camera experimentation to capture the bloody mary.
i love these. they have become a summer time addiction. they’re lethal at home. i always want a second one. sometimes a third. they were already a lone passenger no one i know can see me long haul flight addiction. BA do the best bloody marys. they are an absolute ESSENTIAL for sunday brunch. Recently I had the pleasure of introducing bloody marys to bloody mary virgins. (Note: not the same as a Virgin Bloody Mary). I was amazed they had never had one before.
my recipe:
salt (two turns of the mill)
pepper (two to three turns of the mill
tabasco
worcestershire sauce
1 lime wedge squeezed
1 lime slice
vodka (to whatever strength you desire! 
)
tomato juice
capers (a couple and maybe a drop teaspoon of caper juice)
1) pour a measure of vodka into a glass
2) add salt, pepper, tabasco, worcestershire, lime juice
3) stir
4) add tomato juice half way up the glass
5) stir
6) add ice (as much as you desire)
7) top up with tomato juice
8 ) stir
9) stick a straw and a celery stick if you have it. if you don’t, a cucumber stick will do.
10) drink, enjoy, try not to have three, if you think you will want more after the first sip, vow to tone down the vodka. or not. depending on your alcoholic tendencies.
Extra special twist: pop a Dutch liquorice sweet in your mouth after a few sips. Chew. Take another sip. Heaven. From a glass.
The great thing about the bloody mary is, tomato juice is not unusual in Irish Pubs. Cranberry and Grapefruit (another favourite summer time lush drink) certainly are. All you need to take with you is salt, pepper and lime (although you can substitute lemon). Most pubs also have salt, pepper and lime. So maybe you don’t need to take them with you. You think I’m kidding about “take stuff with you”. I kid you not. Time was, I ordered a vodka and ice and lemon (limes had not been imported into Ireland) in a high ball glass. Then I surreptitiously brought my glass somewhere discreet and poured cranberry juice from the bottle of cranberry in my bag. Ireland wasn’t always like it is now. I’m not even that old. Ten years ago, Ireland was not like it is now. I smuggled cranberry juice into bars.
crushed ice sea breeze. nikon coolpix 3100. crushed ice ruins the coloured effect you get with cubes. if you are really clever, you’ll spot me in the photograph
a couple of years ago, i went to new york for the wedding of bruce and kate, my broter, and sister-in-law.
whilst there, one night we went to a new york bar.
i ordered a sea breeze. it was the last sea breeze i ever ordered in a bar.
i enjoyed my first sea breeze on my J1 summer, back in the mid 1990′s. sea breezes are perfectly acceptable in july/august, in a club, in greenwich, connecticut, over looking long island sound.
they are not prefectly acceptable in manhattan, in october, when it is unseasonably warm, but still autumn (or should that be fall)
i got laughed out of it for ordering one. they new york sophisticates thought it hilarious. so unfashionable. i’ve never ordered one since.
but, tonight, after hoovering, washing floors and windows and cleaning the balcony of tiler dust for the third time, i thought, it’s ireland, i’m at home, no one can see me, there is grapefruit and cranberry juice in the fridge, there is vodka in the freezer, best of all, there is ice on tap thanks to our oversized, worshipping at the shrine of all things american style fridge freezer. american style – think eight lane motorway and everyone in their own vehicle rather than double decker bus and everyone sharing.
anyway, i drank a sea breeze.
it’s summer ok! and i deserved it.
sea breeze, i’m happy to remeet your acquaintance, but, i’ll never again order one.
recipe:
vodka
cranberry juice
grapefruit juice
crushed ice. or ice cubes
our american style frigde freezer offers both at the touch of a button
pour vodka over ice (a third)
pour in grapefruit juice (a third)
stir
pour in cranberry juice (a third)
do not stir
cranberry juice makes colourful staining through grapefruit and vodka
sit on balcony if it is warm, otherwise, sit somewhere where it is warm, even if that means turing the heat on HIGH to make it seem tropical.
drinking alone is the first sign of an alcoholic? hell, no! i was celebrating this:
an empty room? what’s the big deal, i hear you say. not just ANY empty room, but an
empty room once again, i.e. empty of tiles, timber, cardboard, hoovered, floor washed, ready to be transformed into bedroom oasis of calm with beds, blinds etc. and, obviously, a better light fitting than a naked bulb. naked bulbs are growing on me.
faithful nikon coolpix 3100 (note, never put a 1GB card in a nikon coolpix, it will eat them alive (two cards wiser). 256 is best.
