Tuesday 10 October 2006

The last day of Summer

sloes

Today is another last day of summer, glorious sunshine, late butterflies, a surprising quantity of dragonflies, gentle breezes and warmth.

I’ve gathered some sloes to make a drink called Patxaran, a Basque liqueur, from a recipe recounted to me by my friend the Archdruid. I’ve formalised his suggestion thus:

Take two thirds of a litre of anise (buy a litre bottle and drink the rest, you’ll need the space for the other ingredients). Pick your sloes and give them a good rinse in plenty of warm water to remove bits of leaf, bird shit and dead spiders. Allow to drain for a couple of hours as you don’t want to dilute the alcohol with unnecessary water. In the bottle mix 100g sugar, lots of sloes, ten coffee beans and a vanilla pod. Allow to steep for several months.

I’ve never made this before so I’ve no idea how it will turn out but I’m hoping it will match my recollections of a superior sort of cough medicine served on ice which I drank through the night in Valencia many years ago.

Today is also my daughter’s birthday. Happy Birthday Xtal. She’s had a terrible week so far when lousy thieves entered her room and stole her laptop and several hundred pounds worth of other personal items. I can’t be with her but I hope everyone will join me to send out warm fuzzy thoughts to her and sharp vicious bolts of pain to destroy the lives of the scum that have hurt her.

1 comment:

Xtal said...

Aww thankyou mummy- I only just read that,and I'm so meant to be doing a Music Industry Map instead....