Watcha Doin' - 2016.1 Showing 2,851-2,900 of 3,910

[Cherie]

There is a specialty distillery in Bend, Oregon that specializes in flavored Vodka. Their Apple Cinnamon Vodka is amazing! It is one of the few alcohols that tastes as good as it smells. I don't even have to drink it. Just the smell is enough for me.

[Joan]

If you visit Dorset England be sure to try Black Cow Vodka...somehow they make vodka from whey leftover from making cheese.

[Sarah]

Not sure about the horseradish vodka. Chilli vodka perhaps. I've not tried that though i bet it's good. Not heard of that one Joan. I shall have to wqtech out for it. My sister in law lives in Dorset so i will hqve to ask her if she's had it when i see her next. I am qlso starting a fourse down in Bournemouth this month so perhaps i will have to check out some of the bars to see if they have it.

[Joan]

I had Black Cow vodka at a wedding reception in Poole. The restaurant had a specialty cocktail of vodka & ginger beer. I'd never heard of ginger beer before that and boy was it gingery! I didn't actually notice the taste of the vodka.

[Tejas Janet]

I love ginger beer - tho none has beer or alcohol in it that i know of. I think it's called beer because of the way it's brewed/made - ? Not sure.

I love a mix of ginger beer and sparkly water. Very refreshing. Or sometimes a splash of rum when i do embibe. I prefer rum to vodka.

[Sarah]

Ginger beer tends to be fizzy whereas ginger ale is more flat. I think the ginger beer is more gingery too. I love it. I think ginger beer and vodka is called a mule.

[Peggy]

I've never had ginger beer. I think you can buy it here in larger supermarkets (in a weird isle, not with the regular drinks) but I never tried it. Not a Ducth thing I think.


A while ago I wrote here about an interview I did for a newspaper, and some of you asked me to post it once published, and it was out today. I didn't know it was going to be today (I asked the reporter to let me know when it would be in the paper, but this morning I got a message from my mom who got a message from a colleague with a picture of the article), but here it is. I thought it was going to be half a page but it's two pages!

[Lisa]

Peggy wrote: "I've never had ginger beer. I think you can buy it here in larger supermarkets (in a weird isle, not with the regular drinks) but I never tried it. Not a Ducth thing I think.


A while ago I wrote..."

That's amazing, Peggy! Well done you! :) Are you going to frame it?

[Cherie]

Wow, Peggy, how wonderful! You are published!

[Sarah]

Uh. I've been jumper shopping this morning for my partner as he's at work and i have some free time. As usual he's left it to the last minute to say he wants some new jumpers before we go away. I've wandered around and found one zip up hoodie which i think he'll like but have no clue on the others. So i looked like an idiot taking pictures in shops so i can show him later. We can then either buy them online or i can go in and get them m when I'm in town. I have no idea where to get some nice jumpers from, knit ones not sweatshirt material. And not too trendy or grandad. I went in to the city thinking the shops woukd open at 9 but most opened at 10 so i wandered around aimlessly for an hour. When i lived in a small town all the shops opened at 9. This is a city. Full of slackers ;-) Anyway, I'm now sat in a cafe drinking tea waiting to meet my friend. Then off to work this afternoon.

[Sandra, Moderator]

Congrats, Peggy! Go get your own copy!

[Sandra, Moderator]

Sarah, I've recently noticed too that shops tend to open later in cities. We visited DC last August, and cafes and places to have breakfast were the only ones opened early. I don't really know why, because there was a lot of people going around at 7 am, specially because it was summer.
I also live in a "small" town. We are 92,000. Not tiny, but small compared with a city like DC.

[Sarah]

Congrats Peggy! It looks great. Are you pleased with it? You should ask if they can send you a pdf copy if they have one.

[Sandra, Moderator]

I should add that I was born in Montevideo, a city with 1,5 millions people. So I find my town small. A the same time, Uruguay (the country) is only 3 millions. (Yes, half of the population lives in the capital city), So in that sense I find the US with 320 millions huge. It is a weird feeling, actually. I can't believe this country is so big because where I live is so small!
I also lived for four years in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 10 millions at the time, and what I learn is that in cities that big nobody really "lives" in the whole city. Nobody goes around the whole city. You usually live in a part o it, that it still is very big and populated, but not the whole city.

I don't know what all of this has to do with your comment, Sarah. I guess I woke up talkative today. :D

[Kristie, Moderator]

Congrats, Peggy!

Good luck with your jumper shopping, Sarah.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Looks amazing Peggy! Congratulations!!!

Pity the blueberry vodka didn't work out, Sarah. Lexx makes chilli vodka which is great, but hot. There is a distillery down at the snow (2 hours away) that we will be visiting in two weekends time that does an amazing chilli schnapps.

We have ginger beer as a staple here. We tend to have alcoholic in our house, but non-alcoholic is really popular too and kids drink it all the time. We don't usually do ginger ale at all. Lexx has brewed his own too, which was really gingery and yum. Another one to try is a shot of Malibu (or other coconut rum) with a ginger beer. Very summery.

[Travis]

Two books in a row now have used the phrase a smell like grasshopper juice. I still have no idea what this means

[Mariab]

Sandra wrote: "what I learn is that in cities that big nobody really "lives" in the whole city. Nobody goes around the whole city. You usually live in a part o it, that it still is very big and populated, but not the whole city. .."
Talkative AND right, Sandra. It is, indeed, so.

[Mariab]

Travis of NNY wrote: "Two books in a row now have used the phrase a smell like grasshopper juice. I still have no idea what this means"

Fresh mowed country?

[Mariab]

Lovely, Peggy!

[Kristie, Moderator]

Travis of NNY wrote: "Two books in a row now have used the phrase a smell like grasshopper juice. I still have no idea what this means"

No clue what that means!!

edit: Ok, what I'm finding online is that grasshoppers sometimes spit a brown liquid as some sort of self-defense and it may be rather stinky according to one site.

[Cherie]

Yes, Janice. I think you are on the right track. It is supposed to be smelly, like tobacco juice.

[Peggy]

The name alone should be enough to realize that it can't be something good..

[Travis]

Wonder when grasshopper juice became such a jazzy descriptive phrase in novels. In food or drinks usually grasshopper in name means chocolate mint of some form. Beats me.

[Kristie, Moderator]

When I first looked it up, I kept getting a bunch of juice bars. It might sound cute "Grasshopper Juice Bar," but when you think about the fact that grasshopper juice is really smelly grasshopper spit the color of tobacco, it definitely loses some of its charm. lol

Maybe grasshopper for chocolate mint has to do with the colors: green and brown? It's kind of a gross thought.

[Janice, Moderator]

Tejas Janet wrote: "I love ginger beer - tho none has beer or alcohol in it that i know of. I think it's called beer because of the way it's brewed/made - ? Not sure.

I love a mix of ginger beer and sparkly water. Ve..."

My friend recently discovered that a liquor store here carries Crabbies Ginger Beer. It's from her homeland of Scotland, and it definitely has alcohol in it. I don't like beer but did have a couple of sips a couple of weeks ago. Even though it was quite gingery, I could still taste beer.

ETA: Gingerale is a soft drink here, not to be confused with Ginger Beer.

[Kristie, Moderator]

For those of you that were discussing the clown issue. I just ran across this Facebook post referring to the problem and thought some of you might be interested. Don't know if the link will work. Hopefully, it will bring you to the article and not just their page. https://www.facebook.com/TMSmediaUSA/...

[Kristie, Moderator]

I know at least one school district had announced that no clown costumes will be allowed this year for Halloween.

[Janice, Moderator]

Congratulations Peggy on your article! It looks awesome. I hope you got a copy of the magazine for yourself.

[Peggy]

Thanks everyone! I bought my own copy and my dad also sent me a pdf of the article :)

[Sarah]

I've had the crabbies obe Janice. it's nice but I mainly prefer the non alcoholic ginger beers as a soft drink.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I've had Crabbies, which isn't bad, but if you ever see Matsos grab it. It's not beery at all. Tastes like the soft drink ginger beer but alcoholic. It's from Broome in Aus, but it's getting pretty big.

For soft drink ginger beer, you want Saxbys.

[Sarah]

not heard of Saxbys before. we have Jamaican ginger ale - I can't remember who makes it. I like the Fentemans one which comes in glass bottles.

[Tejas Janet]

Nicely done, Peggy. Photo with you really catches the eye. That's sure a lot of candy! Where was photo taken? Congrats!

Sarah, I'm pretty sure that a "jumper" there denotes something else. Here it's like a pinafore. Sleeveless, collarless dress worn over blouse. You also mentioned "hoody" so is a jumper there a kind of pullover sweater or such - something you can "jump into" without buttoning or zipping.

Ginger beer rocks! Ginger ale, not so much. Too sweet, not enough ginger. I'll skip the grass hopper juice tho, lol : )

I think in general for US that smaller, specialty shops open later, and larger, more general merchandise and/or larger stores open earlier or in some cases, like more urban settings, stay open 24-7. But we also have a gym near us that we use for weekly water aerobics class that's open 24-7, and it's not super big. And there are various smaller size coffee shops around here open 24-7 as well.

[Peggy]

The picture was taken in my office. I have lots of chocolate here for the study I'm running. I used to keep it in the lab but bars got stolen, so now I have them in my office. They are right across from my desk so I have to stare at a hundred bars of chocolate all day :P

[Renee]

Tejas Janet wrote: "Horseradish vodka - very unusual sounding. Is it really hot/spicy or more subtle? Interesting!"

This actually sounds really yummy to me. I can just imagine it in some tomato juice.

I am back. I had some chest pain caused by arrythemia. I don't know what's worse Lupus or the drugs side effects

[Lisa]

Renee wrote: "Tejas Janet wrote: "Horseradish vodka - very unusual sounding. Is it really hot/spicy or more subtle? Interesting!"

This actually sounds really yummy to me. I can just imagine it in some tomato ju..."

Sorry to hear that, Renee. I hope you are feeling better now? I think side effects can be just as bad. I am on long term medication too and I had to try lots of different ones in the beginning because they kept giving me bad side effects.

[Tejas Janet]

Ditto sentiments on long-term meds and side effects. And then often more meds are prescribed to treat the side effects. It's a merry-go-round difficult to impossible to get off.

Glad you are back, Renee. Hope you are stabilized and feeling much better!

[Janice, Moderator]

Rusalka wrote: "I've had Crabbies, which isn't bad, but if you ever see Matsos grab it. It's not beery at all. Tastes like the soft drink ginger beer but alcoholic. It's from Broome in Aus, but it's getting pretty..."

There's one liquor store here that may carry it. They are expensive, but they do tend to carry more imported beers.

While I was perusing Crabbie's website yesterday, they had a recipe for Crabbie's Ginger Beer Mojito. Next Saturday night, we're having another Mexico practice and focussing on a white wine mojito. I think I may have to do some ginger beer mojitos too.

[KimeyDiann]

The article looks great, Peggy. Too bad I can't read Dutch! LOL.

I've never tried any of the "spicy" vodkas, but I'm somewhat intrigued. I did taste of a "Cajun" wine over the weekend. I couldn't decide if I liked it or not. It was very interesting, and you could taste and feel the spice, but mostly as an aftertaste. I almost bought a bottle, but decided against it, I was afraid I'd never drink it.

I'm slowly trying to catch up on all that I have missed over the last couple of months. Way too many posts to respond to, so I'm just sticking to the most recent. Glad everyone seems to be doing well!

[Tejas Janet]

Looks like we can get Crabbies but not Matsos around here. I've not had or heard of either before this discussion. I have some favorites in non-alc ginger beers. Fever Tree and Ginger People are two. I sometimes make ginger beer and rum or vodka cocktails, but more often just enjoy ginger beer as a soft drink. We had a neighbor from the UK who would drink beer with a good grapefruit juice soda. She called this a Shandy. Now I'm seeing assorted Shandies available in the stores. Beer with spicy tomato juice, a drink known as a Michelada, is a commonly encountered beverage around this part of Texas. We like these with tacos. Preferably from the taco truck on the corner : )

[Sarah]

Shandy is traditionally beer (ale or lager) with lemonade. The grapefruit sounds like an interesting addition. And soda wouldn't be quite so sweet. Mmm. I might have to try it at some point. Although people generally only drink shandy if they're driving. Pretty sure you can by non alcoholic shandy in the soft drink aisles which seems pretty pointless to me.

I'm off to Bournemouth today as I start further hypnotherapy training this weekend. I'm staying at a friends which will be nice. I'm really excited to be starting the course and being back in a learning environment.

[Peggy]

Shandy here is a little beer (1/5) with lots of soda, like sprite or 7up (4/5). It's also called 'sneeuwwitje' which means Snow White. You can also buy it in cans or bottles in the supermarkets I think, and then it has 0.5% alcohol and is considered a soft drink, not an alcoholic drink.

[Sarah]

In the pub, if you ask for a shandy here you get half a pint of beer topped up to a pint with lemonade.

[Sarah]

I like what you call shandy Peggy.

[Peggy]

That sounds like what is radler here, except it's not mixed in a pub but it's ready in a bottle. And I don't think it's 50/50. I have no idea if radler is known in the UK (I'm pretty sure it's not in the US), but it has become very popular here in the last two years or so. It's beer with lemonade, only 2% alcohol, I like it a lot! Almost all Dutch beer brands have radler now as well, and all pubs and restaurants serve it.

It comes from Germany, where it has been popular for much longer. It was first made by this guy who served it to people cycling and stopping at his cafe for a drink (a bike in German is a Fahrrad, and cycling is radfahren, so that's where the name comes from), and people liked it because you don't want to drink lots of alcohol when you still have to cycle far, but it's nice to have a beer, and radler is very refreshing.

[Travis]

There are endless shandy's here made by Leinenkugel which is actually german https://www.leinie.com/av?url=https:/...

The one you describe is the summer shandy

[Sarah]

Sounds interesting Peggy. I read recently that beer is more thirst quenching and is better to drink than water after exercise because it has electrolytes. I can imagine that the Radler would be even more so. Obviously the benefits of the beer after exercise clearly reduce if too much is consumed ;-) Again, the Radler sounds perfect. I've not come across it here before. we do have non alcoholic beer for people who want beer but are driving and I guess there are low alcoholic beers.

[Peggy]

You can try it when you visit Amsterdam :)

[Sarah]

Peggy wrote: "You can try it when you visit Amsterdam :)"

Good thinking! I will keep an eye out for it.