I love you, honey (and lemon)

Hubby showed me an article about Korean honey tea a while back. It is simple to make but can be found at most Asian markets.   

Korean honey tea is not really a "tea" at all.  It only becomes "tea" when boiling water is poured over the prepared ingredients.

I made up the recipe a month or so ago, stuck it in my fridge and pretty much forgot about it.  It wasn't until I got the flu that I remember that the concoction was "brewing" in the back of the refrigerator.  What is more soothing to a sort throat and cough than honey and lemon?

It was the perfect hot beverage and exactly what I needed when I was feeling crappy.  Although, I think it would be fine and refreshing any time.

In a jar combine sliced lemons and real honey.  Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.  The honey acts as a natural preservative so it doesn't spoil.  You can continue to add lemon and honey to the jar whenever you have half a lemon you don't know what to do with or a bit of left over honey.

The lemon and honey combine to make a sweet, citrusy concoction not unlike marmalade.

When you want to make a cuppa add a lemon slice and a dribble of honey into a mug and pour boiling water over it.  Experiment with the honey/lemon and water ratio to get the taste you want.  I've found that one slice of lemon and a tablespoon of honey makes a nice mellow mix.  I also experimented with adding a tea bag when I pour in the boiling water.  And that was really nice!

I will keep a jar in the fridge year round.  I imagine it would also be a delicious addition to iced tea in the summer time.

Yum!

Some food for thought about honey.  You will note that I indicate to use real honey in the mixture.  That's because the vast majority of honey you can buy at the grocery store isn't really honey at all or barely honey, at the very least.  

Most of the junk labeled "honey" on store shelves is nothing more than honey flavored corn syrup.  Either that or it is so filtered and processed that all the good stuff found in honest to goodness natural honey is removed.

Why?  Because most of the "honey" that floods the U.S. market is imported from China.  Chinese honey  is cheap honey.  They dilute it with high-fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners then go on to add other chemicals and antibiotics.  Chinese honey is also known to contain a scarily high content of heavy metals.  NOT GOOD.

It's best to get honey from a local bee farm that way you know it's the real thing.  However, that's not always reasonable.  If you can't find a local supplier, you can feel fairly confident that organic store-bought honey is the real stuff.

Lemony Rice Pilaf with Basil and Pine Nuts

Lemony Rice Pilaf with Basil and Pine Nuts

1 14 1/2-Ounce Can Chicken Broth

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1/2 Large Onion, Chopped

1 Cup Long-Grain Rice

1/3 Cup Chopped Fresh Basil  

1/4 Cup Pine Nuts

Salt And Pepper

In the same pan you will use to cook the rice, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil and sauté pine nuts until toasty brown.  Transfer pine nuts including olive oil to a small bowl. 

Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to the pan and sauté onions until soft.  When the onions are done add the rice and chicken broth.

 

Bring broth to a boil.  Turn down heat to simmer, cover and cook rice 20 minutes or until most of the water is absorbed.

While rice is cooking combine the juice of 1 lemon, basil and salt and pepper to taste with the pine nuts.

When rice is done mix dressing in and mix well.

Serve immediately.

Print Recipe

Firewater Friday - Nothing comes to mind right offhand

As a shooter, I'd like to think that hubby know's exactly what 'offhand' means.   Offhand is a reference to shooting without a rest or support . . . literally shooting off hand.


What it has come to mean in common speech is to do something without previous thought or preparation.

Off Hand

Kind of like, simply picking up a firearm and pulling the trigger . . . at once, without hesitation. Without taking the time to steady the gun . . . kind of in an . . . er . . . off hand sort of way.


There are many shooting positions . . . standing, prone, sitting, etc.


In rifle shooting, offhand means to basically to be shooting in an unsupported position.

In pistol shooting a "classic" off hand stance for pistol target shooting is something like this:


Strong side to the target, not face on, legs apart. 


Dominant hand, holding the pistol, extended fully and straight towards the target.  


Weak hand either in the pocket, small of back, of resting on the weak side hip. 


Head fully turned towards the target for sight acquisition looking down the shoulder.

Now you know.  


And, by the way, I do love his butt!

Lemon Margarita




1 1/2 Oz. Fresh Meyer Lemon Juice
1 1/2 Oz. Tequila
1 Oz. Triple Sec  
Sea Salt For Rimming Glass






Rub the rim of a margarita glass with a lemon slice.  Swirl the rim through a small pile of kosher or sea salt to salt the rim.


Put the meyer lemon juice, tequila, and triple sec in a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake for 15 seconds.


Put crushed ice in your glass.  Strain the cocktail into the glass and enjoy.

A clean house is a sign of a wasted life

Nobody likes to clean . . . well, I don't so I just assume nobody else likes the chore.  Anyway, one of the worst parts of cleaning  . . . besides the dirt, grime and grossness . . . are all the harsh chemicals in cleaning products.  Admittedly, they are effective but they're not good for you and they're not good for Mother Earth.


A simple, extremely cheap and all-natural cleaning combo are a couple of items that you probably already have in you kitchen . . . lemons and table salt.

On their own or combined together they kick  dirt's butt!


Salt all by itself is great for cleaning.  It's a mild abrasive and kills germs.  Salt sprinkled on spillovers and oven drips while they are still liquid absorbs the drips.  Simply, wipe the mess away when it cools.  Salt is also especially good at breaking up grease and oils.


 Lemon juice is an acid.  It not only cleans, but smell great, too.  Clean surfaces that are susceptible to scratches by rubbing with lemons or lemon juice for gentle cleansing.


Lemon and salt together can be used for many general household cleaning jobs, such as cleaning sinks and tiles and glass.  (not good for waxed or marble surfaces).


Sprinkle salt in your kitchen sink and use a lemon cut in half to scrub the surfaces clean.  In the shower or tub just dip that lemon in the bowl of salt, rub on all the surfaces. The lemon juice, with the help of the abrasiveness of the salt literally eats the soap scum!


Give it a shot.  You'll be impressed with how powerful these two completely natural cleaners are.  Enjoy the extra jingles in your pocket.

Firewater Friday . . . Yeah, baby, YEAH!

The year after my son was born . . . 1997 . . . Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery was in movie theaters.  I thought it was the funniest movie and so when it came out on VHS a couple years later I had to have it.  And, have it I did!.  For you whipper-snappers out there, that like a DVD only in tape format :)~  

I watched that movie over and over and over again.  It never failed to amuse me . . . small things for small minds, I guess.






But give me some credit.  I have always been a James Bond fan and this flick spoofed elements from all the early James Bond movies and was groovy '60s psychedelic, too.


In retrospect, I probably should have known better but as a first time mommy I guess I didn't think of the impact of my son watching a movie likewould have.  Well, now I know better.  Little kids are like sponges . . . they soak everything up.



Short synopsis: British secret agent . . . with really bad teeth . . .  Austin Powers was placed into cryostasis at the end of the 60s, in case a spy of his talent was ever needed again.  The world is a very different place when he's woken in the 1990's.  

Unfortunately for Austin, everyone is no longer sex-mad despite the fact that he is.  He is inappropriate, sexist and horny as hell.  He spends the entire movie in pursuit of his arch enemy Dr. Evil (who also happened to have been cryogenically frozen) and . . . sex.


With such catchy catch-phrases as:



“Shall we shag now, or shall we shag later?”


“Groovy, baby”

"Oh, behave!"

and


"Do I make you horny baby, do I?"


The child was bound to pick up one or two.  Thankfully the one he seemed to like the best was “Yeah, baby, yeah!”.






Well, when that became his standard reply to just about everything, it became apparent that he probably shouldn't be watching that particular movie anymore.  It was all Bear in the Big Blue House, Blues Clues and PB&J Otter for him!


Yeah, baby, yeah!

Lemon Drop Martini

1/2 Lemon
Ice
4 Oz Citron Vodka
2 Tbsp Simple Syrup


Simple syrup: To make simple syrup combine 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar in a small saucepan. Stir over high heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil and let boil for a minute. Turn off the heat. Let cool completely. Pour into a glass jar and store covered in the refrigerator.


Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Squeeze the wedge of lemon over the ice. Add the citron vodka and the simple syrup. Cap the shaker and shake (the longer you shake, the more dilute). Strain into martini glass. Makes a small martini. Garnish with lemon wedge.  If you want a little sweetness with each sip, rim the glass with sugar.