Tonight was my 3rd attempt at the Whiskey Smash. It was delicious. That makes two successful attempts in a row. I think one more and I will call it a mastering of the drink. At least a mastery for home use. I am not quitting my day job. This last round of drinks I plan for tomorrow in now has anything to do with the fact that the mint I bought is likely going bad and may not last past tomorrow.
Taking a break from my hobby for a day
Tonight I am taking the day off from my mixology hobby I have adopted. MC and I are both trying to fight colds and the last two days of tasting my concoctions are likely not the greatest thing for my throat. I hope to resume my experimenting with the Whiskey smash tomorrow night.
The Whiskey Smash Take Two
After my failed attempt at the Whiskey Smash last night I was determined to get the correct ingredients and try again. I searched around the internet and got several different recipies but settled on one that seemed to be one of the classic versions. I was missing simple syrup but learned how easy it was to make it. I also needed fresh lemon. A quick trip to the grocery store on our walk this afternoon got me everything i needed to try again.
With all the right ingredients and a video on Youtube I was ready to go. The preperation of this drink required a bit more effort than just mixing stuff up for the sidecar or the martini. I wouldn’t say it was hard but it was the most challanging drink i have had to make so far. Once done the first taste proved the effort was worth it. With the new recipe I got it right on the first attempt. MC confirmed it was good. She is fighting a cold so opted to pass on her own drink. I should have not even been making drinks yesterday or today because I was sick with a cold but I was feeling much better than I was feeling yesterday morning so I drank my creation. It was good. It wasn’t alot of drink. To make it the size of a drink in a bar I need to double the recipe but that would be alot of alcohol. I am pretty buzzed writting this post now so I don’t think I could have handled a double portion.
I wanted to take a picture of my creation but even with the mint for garnish it didn’t look as nice as the sidecar so no picture. I am still trying to figure out why they say to slap the mint on my arm before putting it in the drink. Either way the verdict is delicious.
I need to make this a few more times in the next week or so (I have a ton of mind I need to use) to be sure I mastered the recipe and then it is on to my next challange. I still need to figure out what that will be. I want to make Manhattan’s but I am not sure if that is going to be next or something else.
The Whiskey Smash
Tonight I moved on from the Sidecar to my 3rd drink in my quest to have a new hobby. I tried to make the Whiskey Smash. Over the past year and a half we have had it several times and loved it each time we drank it. I thought it was appropriate for it to be my follow on drink after mastering the Sidecar. It took a while for me to get ready for this one since I needed to remember to order fresh mint. Today we had a Freshdirect delivery and i remembered to order mint. The preperation was a bit more complex than the Sidecar. There was one failed attempt that i threw out, but the 2nd drink made it to completion. The problem was it didn’t taste right so I made another one. That one still didn’t taste right either. I had to confer with the internet. My research told me that the Mixology app had one recipe but it wasn’t the classic one that I likely had drank previously. WIth Mixology failing me I had to call it a night since I didn’t have fresh Lemon’s to try a different recipe. One the plus side I learned what muddleing means and what simple syrup is so I am growing as a want to be Mixologist. Is that what people call themselfs these days?
I reverted back to making two Sidecar’s as our evening cocktails. I got very worried when I ran out of Triple Sec in the middle of the 2nd drink. I was only short a bit and the drink still turned out ok. That will need to get restocked tomorrow.
Daddy Daughter Day
Our babysitter was sick for a 2nd day in a row today. Yesterday MC took off so today was my turn. I thought i had it easy and that our oldest would be going to a school program in the morning but we found out at the last minute that there wasn’t school today.
Instead i took both of them to the park for a bit. It was really nice out. Next up was lunch and now both of them are in for their naps. I would say “down” but Teagan is just sitting there looking at a book not interested in sleeping just yet.
My New Hobby
A few weeks ago I decided to pick a hobby. I liked that MC has been enjoying cooking and baking and I wanted something i could do. After going to one of MC’s friends houses while on vacation and seeing their awesome bar and his ability to mix up drinks I settled on learning to make more cocktails. My first drink was something i tried before but hadn’t perfected. It was the Chocolate Martini. I wanted to do a Manhattan but I didn’t have all the ingredients. Initial results over the several days I was making them for MC & I were very positive.
This weekend I worked on my second drink. This time i selected the Side Car. It is one of my favorite cocktails. Many places MC and I goto do not get it right or have no idea what we are talking about when we ask for it. I figured I would be complex so I said challenge accepted. After my research on it I realized it is a classic drink that is not as popular as it was in the 1940’s. That explained why most bartenders don’t know it off the top of their head. The good ones look at us funny when we tell them that others don’t know how to make it.
For the Sidecar I needed to buy Cognac and more lemon juice. The first prototype was good but MC thought it was too lemony. I made some adjustments with more Cognac and less lemon and that was ok but not perfect. It wasn’t until Saturday night were I tweaked the recipe with less lemon juice and more triple sec that we were happy. I was surprised at how easy it was to do with very little practice. Now we can have our favorite cocktail anytime.
I now have to figure out what will my next drink challenge be.
I Finally Killed Off Google Doc’s
I have finally succeeded in killing off any remaining documents i had hosted in my personal google account. This action was a bit harder than i expected it would be. I won’t go into further details on a public post due to security concerns however i am glad that I was able to go through and move everything i still needed and delete everything I didn’t need. Exporting data was easy to an offline file but moving things that others still needed to collaborate on was a challenge and requires giving out new URL’s unless i was moving the document to someone else in the same google work domain. I wasn’t doing that so it was challanging.
This milestone was one of the last I need before I can delete my remaining google app’s id that i used to use as my main account. The last milestone may be the most difficult but that will be the topic of another post, Android Apps.
The challenges of Google Stickiness
The biggest challenge I have seen with getting rid of my Google Account is that I don’t really want to get rid of it 100%. I plan on getting rid of the account I have been using because it is the only way to delete some things. For example i moved out my Google Voice number but all my call records and voice mail cannot be removed unless i manually delete them or if i delete the entire account. With thousands of log entries and voice mail i won’t be doing any manual deletions so nuking my entire account is the only option.
Since i want to delete everything i will lose anything i cannot backup or move. For example any purchased Android app’s and media I won’t be able to keep. There is no way to transfer purchases. I was smart and only bought one ebook from Google and never bought any music. I continue to do that with Amazon MP3 just because the MP3 has no DRM and allows for me to keep using it even if i ever get rid of Amazon. Google and Amazon for that matter tie your ebooks to the account you bought it with. The one ebook isn’t an issue since i had already bought it on my amazon account due to issues with the google reader.
My biggest challenge is all the Android app’s I have purchased. Over the years I may have spent $100 or so on apps. Many of them I do not even use anymore but on principle i am not pleased with having to give them all up because they are tied to other services that I don’t want. In the end I think I am going to bite the bullet and live without the apps, but I am not happy. I already setup a new Google ID just for registering Android devices and any App purchases. Going forward that will be my approach, dedicated accounts for specific services that I need/want to use. Right now all i think i need is something for Android and Youtube.
Mac OS Yosemite
Its that time of year again. Apple has come out with its new OS. This time around I tried the Beta on my personal laptop. I was pretty happy with it so i installed it my remaining computers today when it became available.
One thing that is always a challenge when Apple OS upgrades come out is that some apps just don’t work. Typically it is my VPN app or Dragon Dictate or something specialized. This year I was pleased to see that everything worked without needing upgrades.
The biggest challenge for me isn’t upgrading my personal machines (I already did that). it will be upgrading MC’s and getting my parents iMac upgraded. I think MC is on Mavericks but her Macbook is getting up there in age. My parents are now 2 OS versions behind and getting time to go over there and upgrade is challenging.
More Wireless in the Subway is Good
This week I started noticing I was getting wireless signal on my phone in the stations in Queens on the way home from work. I was surprised since I hadn’t had that happen before. For several months if i wanted to check mail or sync something i knew i had to wait till 5th ave on the way in or 5th ave was the last chance i got till i got home on my return trip.
After a few days of curiosity I searched the internet and found that the MTA did announce new stations coming online this month. It was just challenging to find what stations. Once i found the list i confirmed that all the stations on my route home in Queens will get signal. That will be helpful to me when i am checking mail on my way into work each day. I have found that my commute is a good time to sort through all the mail from overnight and get quick responses back to people.
Of course the downside of signal in stations are people making calls. Data is great but having some clown talking loudly on the subway into their phone is not fun. Especially when they leave the station and there is the inevitable “hello, hello, can you hear me” when they drop the call. I guess progress has a price.