candy corn infused vodka – the results…
October 9th, 2011
We made candy-corn infused vodka the other week, and here are the results. I’d call it a mild success, but I probably won’t do it again next year now that we’ve done it once. We ended up leaving the candy corn to soak overnight. By the morning, it was mostly dissolved, and the vodka was a beautiful, bright orange color, but there were all these weird looking pieces of the candy still floating around looking like stalagmites in the liquid. It kinda looked like a science fair project. I’m guessing that’s the high-fructose corn syrup that even alcohol couldn’t break down. Anyways, it was almost (almost) enough to make me want to avoid candy-corn for a little while. But then Jill came over with the rest of a bag she had bought, annnnd that hiatus was over.
ANYWAYS! We made the cocktails that night, and they were… ehhh, ok.
1 1/2 cups vodka
2 ounces orange liqueur
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 large egg white
Candy corn, for garnish
Usually something with egg in it would turn me off a little, but since it was just the whites, it was actually nice and frothy. I guess it was really just too boozy tasting to me. We ended up adding a splash of tonic water, and that made all the difference. So, if you want to try it at home, I’d recommend adding the tonic, or maybe a splash of ginger ale or sprite to take the edge off.
Anyways, we strained and bottled the rest of the vodka, and it IS a really pretty color. The bottom of the batch was realllly sugary and thick as it poured out. Without all the floaties in it, I’ll say it does look very tasty. I think the plan for the rest of the batch is to use it to make some orange jello shots for our upcoming Halloween party. That was Matt’s idea, and I think it will be perfect for it!
This is a Flickr badge showing public items from m hoek tagged with dc. Make your own badge here.
Email Us
lori [at] juxtaexposed.com
matt [at] juxtaexposed.com
candy-corn infused vodka
September 27th, 2011
Somehow I ended up on a website called yumsugar.com (shocking, I know), and decided I had to make this recipe for candy corn infused vodka. I am a sucker for sugary things, so candy corn is naturally one of my favorites. Truthfully, it’s sad that it starts showing up in stores wayyy before October and starts testing my willpower a whole month before Halloween. Anyway, we skipped the proper recipe proportions and just went with it — 2 bottles of vodka and most of a bag of Brach’s, minus the handful that I tested for flavor. I debated over getting the little pumpkin-shaped ones at first, but didn’t want to get too crazy. I think we’re going to give it a few days to marinate in there, and once it starts turning orange give it a little taste test and then bottle it back up until Halloween!! I’ll be sure to write about how it turns out, as long as it’s good. I think now we need to plan a little Halloween costume party.
drink up! We finally bottled and labeled our first official batch of Near Northeast Hooch. It’s an infused combination of spiced rum, red apples, and cloves. Here’s the recipe that we followed, if you care to play along at home. Pretty easy stuff. Combine ingredients in a jar and then wait… If only you could make dinner this way. Oh wait, you can, it’s the equivalent of the crock-pot!
The results were pretty good, I suppose. We overdid it on the length of infusion time, but I don’t think it mattered. (note: check your calendars for long-planned vacations before you start doing something like this) I’m not a big fan of rum in general, so I will pass on any further judgement of our own infusing skills until we get to our next recipe… berry vodka.
Anyways, we already gave away the two bottles pictured, and saved a smaller one for ourselves. Here’s what I’m going to make with it tonight – apple cocktails. If this drink doesn’t immediately bring on fall weather, I’m not sure what else to try.
What do you guys think of the labels? It’s probably one of my dream jobs to design wine bottle labels, so this was a pretty fun little exercise in Photoshop for me. I don’t know about you guys, but in this house we pick out wine by 1) what’s on the label and 2) price. It goes like this when Matt picks it out: does it have a bicycle or scantily clad woman on the bottle? Is it less than $12.00? Then we can get it!! And when I’m the one shopping: Does it have a friggin’ adorable animal on it or some sort of polka dot theme? Is it less than $8.00? (I’m the cheaper one). It’s not easy having such discriminating tastes. How does everyone else pick out wine?
Last weekend when Ty and Val were visiting, we checked out the chocolate and coffee shop ACKC on 14th Street. We’d walked by there many a time, but never poked our heads in. As it turns out, it’s a cute little place owned by Rob Kingsbury (the chocolatier) and Eric Nelson (the artist). When you walk in, you are bombarded with bright colors from the artwork on the walls and tons of tiny little morsels to make you drool. The photo above is a closeup of one of the many custom tabletops painted by Eric, which are pretty much awesome.
Last night was the infamous High Heel Drag Race, an annual costumed event held on 17th St. in Dupont Circle on the Tuesday before Halloween. There were plenty of lovely drag queens out last night, despite the heavy rain, and, since all of the action occurred just steps from our house, we had some friends over beforehand to enjoy some Giggle Juice (pictured above) and pizza. We didn’t get to snap too many pictures of the ladies from a few rows of people deep, where we had to poke our heads in and among the umbrellas, (or kneel on the ground to see through the crowds if your name is Andrea), so you’ll just have to check out the Flickr Pool for some funnies!
Giggle Juice
2 bottles dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc, chilled
5 cups lemon-lime soda, chilled
2 cups white grape juice, chilled
6 limes, thinly sliced crosswise
Make ice block: Fill medium metal bowl with water and freeze overnight.
Make punch: In large punch bowl, stir together wine, soda, and grape juice. Add lime slices. Just before serving, remove ice block from freezer and defrost just long enough to be slipped out of bowl, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer to punch bowl and serve immediately.
… I’d like to wish a very special birthday to Zach, who is not only our special friend, but also a devout follower of Juxtaexposed on the blogosphere and especially double-posting days. Welcome to 1/4 century, my friend! Please leave him some love in the comments, or any advice you may have about turning the big 2-5.
BARACK O’ RAMA (a tri-photo post)
January 17th, 2009
I figure I’m going to be taking about a bazillion photos in the coming days so I thought I’d do a tri-photo post instead of a stingy single photo post…enjoy!
Lori and I met over at Tryst on Friday night for a few post work drinks. This minivan pulled up on 18th St. and started opening up shop. They had Obama signs, posters, hats, shirts, pins, and American flags all for sale at presumably obscene price, the one thing that they didn’t have, and keep in mind yesterday was the coldest day DC has seen in something like a decade, was customers. Hats off to them for their entrepreneurial spirit but sometimes you just need to bow to mother nature and realize that people are not, 5 days before the actual inauguration, going to stop in the freezing cold and buy patriotic paraphernalia (and don’t you need a permit for that sort of thing anyway?).
We watched the less than successful street vending from our comfortable perch at the window bar in Tryst. Special on the menu for this chilly January evening were three pleasantly warm drinks:
The Vermonter – Irish Whiskey and Irish Cream with hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, the Hot Vanilla Russian – Vanilla Kahlua and Vodka with hot coffee and steamed half n’ half topped with whipped cream, and the Caramel Apple – fresh steemedhot apple cider and caramel with Captain Morgan Spiced Rum. These are all delectable…very very delectable (we made sure to try each one…a couple times). If you happen to be in Adams Morgan I’d whole heartedly recommend stopping in for a pleasant winter warmer. Tried to figure out if the selection of drinks had any thing to do with President – Elect whose, now famous, Shepard Fairey portrait is prominently featured on the menu but could not come up with any particular connection. Anyone more politically in tune think of any relation of these drinks?
Just up the hill at the corner of 18th and Columbia Adams Morgan Mainstreet/Adams Morgan NOW are hosting a series of Republican Elephant pinata bashings. This photo is from the 1st of the bashings that occurred last night at 5:30p. Since then they have hosted 3 more bashings but don’t fret there are still opportunities available for those in need of getting out some pent up political anger. The schedule for the remaining times is as follows:
So go, get angry, shout into the mega phone about how Bush disappointed you in the last 8 years, smash the elephant pinata, subsequently eat some candy, stop by the kiosk and write down your hopes and message for the incoming administration, and generally enjoy yourself while doing so.
