20 January
2017
18 January
2017
Royters reports: Former President HW Bush and wife Barbara Bush hospitalised
http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/18/politics/george-h-w-bush-hospitalized/
Unsubstantiated reports claim that, faced with the prospect of having to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration event day after tomorrow, all the currently living former Presidents and former First Ladies have enquired with their respective doctors about the possibility of checking into a hospital 🙂
18 January
2017
Posted in my running trail…
18 January
2017
That was a demanding 10K run
The first mile this morning was a breeze – it was a totally flat trail. Then came the sign in the picture suggesting steep grades. They were not kidding. The first hill was straight up 13 floors over 0.2miles. That is a 12.5% grade!! Fortunately that was the toughest hill. By the time I reached the end of the trail and came back, I had climbed up 32 floors over 2 miles. And, in the spirit of one good turn deserving another, went back for seconds. This time, once I reached the top of the first hill, I had to stop for 30 seconds and bend over to catch my breath.
In all 6 miles (10K) and 64 floors.
I am ready to go back to bed now 🙂
17 January
2017
A slice of gin history…
A funny excerpt from Lesley Jacobs Solomonson’s book on the history and evolution of gin….
“The British distilleries were even harder hit (than American counterparts) during the Second World War. Like the American operations, they were commandeered by the military to make industrial alcohol. The resulting products were drolly referred to as ‘Cocktails for Hitler’. Germany did not appreciate the humour. They bombed Goswell Road on 11 May 1941, crippling Gordon’s entire operation”
15 January
2017
From the bartender’s corner – TBD Crusta
Continuing with the experimentation with the Ransom Old Tom Gin, this is a Old Tom twist to the classical Gin Crusta. Apart from the Old Tom Gin, this has Elderflower Liqueur (I used St. Germaine), Bitters and Champagne. I believe the inventor of this cocktail is Mark Vierthaler – known for being the founder of Cocktails 365.
This is usually served in a Champagne coupe with a sugar rim and has a orange peel near-circumscribing the inside surface.
The initial taste of the gin is somewhat softened by the champagne but you can get the wood and juniper aroma very soon. The elderflower and the orange peel gives the drink a lot more flavor than you would expect and has a pretty rich after taste.
15 January
2017
Nikispeak – Yoga Pose
After the half marathon yesterday and the morning run today, my left quads continue to stiffen up. To ease it a little, I was trying some Yoga stretching at home. I think the specific pose is called Supta Virasana, or something like that. Basically, you sit down with your butt resting on your feet and both legs folded at the knee and parallel to each other. And then you slowly lay back by lowering yourself till your head and back rest on the floor with you looking up into the ceiling.
While this is an excellent way of stretching the quads from end to end, it is not a particularly easy pose for me. Slowly lowering myself backwards is painful and then getting up is another problem.
I am pretty sure I am not a pretty sight in between – when I am laying down in that pose. Nikita, who was walking by, removed any such doubts in my mind this morning. She had one look at me on the floor and said “Dad, your face screams constipation” 🙂
15 January
2017
Sunday morning Chalupa run
14 January
2017
From the bartender’s corner – Martinez
This is a very common gin cocktail but made only with Old Tom gins. Since I am still experimenting and researching on Ransom Old Tom Gin, I thought I will try this today. Along with the Old Tom Gin, this has Maraschino liqueur, Sweet Vermouth and Bitters.
The Martinez will remind you of a lot of whiskey based cocktails because of the wood aroma since these are barrel aged gins. The Juniper can be smelt too. But the rest of the botanicals are pretty much drowned by the Italian cherries in Maraschino. Slightly on the drier side, it has a small bite in its length.
14 January
2017
