben, I think we're eating the pot pourri."
"Yeah."
I think we can all take a little something from that story.
So this month's ingredient was dried rose buds. What was that I heard you say? Did you say easy? Did I hear you say that would have been easy? Would you like to write this blog then smartie-pants?
(mmm, smarties)
Anyway what I'm trying to say is that it was actually pretty hard to come up with something delicious to make with this ingredient. They don't smell or taste like anything. Aesthetically pleasing, yes. But that's about it. It's kind of like that time Sarah (the lady friend) and I got served chocolate truffles sprinkled in gold dust. I mean, fuck you, poor people, I'm just going to eat some of this tasty tasty gold. Wait a minute.....
My first idea was a tea. Because when I was in Melbourne earlier this month, every night Angeline (the smile of my soul) would serve me up a lovely pot of rose-containing "nighty night" tea (which she charmingly nicknamed "smackie tea") right before bed. I've never slept so well in my life. Then I actually thought about how thrilling it would be for my guests to come around, to be served up some kind of narcolepsy-inducing brew. Yep, great idea for a party Christie Bee.
My second idea was to infuse the roses in vodka, because hey, if you're going to fall asleep during one of my 12 Bottles dinners, you might as well be drunk too. It didn't work. The vodka turned pink, the rose buds turned white, and it tasted like...well, like vodka with pink colouring in it. So smartie pants here (mmmm smarties) decided to cheat by throwing in some chunks of turkish delight. It didn't work. The vodka got pinker, the turkish delight took forever to strain out, and it tasted like...well, like very sweet vodka with pink colouring in it.
I can't take credit for this month's concoction, the idea came entirely from Adam (the boyfriend), who suggested I freeze the rose buds into ice cubes and serve them in some kind of rose flavoured cocktail. I had to begrudgingly admit it was brilliant. And that I was cranky that I hadn't thought of it first.
I only made 7 ice cubes so I invited 7 guests. They looked so pretty. The ice cubes, not the guests.
The cocktail was delicious god dammit. Like a tangy liquid turkish delight.
Some discussion went on during the meal about what we should call this cocktail. I thought, by golly if Barbara Streisand can have a rose named after her then Jason can have a cocktail named after him. Somehow though, 'The Jason' didn't seem suitable.
The "Rose Dixon"
1.5 shots gin
1 shot lemon juice
1 shot sugar syrup
few drops rose water
5 cardamom pods, smooshed a little
sparkling wine
rose bud ice cubes, to serve
Mix gin, lemon, sugar syrup and cardamom pods before straining into a glass. Add rose water and ice cubes and top with sparkling wine.
On the way home this evening I commented to Adam on the phone that I was heading home to finish my blog. He asked if there were any references to death in this entry. Can you believe the nerve? Well, my dearest, I wasn't planning on it, but if you insist...
ENTRAILS!!!
