I finally figured out how to get the new coffee machine at work to give me a coffee I like.
First, couple ounces of whole milk, warmed in the microwave ( the 'milk' in the machine is half sugar)
1x strong coffee, when it starts spitting out water catch that in a different cup & throw it down the sink.
1 or 2x espresso
1 or 2 shots of the 'milk' to sweeten it.
Pretty close match to my moka pot, but let work pay for it. The old coffee machine was trash. This one grinds whole beans, it makes good espresso and good coffee.
Very relevant username.
Sure. I am past menopause and take low dose hormones (more to avoid migraines and stay healthy than to be more 'feminine' but could take more, a lot of doctors do try to reach some level, mine does MHT not HRT ).
Middle-aged guys, yes, I think testosterone is certainly gender-affirming care, and there is no MHT equivalent for men, testosterone requires blood tests, you can't just find the lowest dose that relieves symptoms, they always aim for some level in the blood. The Viagra/Cialis I think is more to correct for a problem. Or for recreation.
A blender can quickly infuse something like this into vodka, you might try making a little cucumber vodka instead of trying to get the flavor into the syrup? I've used it with ginger and also celery. Blend then strain.
I can't handle cold weather. I really like where we are in Tampa, because I can walk or bike to work, and my husband works from home, we have great food, a nice downtown, just yesterday went to a free music festival. We are in a house with a yard but still an easy bike ride to downtown, there is a mix of housing inside the city.
The buses suck - I set us up on purpose at a place where we can get most anywhere on one bus but some of them only run once an hour!
Anyway - if you have a car & don't like winter, Tampa and St. Pete are nice. (ETA: Good to live IN, not near. What people consider 'suburbs' here are more properly exurbs, and there is not a train system and again, buses are starved of funding and suck) If you don't like summer, no way, it's still summer here and has been since April. I love our typical summer, it's the rainy season, afternoon thunderstorms then this really cool lightning in the evening. And we see alligators sometimes, that's exciting. This guy, he lived in a mitigation pond at my work office park, I took a daily picture on my way in, but after he reached 6 feet they removed him :(
One of my kids moved to San Jose in California and loves it so much, she also made sure to live close to her job, and one went to Raleigh in North Carolina and really likes it there.
I do like NYC too, but no way could we afford it. And I would freeze and die.
ETA: where are you now & what do you like and dislike about it? That would probably help people make suggestions.
The brother of my ex gave us for Thanksgiving a turkey he raised one year, that was good. And the never-frozen heirloom birds are pretty good too. My kids would agree with you on turkey, though, and I do agree on the chicken, my husband likes the boneless skinless soulless breast but bone-in skin-on thighs are so much better and so forgiving to cook.
Milk on Monday, Tea on Tuesday, Water Wednesday, so Thirsty Thursday, Fizzy water Friday, anything on Saturday/Sunday, where is the end for Soloman Grundy?
https://imbibemagazine.com/cucumber-cocktails/
Maybe here you can find something better to do with it.
It's not a looker, but tastes great.
2 oz tequila (any)
1 oz lime juice
1 oz creme de cassis
2-3 oz ginger beer (I used 1 oz ginger syrup, 3 oz fizzy water, 2 squirts of fire tincture)
Result of googling "what else can I make with tequila and lime"
Husband is having a Stella, that's the bottle in the background.
Yeah we still have sex every day but post- menopause not having sex also causes atrophy, it's damned if you do, damned if you don't I guess. Annual GYN is one of the things that are covered by insurance - a not sarcastic Thanks, Obama win.
The post menopause comment is incorrect - still supposed to go in every year or two as cancer risk increases with age more than any other risk factor. I go every year, GYN provides pap smear, low dose hormone therapy that prevents most of the migraines I was having from menopause, and prescription for mammogram. Wish it could be every other year but she says no. I got the recommendation for this doctor originally from a lady who'd had a hysterectomy so even in that case you are supposed to go in and get checked.
It's likely because so very much medical research is done only on men - being a female person is NOT a specialist situation logically as we are more than half the population, but in practice that's how it works. Some women go only to that well woman checkup and no other annual doctor visit.
Radish seeds make nice sprouts.
Beans.
Beans.
They may be a recurring Lemmy joke but the only reasonable way to get the fiber you need for a day is beans.
Cooked greens, like collards, because they get so small when you cook them, one serving is so full of nutrients and they are one of the best values in terms of nutrition per calorie.
And mostly just eating less junk so more of your calories are nutritious foods.
He's up to 7.5 lb from under 1 lb when we found him. (From 300 grams of baby to 3.5kg of kitten in only a few months, crazy.)
Here is a "before", the day my kids texted to say they found the source of the meowing I had heard before work. Just a wee handful. Always bold as anything though, he was never afraid of us or our 75lb mutt of a dog.
1 oz barrel strength bourbon
1 oz barrel strength reposado tequila
1 scant oz Aperol with a splash of Campari to make an ounce.
1 oz Amaro Nonino
1 oz grapefruit juice
1 oz lemon juice
Shake together with ice. If you are somewhere it's not still summer, serve up in a chilled coupe. Tart enough for a sugared rim. But it's still hot here, so everything is iced. This is sort of 1.5 servings, I just find it fussy to measure .75 of an ounce. Equal parts is the key.
https://makemeacocktail.com/en/cocktail/9953/banderilla
Equal parts tequila, mezcal, Apricot liqueur and lime, half part Aperol works best IMO, any more Aperol and it gets too sweet.
This is a pantry recipe for me as I keep Giffard Abricot in stock always. You want a good apricot in this, I think passion fruit or peach would be equally delicious but make sure it's made from real fruit. Also can sub Campari for the Aperol if you want a little more bitter.
This was a test-and-adjust drink. I was looking for something with Fernet & Mezcal and everything I saw were stirred very boozy things, I was not in the mood for. I saw one though with cachaca and lime so tried a margarita approach.
Started with these, shaken:
1.5 oz tequila
.75 oz each Fernet and Mezcal
Juice of one lime.
Nope. Too flat, too sour. Added about 1/2 oz Pineapple Amaro, and a squirt of Agave, shook again and THIS is a keeper. I guess Fernet does like sweeter drinks more. This one is balanced and I can taste all the ingredients but they did cocktail into a new taste. I usually don't taste the pineapple in the pineapple Amaro but it's shining in this drink - I may try another Fernet-Mezcal-Pineapple Amaro variation (when I am in the mood for stirred and boozy) as I think those together are the magic here.
So, I saw this recipe that inspired me.
https://punchdrink.com/recipes/green-mango-martini/
But don't have mango eau de vie and not about to make it, and I think as written it would be too sweet for my palate. And of course everything needs ice here in the summer. I did make the green mango tequila.
So far I can vouch for tequila, green mango and sauternes - it's a surprisingly good combination.
This is:
2.5 oz green mango infused tequila
1 oz Sauternes wine
.75 oz lemon
.25 oz Giffard Apricot (because I have no mango liqueur right now and did you hear Chinola is making a Guava liqueur? I am excited for that.)
Squirt of honey.
Shaken with ice.
My thoughts - the green mango tequila is tart and I think the lemon sort of muddies the flavor. I would try this again with more Sauternes and a splash of mango liqueur, leave out the honey and if it was too sweet adjust with citric or malic acid not lemon.
I would also like to try the green mango tequila with ginger beer but not today, this is a one and done.
And I was thinking to convert the recipe into a punch or sangria, a pitcher cocktail using a whole bottle of Sauternes, but I think that it might need to go in a different direction. Again, I do love the combination of the green mango with the Sauternes, and tequila - the main flavor combo is good. I've tried amchur and tequila - the green mango infused tequila worked so much better to get that flavor.
1 oz tequila blanco
1/2 oz each mezcal, Campari, passion fruit syrup, ginger syrup and lime.
Squirt of fire tincture
Shake these together and add 1-2 oz IPA beer.
I had to substitute apricot liqueur for the passion fruit and it's really good so I suspect anything fruity would be fine. Beer I used is Jai Alai and only 1 oz, I don't like it but as an ingredient in here can't taste it, must add something though. This is bitter in a great way, somehow not too sweet, I went a little heavy on the lime but close to the 1/2 oz. If you do like beer I think you could safely increase it past the 2 oz and still have something really nice.
The rainy season is finally here too. So happy to be out here watching the rain.
