Infusions of Failure

After the delicious success of blackberry-infused vodka, my Charming Assistant and I became ambitious. Fruit was no longer enough, no. We had to be bold, and daring, recklessly adventurous! And so we decided upon Garlic Habanero Vodka. Spicy, savory, perfect for Bloody Marys, we began this infusion full of confidence.

The recipe we found called for a full bulb of garlic and between four and six Habanero peppers. We decided to go on the light side, figuring we could later add more as needed. Chopping and de-seeding was a delicate business, and I definitely didn't want Habanero oil getting into my eyes or any cuts that I may have. Personal Protective Equipment to the rescue!

Once the ingredients were carefully placed into our handy-dandy Sun Tea jar, it was time for the vodka!

We shook that jar up but good, and placed it into our closet to steep. 8 days later, we were ready to experiment. We put one shot each into two glasses, added tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, salt, pepper, and ice, and sat down to enjoy some Bloody Marys with breakfast.

Oh boy. That was a mistake. The drinks were so spicy that they burned going down. I powered through about one-fourth of the drink, and became overwhelmed. Charming Assistant and I decided that dilution was required. We poured half of our drinks into new glasses, and added more tomato juice and ice to each. At that point, the drinks were barely consumable. I managed to finish one of my two glasses, but forfeited when confronted with drink number 2.

In retrospect, the disturbing color (kinda like pee, if we're being honest- and I would never lie to you) and the blast of spice and garlic odor should have clued us in to the fact that we'd made the vodka too strong. Alas. But! Charming Assistant and I are nothing if not determined, so we've not discarded the overly-strong alcohol. We're are going to attempt to dilute it with regular vodka, and make more drinks with a 1/4 spicy to 3/4 regular ratio of vodka. I don't know if it'll work, but its worth a shot.

But as a reminder- if you see an article telling you to use FOUR Habanero peppers in a vodka infusion, don't do it. ITS A TRAP!

Nail Art! Citrus Edition...

One of my weaknesses is nail polish. Even though I can't really grow out my nails, and even though my job destroys a manicure within a week, I still love nail polish. That love got more intense (and more expensive, but never mind that) when I heard about nail art- tiny pictures and designs on nails. And not the super intricate ones from a salon, but cute basic designs you can do yourself. I have to say, the YouTube channel CutePolish has been a huge inspiration in this department. While I don't try all of her designs, and tend to modify those that I do try, she's still the one giving me all these ideas. So, with no further ado, inspired by Cute Polish's citrus nails video, voila:

The polishes are the brands OPI, essie, and Orly. That Orly striper was a miracle find- I didn't even realize they made them, much less sold them at the local makeup store. Previous stripers had to be ordered online! But with easy access to multiple colors of striper, get ready for a hell of a lot more designs!

The first picture is messy, the second blurry (you try taking a picture with your left hand!) but between the two of them you get the gist. So, just in time for this warm spell we're having in DC, I have fun summery nails!

If you're interested in nail art, I really would recommend checking out CutePolish on YouTube, her videos are pretty great. The next post on here will concern our Garlic Habanero Vodka experiment- get excited!