esther cunliffe

When it’s time to batten down the hatches and get snuggled in to brave the storm…. For me that means wine time.

Always keen to keep the food miles low we found this amazing local wine from the finger lakes in upstate New York. Also what interested me was that it was 50% Cabernet franc, and 50% Lemberger. Not knowing a great deal about the latter grape but loving the former it interested me a lot.

It’s hard to get single varietal cab francs in the UK, and after getting really into it in California when I did my little stint at Trefethen winery in Napa valley I have always kept an eye out.

This wine is awesome, I love that its fruity (Blackberry and blueberry) but also has a spicy vanilla chewy feel and taste. I’m gonna have up read a bit about Lemberger though…. Not met this grape much before.

You can definitely tell its a New Yorker though, it has a kind of upfront, no shit, this is who I am attitude…. And like some hardcore New Yorkers at 13.5%abv will also give you a headache if you have too much.

Right now where is that hurricane?…

So it’s starting to get a bit cooler, certainly my friends back home are experiencing extremes of cold weather. Anyway found this amazing liquor at New Amsterdam Market in Seaport, my new favorite place. It’s just the best thing ever! Spicy apple cider, giving you a hit if ginger, pepper, spices all in the background is this amazing apple cider. You can use this in salad dressing, to make chutney and pickles, but us badasses just shoot the stuff straight down as a shot! I’m going to try it with vodka. The guys that make it are currently writing a cookbook! Genius! I love them, these people do not know just how much they have enriched my culinary life!

Checkout their site Fire Cider

So a few people have asked how I made these so I thought I’d write a quick post with the recipe. Its easy and you can make all sorts of flavours! Be mindful though that if you make them quite strong they will get you very drunk… yippee!

So what you will need: Muffin tin or fairy cake tin and a measuring jug.

Ingredients:

For the ‘Vodka Lemons’ – a load of lemons (apx 5), Lemon Jelly, Vodka, gelatin leaves x 4 (or vegetarian equivalent).

For the ‘Pimms Watermelons’ – a load of limes (apx 5), Strawberry Jelly, Pimms, gelatin leaves x 4.

Method:

Cut the lemon and limes in half and scoop our the inside bits, make sure you get all the bitter pith out. This is the hardest bit of the recipe as you have to be careful not to rip the sides of the skins, you will end up with a little cup. Put the cups in the muffin dish which will support them as little bowls to pour your jelly in.

Put the lemon jelly in the jug and add in 1/2 pint of hot water, mix the jelly until it has dissolved. Put the 4 gelatin leaves in cold water to soften them for about 3 minutes, then  when they are soft squeeze off the extra water and pop them into the rest of the hot jelly to dissolve. Next add 1/4 pint of Vodka, or more if you want them nice and strong, then top the rest up with cold water to make a pint. If you find that the gelatin is still not dissolving you can pop the mix in a small saucepan and give it a little heat – this will dissolve the gelatin completely. (I am adding extra gelatin as you want the jelly super wobbly).

Leave the mixture to cool a little then pour the jelly mix into the lemons so they are full to the top. Then chill them in the freezer to rapidly set for about 10/15 minutes. If they do freeze its not a problem just take them out and let them thaw out a little. Then all you have to do is cut them in halves and it make little lemon wedges! simple!

The same method applies to the limes, using strawberry jelly and Pimms instead, when you cut them up they look like little watermelons!

Other ideas could be….

Oranges with orange jelly and Grand Marnier or Cointreau…

Limes with lime jelly and Cachaca….

Lemons with Limoncello…

If you make any interesting mixes do let me know! I am also going to experiment with other jelly options so I’ll keep you in the loop with how I get on…woo!

It’s amazing how depressing it can be to get a corked bottle. Its been a while since I’ve been unlucky to get one but last night I opened two bottles of corked wine! two different wines not even from the same case, what are the chances?

One was  an easily replaced wine from Naked Wines, but I was most gutted about the Lucien Lardy, Les Roches Fleurie as it was one of the remaining bottles left over from our on our rainy road trip through France last summer, it had sentimental value.

Now I remember why I picked up the “DOWN WITH CORKS” bumper sticker all those years ago when I visited Bonny Doon Vineyard in California. Anyway, nice piece by Jamie Goode on the screw cap which, at the moment, I’m favoring massively over the cork.

Ha ha looks like me and Brook! (Taken with instagram)

Getting distracted by this little chap who turned up this morning. (Taken with instagram)

My celebration stone! (Taken with instagram)

Staying in a beautiful house in France. I wanna move here! http://t.co/a3ds2cs

Me and my lovely cupcakes! http://instagr.am/p/HSo5g/

This is basically fizzy pop, yummmmmy (Taken with instagram)

Me and my lovely cupcakes! (Taken with instagram)

Cupcakes! (Taken with instagram)