Lemon & Ginger Green Tea

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A kick for your immune system

If I ever feel a little yucky, I make myself a big pot of this and drink it all, beside the fire/computer/tv. The next day I'm feeling wonderful and dance my way to work! Well maybe not quite, but it's a big shot of vitamins and anti-oxidants and re-hydration that can't be bad for you. Sarah has a bit of a cold - so she added whiskey to hers, and said it was lovely.

Ingredients

makes one big teapot full

1 lemon - juiced

2 teaspoons of green tea

1 thumb sized piece of root ginger - sliced finely

Boil the kettle and heat your pot. Put in the tea leaves and ginger. Pour over the boiling water and leave to steep for 3 minutes. Then before serving add in the fresh lemon juice.

There's lots of variations for this, so if you like mint - add some fresh mint, add some honey if you'd prefer it sweeter - or have a sore throat. I've added cayenne pepper before and also a sprig of fresh rosemary makes for a nice brew also. Replace a lemon with a few oranges, the options are endless.

In other exciting blog related news - I bought a new camera - watch our pictures improve (I hope!) Big thanks to Kate and Brian for helping me out with the purchase - you guys rock!

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Anne’s Wonderful Rich Chai Syrup
From Berlin with Love

Anne sent us over a lovely xmas package with some goodies- a yellow spatula, a cute re-usable spotty bag, and best of all some super tasty chai syrup which she knocked up her self. We promptly finished the bottle and then craving more, begged for the recipe, which she very kindly provided.

The syrup is deep with flavour and is sweet without being too sickly. Anne said it would make the house smell great - and by god it did!

Ingredients
2 teaspoon of pepper corns
3 stick of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of cardamon pods
Root ginger, thinly sliced - 3 inch section
2 teaspoons of cloves
3 jars of honey
1 litre of water
Clean and sterilised jars

Mix and crush gently all of the big spices - and then tip into1 liter of water - bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 mins. Stir in 2 Barry’s tea-bag (Anne was very specific about this, had to be Barry's!) for two mins until a rich deep tea red color.

Sieve the water to rid it of any bits and pieces. Then add the three jars of honey. Bring this to a gently boil until it thickens up and darkens slightly.

Pour into sterilised jars. We did this by boiling them in a big pan of water for 20 minutes. The recipe makes in terms of volume about equal to the amount of honey that you put in – so if you like you could sterilize the jars that you took the honey from.

This syrup is great poured into hot milk, with blueberries over yogurt, on apple pancakes and also very, very good in tea. I’m tempted to use it as the sweetener in a fresh batch of granola also. We made two type on with Barry sand the other with green tea. The barry’s turned out a bit richer and a darer colour. Anne asked for a vanilla pod in the recipe – but we didn’t have one- maybe that’s the secret ingredient.

Thanks Anne I foresee this becoming a kitchen staple - see you for St Patricks Day!

Aperol in the Afternoon

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Noon counts as afternoon right?
Lola brought back a bottle of this from her recent trip to Venice. It's a delicious orange liquor, which you water down with sparkling water to make a very refreshing drink. The perfect accompaniment to our preparations for the party we were throwing that night. So as Lola slaved preparing two giant quiche lorraine, I knocked her up one of these babies, they taste as good as they look believe me.

From their own website 'Aperol's unique flavour and colour is achieved through a subtle blend of bitter orange, gentian, rhubarb and an array of herbs and roots - using a secret recipe that has been unchanged since its first creation in 1919.'

After these preparations we took a little wander down the road to watch and have a little march in the pride parade. Afterwards more refreshments were in order, so we headed to the hop house on Parnell st. for a pint in the sunny beer garden, and our friends sampled some of the lovely sushi. Even our pint got into the pride spirit!!