I am sitting here at 11am on a Tuesday morning feeling very sorry for myself.
I indulged in a second glass of red last night, nothing special or unusual about that. My 40 something liver is no stranger to a good 750mls! What was strange was my reaction to it.
I woke at 1 with a loose tummy quickly followed by a severe bout of rebellious qi (aka the vomits). This happened on two more occassions and I woke to a killer headache.
I am hoping that I just have a bug because I sure as hell don't want to have this reaction everytime I pour a glass! Imagine a world without wine :'(
This brings me to my latest 'want to do!'
Homebrewing.
Naturewitch makes the best homemade wines I have ever had. I never got the time to sit down with her and watch her make her fantastic brew (I learn best by watching others do) so I will have to attempt this one for myself.
In this family we drink water, beer, wine and gin. Well the Gin is obviously out as I don't want the excise men knocking on my door, so I will start with a few simple things;
Ginger beer because it's so easy to make, Homebrew beer just because I want to make it. I have found a homebrew shop near to Wit's End, and lastly, Wine because I love wine!
Ginger Beer
Start the plant: 2 sliced lemons, 1 cup of water, 1 teaspoon of sugar, ginger and yeast.
For the next 8 days add one tea sugar and ginger every day.
To make up drink: Heat 2 pints of water and 2lbs of sugar until dissolved. Add plant and 9 pints of water. Stir and bottle. Leave residue to make next batch.
Off to freecycle to see if anyone is offering bottles etc.
Oh and on a different note: The Husband doesn't know it yet but when he is off trekking in China I will be building a chicken coop!
The Crone is revolting, power to The Crone!
2 comments:
LOL, hope you are feeling better soon! And I want to see pics of your coop when you finish it, I'm thinking about building one myself! (If I can figure out where to put it so the dogs don't terrorise the poor chookies).
Dearest Crone
Here's a really simple recipe for ginger beer. Twas given to me ages ago by another eco-friendly person.
4.5 litres water
3 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon dried yeast (bakers)
0.5 teaspoon citric acid
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
juice of 1 lemon
100ml grated ginger
Sprinkle the yeast onto 0.5 cup luke warm water and leave to stand about 30 minutes until yeast is activated.
Place grated ginger in a cup or small bowl and mix with about 0.5 cup sugar and leave to stand until the juice flows out.
Place the rest of the sugar and the other ingredients into a clean bucket or other large container.
Add 4 litres of water and stir to dissolve the sugar.
When the yeast and the ginger are ready stir them into the mix in the bucket, rinsing the cups/bowls with more water to make about 5 litres altogether.
Stand overnight, preferably with a cover to keep creepy crawlies out (I use an old but clean linen teatowel).
Strain through cloth (or the teatowel) and bottle.
Leave until fizzy, then refrigerate and drink. It takes about 24 hours in summer and about 2 to 3 days in winter to fizz up.
I've also used a version of this recipe to make elderflower fizz - absolutely delicious! I think I just used about 1 cup of fresh elder flowers, stripped from their stalks, instead of the ginger.
Love and light
naturewitch
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