Dragon Fire

February 2, 2016February 2, 2016 ~ Meg ~ 23 Comments

Week 5 in The Year of Drinking Adventurously!

This week’s adventurous choice is Baijiu -a Chinese spirit distilled from sorghum. Baijiu means “white liquor” and that is exactly what it is. Check out the pretty bottle:

I hate that they Americanized the name! Actually, I’m not entirely sure this is authentic baijiu, but it was the best I could come up with. So as you can tell, I didn’t overindulge in the baijiu. In fact, I made one cocktail with it: a strawberry-lime slushy thing that would have been better suited to a summer day than a winter evening.

Did I mention I had to order it online? Pennsylvania has some frustrating liquor laws, let me tell you. And, I’m learning that the internet is extremely unreliable for finding places that sell these unusual alcohols. Remember how I couldn’t find Japanese whiskey last week? My friend Rachel found it in a liquor store in the Allentown area. That’s an easy drive from my house. Grrr…

Anyway, Baijiu… Listen to the description on the side of the bottle:

Mischievous, mysterious, seductive, sensual, sizzling, spicy, smooth, enticing, surprising, tantalizing.

Sounds naughty! What does it taste like, you ask? I did take a little sip of it by itself. It’s hard to describe. Sorghum, a member of the grass family, is the main grain used to make a mash from which the spirit is distilled. Actually, that’s a huge simplification. Other grains go into the distillation process as well, which, according to Jeff’s book:

is a really long and complicated affair.

The baijiu I bought is infused with dragon fruit, lychee, and hot chiles, which gives it a fruity, spicy, floral background taste. (Another clue that this is isn’t the real deal!) It’s often consumed as a shot and at 70 proof, this stuff is totally shootable. I might end up drinking it that way or on the rocks. Maybe it will make me seductive and sensual! Pfffft! I may just sneak it into my girlfriends’ drinks in lieu of rum or tequila. You can’t tell the difference under grenadine and pineapple juice.

These exotic alcohols are killing me. Next week is another entry from China. You might end up having to hear about the beer brewing experience after all! Batch one, a Belgian Blonde Ale, is finished fermenting and ready to be kegged! The English Ale from the day of the blizzard is up next.

Don’t forget to check in with Lula and see how she liked the baijiu!

Dear Canada, you are so cool.

January 19, 2016September 22, 2016 ~ Meg ~ 55 Comments

Week three in The Year of Drinking Adventurously. Canadian Whiskey. (Find all 52 entries here.)

This week I had an easy and enjoyable choice of potent potable: Canadian Whiskey. Living in the Northeastern United States, I am in Canada’s back yard (front yard?). My state, Pennsylvania, shares a border with Ontario, Canada across Lake Erie.

It’s a 6 hour trip to Niagra Falls; Montreal and Quebec City are within a day’s drive.

Canada is a big place with a lot of stuff to love. For one thing, Canadians are friendly and polite. Just ask Whitney, she’s married to a Canadian. It is also home to one of my favorite bands of all time: RUSH.

Showing my true nerd-self. –>

There’s also hockey, poutine (French fries covered with cheese curds and gravy, trust me it’s amazing), Tim Horton’s coffee, thousands of acres of unspoiled native forest where (I’m sure) the Sasquatches live, the second tallest peak in North America (Mount Logan) and their new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, is a babe. Voila:

How the hell do they get anything done? Image via Huffington Post

What was I saying? Oh yeah, whiskey. I’ll be honest with you all. I tend not to be a big cocktail person. Whiskey goes over ice in my house. However, I’m trying to be adventurous, right? So I experimented with a couple recipes and found this one from Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa) for fresh whiskey sours:

This theoretically (ha!) makes 4:

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime

1/2 cup sugar syrup

3/4 cup Canadian whiskey (actually you can use any whiskey)

Toss it around in a shaker with ice, then serve with a maraschino cherry in a tumbler. That’s what Ina Garten did, anyway. I’ve seen whiskey sours in tall glasses, too. I drank mine straight out of the shaker. Why dirty another glass? Just kidding…

Whisky_Sour — Not my photo, I drank mine from the shaker, remember?

Anyway, this turned out amazingly great. I will definitely make these again. The lemon-lime flavor was not overpowering and the amount of sugar syrup was just enough to prevent the citric acid from taking the enamel off your teeth.

Do you ever feel bad using “good” spirits to make mixed drinks? Like it’s a waste since you’re not really going to taste the full flavor of the alcohol? I kind of do but it would also be ridiculous to keep a separate stash for just cocktails. Wouldn’t it? Hmmm….

The Crown Royal is a really nice mild whiskey. If you are trying a whiskey for the first time, this would be my recommendation. Canadian whiskeys are as pleasant and polite as their makers. There’s no funky peat-smoke taste like the Scotches or corn and sour mash flavors of the bourbons, just a nice smooth warmth. I can see why, in the Great White North, whiskey would hit the spot. Why not try cuddling up to a Canadian this weekend? Sample Canadians, below.

Oh hell, why wait for the weekend? And don’t forget to go see what Lula concocted this week!

Ch-ch-ch-changes…

December 27, 2015December 26, 2015 ~ Meg ~ 12 Comments

“Turn and face the strange…” – David Bowie

Expecting Sunday’s song lyric? Sorry if you’re disappointed! The blog is about to get a makeover. I’m going to ditch the song lyric, even though for me, that was a lot of fun. Music has always been a source of inspiration. However, not everybody gets that. I think sometimes, trying to figure out how the song fits into the story can detract from the piece itself. So that’s out.

You’ll see more of my serial fiction piece “Here Lies a Soldier” something I really want develop into a full length novel eventually. I’ve also had a lot of fun writing backstory shorts starring my novel characters. If I conjure up enough of that stuff, I could publish it as a collection. Honestly, the constant stress of coming up with a new short story every week has really distracted from my novel writing process. I really need to focus. Keeping my short stories in my novels’ universe will help with that.

I’ll continue to share progress on my current projects, dispense my marginally useful writing tips and have a laugh or two at my own expense. (Story of my life!) Other changes are coming too. I think it’s time for an updated photo, background image and maybe a tweak of the color palette. Hopefully, it will give the blog a fresh new feel for the new year. Come to think of it, I could use a new background and a tweak of my color palette, too…

Oh, and one more thing…

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for all the kind support, meaningful feedback and yes, I’ll go so far as to say, friendship. I’ve met so many awesome people this year. It’s been an absolute pleasure interacting with you all! Keep it coming in 2016!