Hitting the Road

I leave on Monday to drive cross country with my friend Steven. Destination: Jewell, Oregon. The plan is to camp/hike/explore around Bryce, Zion and Arches. if there are storms, wild fires, plague, pestilence or sightings of either Tom Cruise or L Ron Hubbard, then we'll likely cut that part of the trip short and head directly to Oregon.

There is the chance that we'll stop in New Orleans and/or the caves at Carlsbad to see the bats en route.

In case you are wondering: I did finish my first year of school. They haven't yet asked me to leave and I didn't fail any of my classes, so I am sticking around to see what another year of it might bring.

what to do with massive quantities of cheap vodka

friends of mine had 3 gallons of cheap vodka left after a party. they challenged me to find a palatable use for it. this was my solution:


take two healthy sized bundles of fresh ginger and slice it (food processors do a fine job, if you have one).

place the ginger in a large vessel (glass is good). cover with very large bottle of vodka. COVERED (to prevent evaporation), let it sit for a week. drain -- leaving a few pieces of ginger for fun. (keep the extra ginger pieces for homemade "ginger ale" -- see below **)

the ginger vodka can be stored in the freezer and it just keeps getting better.

for summer recipes, I found the following to be tasty:

ginger vodka with seltzer, simple syrup, cucumber, and lime (crush the cucumber in the bottom of a glass first)
ginger vodka with lemonade, basil, and lime (add a little seltzer for bubbles)
ginger vodka with seltzer, lime
ginger vodka with seltzer, lime, and simple syrup

or, just plain old ginger vodka. after sitting in my freezer for several weeks the ginger is taking over the vodka and you can't tell it was once cheap vodka. really.


** I used the left over ginger pieces to make a ginger syrup:
place ginger in pan, cover with water plus a an extra several cups. simmer for a while on the stove. remove the ginger pieces and mix in sugar to taste. if you make it super strong, you can mix it with seltzer to make a lovely homemade ginger ale. it keeps for quite a while in the fridge.