PIMM's and things

How haven't I discovered this refreshing drink until last summer? We were watching the Wimbledon final in a friend's garden who prepared a jug of PIMM's and I loved it. It is the British version of the Spanish "sangría". It has many more fruits and doesn't contain wine, though. Very tasty!

What is it? I am not sure... Liquor? Maybe. According to Wikipedia, it was first produced in 1823 by James Pimm, a farmer's son fron Kent, who mixed of herbs and liquors as an aid to digestion. It would later be known as "No1 Cup", the most popular PIMM's product nowadays. Then, a large scale production started in 1851 until he sold the business. Over the years, PIMM's extended their range (No2, No3...) and it became extremelly popular at the summer garden parties in Britain.

It is not a cheap drink, it can cost 12 pounds a jug or more, depending on the bar. The bottle, however, is around 12 pounds as well, but you can get many PIMM's jugs from a one-litre bottle. When I bought my first PIMM's bottle, I got the official jug as well.
How to make an original PIMM's cocktail? Keep reading!

RECIPE: Take a jug or long drink glass and fill it with ice. Mix one part of PIMM's No 1 with three parts of chilled lemonade. Then, add some cucumber, mint, orange and strawberries that you chopped previously. Let the flavours mix for a while and serve cold. 

Pancake day!

My calendar squeals that it is Shrove Tuesday tomorrow. Where I came from, the day preceding Ash Wednesday is called "Martes de Carnaval" (or Carnival Tuesday) and everybody dresses up in fancy costumes. Sadly, Winter Carnival is not celebrated in the UK. Instead, I've been told British people eat pancakes to celebrate "Pancake Day"! 

It probably comes an Anglo-Saxon interpretation of the French Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday), referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer in calories before the Lenten season which begins tomorrow.

Apparently in United Kingdom and Ireland, people have the tradition of eating pancakes on the day, even though they might not eat pancakes AT ALL the rest of the year. Not the american pancakes, though. Pancakes in the UK are thing and crepe-like. A sweet pancake for breakfast, and a savoury option for lunch/dinner, why not? It is quick, cheap and easy to make pancakes, and everybody likes them! I might have some tomorrow. :)

This is what you need to make 12 pancakes:

• 225 gr flour
• 2 large eggs
• 600 ml milk
• 2 teaspoons of melted butter
• salt

This is how you do it: 

1.  Sieve the flour into a large baking bowl and add a pinch of salt. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the eggs. Beat well until it's smooth and lump free.
2. Add half the milk and the 2 teaspoons of butter, and beat well. Add the remaning milk and stir.
3. Leave the batter to rest for 15 minutes
4. Lightly grease a pancake pan (or frying pan) with a little melted butter. Heaat until it is very hot and lightly golden.
5. Using a spatula, cook on the other side for approximately 30 seconds.
6. Slip the pancake from the pan onto a warm place. Cover the plate with a tea cloth and keep pancakes warm.
7. Add any ingredient that you like: nutella, cheese, jam..

 Original recipe: http://britishfood.about.com/od/pancakeday/r/pancakes.htm

Bristolian Cake

A little bit of cooking this time. The other day I came along this recipe while surfing the web. It said it was called Bristol Cake, but I am not really sure how Bristolian it is. Whether or not it is a real Bristolian Cake, I decided to give it a try. And it happened the result was pretty good!!

This is all you need:

• 100g Butter
• 150g Sugar
• 175g Flour
• 75g Currants
• 3 Eggs
• 1 Grated Rind of Lemon
• 4 tablespoonfuls of Milk
• 1 tablespoonfuls of Baking Powder
• 1 Egg White

How to do it:

1. First, warm and beat the butter to a cream and add the sugar in one bowl. 
2. Take a second bowl and beat the eggs, adding sifted flour to it. Add the mix to the butter and sugar and beat the mixture well. 
3. Once you have an homogenous mixture, stir in the currants, lemon rind, milk and baking powder. 
4. Pour the mixture into a greased round cake tin and put it inside the pre-heated oven (180ºC). 
5. Bake the cake for about 50 minutes at 180ºC. 
6. Just 10 minutes before the cake is done, brush the top of the cake with egg white and sprinkle well with sugar.

And the resulting cake is...

NOTE: to read the recipe on its original source click HERE.