Tales of Home

Summer is here. A hot 39 degrees today.

Its cold, wet & dismal where I am but, never mind, I can smile when you get rotten weather & the sun shines for us lol Id like a drop of snow this year, all silent & creeping down on Christmas Eve

The hot toddy just showed up in my neighborhood, and it's a things of beauty. I can make my own (and I like what I make), but this new place is trying to recreate the Irish pub experience, and sometimes you just want to sit and soak things in.

It raining here, been raining for a week. It must be Goldberry's washing day, I just wish she would get on with it.

You need the hot toddy I had last night. Pure bliss on an otherwise uncomfortable day.

{{ Why has it got fruit in it? }}

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{ Why has it got fruit in it? }}

I think some people outside of Scotland have worked out that you can get drunk while also tasting something nice.

{{ Fruit in alcohol is like a Tory in Scotland - just sits there uncomfortably, gets in the way and serves no useful purpose! }}

You have clearly never had a true hot toddy. The mix of whiskey, lemon and honey is sublime. I approve use tea for the hot toddy, but only Earl Grey, which as you know if flavored with something akin to orange peel - more fruit!

{{ Bloody cheek! Scotland invented the damn thing and it doesnt have ruddy fruit in it!! Or tea!! Americans }}

Why is it that whenever I look up the recipe for a traditional scottish hot toddy it always has lemon in it? I think you come from some deprived offshoot that still thinks hot bread fresh from the oven would only be sullied by the application of butter.

I am not sure if I am about to see my first ever "No true Scotsman" in its original format....

{{ Well we didnt have lemons, not exactly native to Scotland, fruit in general isnt very native to Scotland- what we did have was honey, water you had to boil to survive, and lots of whisky I used to get given Hot Toddies as a kid as a cold cure }}

I used to drink hot Vimto or Ribena as a kid.

{{ I was weaned on whisky Traditional way to get kid through teething, or difficulty sleeping is to dip the dummy tit (pacifier to you Americans who are scared of tits!) in whisky. }}

I have a friend (former student actually) who was a lobster purist: only dipped it in butter and salt. Garlic and lemon was heresy.

Until we slipped him some, and he became a convert straight away.

Try lemon in your toddy, Petty. It adds a lift to it.

{{ If your Toddy needs a lift your using the wrong whisky! Probably some horrible American whisky instead of a nice island malt with a fragrant smoky peat taste to it The very thought of putting lemon into a beautiful single malt is vile.  Try getting yourself some Arberg Corryvreckan (though I prefer the 10 year bottle, its smokier and less medicinal tasting) and then tell me putting lemon in it would be a good idea!}}

https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/66/ardbeg-10-year-old

Granted, smoke and lemon don't go together...

....except - it's become common to slightly char a lemon slice before putting it in a smoky drink (typically mezcal, but scotch has the same notes.).  I think that would work for your Scotch Toddy.

{{ Just the sight of that floating about in my whisky would put me off- you may as well go round the distillers and piss in his barrel you couldnt insult him much more! Generations and generations of careful honing and perfecting the process and flavour and you go shove fruit in it  }}

Our family is scattered about the country: I was planning on isolating for 2 weeks then doing a 25 hour drive for Christmas, stopping the night at a campsite with a drop box instead of in-person registration.  But not everyone in the family could isolate, and eventually made the decision not to get together. Our parents are in the late 80's, so we take no chances.

Instead I made the rounds of New York Christmas spots sharing it via Zoom with my family.  So I don't have pictures when I was zooming, but the last stop was Bryant Park, which is adjacent to the New York Public Library with their famous lions.



So I did the Zoom thing, then noticed this outdoor cafe I always wanted to stop at but never did because it's always jam packed.  Well now it was comfortably above freezing and Covid did the rest of the work for me, so I took the opportunity to splurge (you pay through the nose for location).  Hey, I'm not going anywhere for Christmas, I'm entitled!  The food and drinks were adequate and suitably overpriced, but this place has a toy train going around over your head.



Better yet, there were two of the cutest little girls ever to entertain me (one kid gave me a face when she caught me looking at her like a kidnapper).  But then little girls are like kittens: they are ALL the cutest ever because they max out the cutometer:



I do love kids.  I just don't want to own one.

Scorching 40 degrees in Perth today , Xmas eve. 8.30 in the morning and already 33. Just got back from last minute  shopping. Mainly alcohol . 37 forecast for  Xmas day.. Mum and dad round for breakfast.in the morning. Well Dad anyway. Mum passed away last year, still forget . Over to the in-laws for dinner and the the Xmas cricket game down the park.

halfwise wrote:Instead I made the rounds of New York Christmas spots sharing it via Zoom with my family.  So I don't have pictures when I was zooming, but the last stop was Bryant Park, which is adjacent to the New York Public Library with their famous lions.

Ahh, that's such a cute idea

chris63 wrote:Scorching 40 degrees in Perth today , Xmas eve. 8.30 in the morning and already 33. Just got back from last minute  shopping. Mainly alcohol . 37 forecast for  Xmas day.. Mum and dad round for breakfast.in the morning. Well Dad anyway. Mum passed away last year, still forget . Over to the in-laws for dinner and the the Xmas cricket game down the park.

Sorry to hear that Chris, hope you have a lovely Christmas xx

It is 4°c here today but the sun is shining! Going to go out on Christmas light watch with other half later. Kids are going to their dad's house tonight so just us and the dogs!

Will try and post some pictures of the lights.

Halfy - I don't recognise that cafe or the buildings (not that I know NYC too well)... where is it?

Chris - that sounds pretty horrible. Do you have aircon to help? Not nice when it hits mid-30s here when there is no aircon to give some respite!

Behind the main New York Public library is Bryant park; they share the same grounds.  This outdoor cafe is in that park, and it's a stunning place to have a drink and a small bite.  

Other park cafes I'd recommend is having a Shake Shack hamburger at Madison Square park (go on off hours to cut the wait down to reasonable 10 minutes), And I'm sure I took a picture during a nice time of year but am reduced to Google Street view it looks like in fall:



And there's the Boat House in Central Park (my shot; in summer they fold back all the windows and you are basically in an outdoor pavilion overlooking the lake).  



Both have food/drinks that complement the view.  

There's another small cafe off the southern ballfields in Central Park which doesn't have much to offer except a spectacular view, which I know I took a shot of and have long lost, and of course Google offers nothing of consequence plus there's a temporary fence in the way.

Ah.. I think I walked through Bryant Park the very first time I was in the city about 15 years ago.

We took a tour of Central Park last year on the little bike things. Didn't get to stop off anywhere en-route.

We did go to the Stardust cafe just up from Times Square. That was cool.