Thursday, March 5, 2015

Cleaners, More Health Problems,

CleanersOnce again, we have a clean home. The cleaners turned up just before 10 on Wednesday morning and appeared to be a very nice young couple. They worked well, basically didn’t stop and did a very good job. We were very pleased and have arranged for them to come back. I am so relieved as I can no longer cope and Matt certainly couldn’t do the whole place. Mind you, I was never “brung up” to do housework anyway – my mother always had a cleaner for most of her married life. Couple of times when they couldn’t afford it but I guess she was better at this domestic stuff  than I am. Only thing I was ever good at was cooking.

We are doing well between us. It now turns out that Matt has a bleeding problem and I got him in to the doctors the minute I found out. She is sending him for a colonoscopy and he has to stop his blood thinners (which I don’t like one bit after all the TIAs he had). I still have dizzy spells which I think is a hangover from the antibiotics – they were strong ones. So we are doing very well, the pair of us.

I thought this cocktail looked particularly refreshing. It is intended for St. Patrick’s Day so if you celebrate, here is a drink for you. Sounds as though it might be quite lethal.

Spring 2014

Spring-2014 - Cocktail Recipe
Spring 2014 Cocktail

About the Spring 2014 Cocktail

This cocktail combines spring flavors like lemon thyme, verjus and sugar snap peas.

 

Ingredients in the Spring 2014 Cocktail

  • 3 Sugar snap pea pods
  • 1.5 oz Krogstad Aquavit
  • .25 oz Pernod Absinthe
  • .75 oz Manzanilla sherry
  • .75 oz Lime juice
  • .75 oz Lemon Thyme Syrup*
  • 5 dashes Verjus
  • 1 pinch Maldon salt or other sea salt
Garnish: Lemon thyme
Glass: Coupe
 

How to make the Spring 2014 Cocktail

In a shaker, muddle the pea pods. Add the remaining ingredients and fill with ice. Shake, and double-strain into a large coupe glass. Garnish with a sprig of lemon thyme resting across the rim.
*Lemon Thyme Syrup

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 cups Sugar
  • 8 oz Water
  • 1 handful of Fresh lemon thyme
  • Peel of 1 lemon
PREPARATION:
Add the sugar and water to a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon thyme and lemon peel, and bring to a low boil. Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Strain before using.

Have a great day
Jo











14 comments:

  1. I hope you two can get past all these health issues.
    Glad the cleaners worked out.

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    1. Me too Alex. I am fed up with the whole business. Do you realize this has been going on since I fell on New Year's Day.

      Me too.

      Delete
  2. Must've been nice to have cleaners growing up. In our house, once I was old enough, I was the cleaner. I got paid....that was my chores money...and I had a pretty serious record buying habit in those days so the more chores I took on, the more money my parents gave me. I cleaned for my aunt & uncle and cousin, and I was a chambermaid from high school through college. As much as I'd like to have a maid now, I'd be too afraid they'd break something. I have a lot of knick knacks! lol

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    Replies
    1. There were times when we didn't have cleaners but not many.

      Hide the knick knacks when the cleaners come.

      Delete
  3. My mother could cook and clean, and while I can cook, that's my sisters talent. I'm very organized though, and the house is usually very clean. I say usually because when I'm concentrating on a writing project, things do get messy. I would love to have someone come in, and if I ever really sell a book or two, it's the one thing I would give myself. I've grown to hate laundry and cleaning, but I've learned to enjoy cooking.
    I do hope your health issues get straightened out, but I was there last year and mine also started with a fall. Take care!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My mother was from a very different generation and expected to be the homemaker. When she first met my father she couldn't cook, not at all, but she became at least equivalent to a Julia Child although she couldn't speak French. She certainly had an assistant when I was a kid, I know I had a nanny, whether that's all she did I'm not sure. Of course things changed during the war. Personally, I hate cleaning, and these days I can't do much anyway as I end up in agony.

      So do I Yolanda, one thing after another at the moment. I remember your health problems, didn't remember the fall.

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  4. The cocktail is beautiful to look at! I am with you on the cleaning issue. I hate to clean but love a clean house, Cooking, not the everyday kind, is creative I think, although I am not a good cook and a nervous entertainer. Love being a guest because I know how much work went into the dinner party

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    1. I think it would taste good too, and somewhat different. We both love entertaining but of course want a clean house before we ask guests to dinner.

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  5. All I am good at is cleaning. I remember standing on a chair to do dishes when I was little. Soooo...you come cook for me and I'll come clean for you!

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  6. That drink sound great, except for the peapod things...! I WISH I could afford someone to clean my house! If I ever make enough money, the first thing I'll do is hire a house cleaner. First. Thing. My husband loves to cook so I don't need one of those, just someone to keep the dust down and floors clean...

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I love snow peas, I bet they would taste great in a cocktail. Yes, house cleaning isn't cheap these days. Matt says he doesn't know how they justify what they charge. If I, as a trained secretary, went back to a secretarial job, I wouldn't get as much per hour as they do.

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  7. We will be celebrating St Paddy's day here as the founding fathers were all Irish Catholics and it's a big thing. I MUST try that drink.Glad to hear the cleaners worked out!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. St. Paddy's day seems to be a big thing everywhere except actually in Ireland.

      So am I, they seem such a nice couple too.

      Delete