December Daily

[resonant]

libitina - top five beverages you wouldn't make for yourself

(Assuming this means "because they're a lot of work" rather than "because you hate them"? If it's the latter, you can fill the entire list up with Things With Mint In Them.)

5. Kahlua and cream. Similar to the way I have difficulty making pizza with the amount of cheese that I actually want on pizza, I would have a hard time pouring myself half a cup of cream.

4. Homemade eggnog. Same issue plus raw eggs.

3. Sonic's cherry limeade. How many bottles and cans am I going to open just so I can have what amounts to a custom-made flavored Sprite?

2. Punch -- the regular church-basement kind with the blot of lime sherbet bobbing and fizzing in a bowl of pop. A couple of years ago I got a craving for it, but then I made the mistake of reading the ingredients on the ginger ale and the lime sherbet, and it grossed me out, so I attempted it with some schmancy all-natural pop and lemon sorbet, and it was predictably not worth drinking. Someone else has to make it for me so I can pretend I don't know what's in it.

1. A mocha. You're looking at a person who once lit a gas grill with the instruction book still inside it. In no way is it safe for me to operate an espresso machine.



Upcoming prompts below the cut.




10 lunabee - Top five colors to wear
11 minutia_r - top five pieces of fandom history
12 celli - Top five TV episodes of all time
13 duffy - Top 5 OTPs in television or movies. Could be romantic or friendship. (Canon is NOT a requirement!)
14 minoanmiss - Top five poets? top five titles?
15 the_future_modernes - top five things you look forward to as you grow older
16 clevermanka - Five pieces of treasured advice
17 dine - Top five ice cream flavors
18 rhi Five favorite Christmas treats (cookies to make, mulled cider, Advent calendars, e.g.)
19 china_shop - Top five devices/appliances/bluetooth thingies/whatever :-)
20 dorinda - Top 5 comfort movies? Or comfort reads, if you'd rather
21 summerstorm - because it puts me in mind of blackjack, do you play any card or board games regularly? Or videogames? top 5 games?
22 summerstorm - top 5 poems?
23 fox - Top five Advent carols, maybe
24 fox - Top five Christmas carols
25 break for Christmas
26 ride_4ever - top 5 dS fanworks other than fic (arts, podfics, vids)
27 azurelunatic - 5 reasons you enjoy a party in the dark times of the year
28 james - Top 5 places in the past you would like to visit. Top 5 places in the present you would like to visit.
29 laurenthemself - Top five snack foods
30
31 mergatrude - what five complements/encouragements would you give your young self.

Comments

[ride_4ever]

Good to know I'm not the only one who gets grossed out by the ingredients label on something that would anyways be yummy so that I say "someone else has to make it for me so I can pretend I don't know what's in it".

[resonant]

Today I was buying cream cheese and I picked up a store brand and it was all like pectin and guar gum, so I picked up the national brand and it was also all pectin and guar gum. Alas, I just bought it anyway.

[ride_4ever]

Totally my experience too with one cream cheese and another.

Cream cheese is kinda scary

[jesse_the_k]

when I'm buying it to eat right away instead of baking, I go for plain soft goat cheese (chevre) which has the perfect consistency without any stinking gum.

Re: Cream cheese is kinda scary

[resonant]

I wonder how that would work in a sweet recipe? Not, like, cheesecake, but I have a toffee shortbread cookie where the shortbread part has a stick of butter plus a couple of ounces of cream cheese. I'm making it for Christmas gifts -- a rare opportunity to make it once with cream cheese and once with chevre and see how they compare.

The kidlet does most of the grocery shopping, and has already been endlessly burdened with my Opinions regarding ricotta (the short version: you have to get it from the organic section, because the regular brand is so full of gelatin it won't melt).

Re: Cream cheese is kinda scary

[jesse_the_k]

Goat milk is super fat and the fat stays in solution better. I had goat milk ice cream and it was orgasmic.

If you do the side by side test, please report back!

Re: Cream cheese is kinda scary

[ride_4ever]

What an excellent idea! I will be doing this!

[clevermanka]

Yessssssss Sonic cherry limeades. One of the few cold drinks I enjoy. SO GOOD.

[resonant]

I don't drink much pop, but cherry limeade is like being at the fair without the sunburn.

[adafrog]

2, 1 -lololol

[resonant]

<3

[minoanmiss]

You sacrificed the instruction book to the grill gods! *giggles*

I have a couple of other friends who hate mint. I sometimes think about what another nice green herb would be that can replace mint in desserts and sweet garnishes.

[mific]

Lemon sage?

[minoanmiss]

Too sagy, but I think you're onto something here. Maybe lemon balm or lemon verbena, if I could get hold of eithr of them...

[libitina]

I've been fond of verbena ever since it was a primary ingredient in an herbal tea I found in France that is one of about 3 herbal teas I've ever found that I liked.

[j00j]

Basil is a pretty garnish; not the right flavor profile to go into all desserts but works great for a lemonade or mojito, or a garnish for desserts with a thai profile (think mango sorbet). We spend a lot of time playing with this because one of my partners is allergic to mint.

[resonant]

I don't mind mint toothpaste -- just don't try to convince me it's food. (I had an unfortunate occurrence with peppermint ice cream and a stomach virus when I was a small child.)

When I'm making a savory recipe that calls for mint (often Greek-ish) I usually substitute either parsley or basil, but for a sweet one I'd probably be going for something entirely unrelated like lemon zest.

[mific]

For me it's kombucha which I like and drink regularly. I've read up about how to ferment it, but like with sourdough, I can't be arsed. :)

[resonant]

I've never tried kombucha -- it intimidates me. Never occurred to me that you could make it at home.

[libitina]

Yes, that you like. But I guess the other is also fun. Mint is so easy to get wrong.

I'm glad you can let other people give you the good stuff. Perfect use care for black boxes.

And excellent choices for indulgence beverages.

[resonant]

I drive the spouse crazy by not letting him pour me a cup of coffee for me (he doesn't know how much cream I want!) but if he wanted to make me some punch I would definitely let him.

[lunabee34]

Church punch is soooo good, but it's just an excuse to drink melted ice cream.

[j00j]

Right!? Had it at a bridal shower for friends who don't drink and it was freaking amazing. Also, colorful!

[resonant]

When I was running the luncheon committee at my church, we had a retro lunch with finger sandwiches and a bunch of other '40s stuff (no jello though) and I discovered a recipe for punch that was half pop and half brewed tea, and it was lovely. The other discovery from that lunch was ham salad, which I ended up liking a lot more than I expected to.

[lunabee34]

Yes! That green or peach lump of ice-cream melting down into the soda in lovely swirls of color. Okay, I need dessert now. LOL

[blueraccoon]

My mom used to make herself a drink of Kahlua and cream and eat it with Doritos. By the time I was around this habit was long gone but my dad told me about it every time we mentioned Kahlua and Mom confirmed it. (I once asked my mom how much she drank in college and her answer was something along the lines of "I drank enough in college I don't want to drink anymore.")

[resonant]

I'm as fond of sweet + salty as anyone, but I don't think I could enjoy the combo of Kahlua and cream and Doritos!

[blueraccoon]

Most people who have heard this story have similar reactions to the combo! I don't like coffee, so I've never tried it myself.