Shaken and Stirred
I woke at 1.00am to find my bed quivering and wardrobe rattling. While coming too a bit more, I realised I was not in the duty free section of a cross channel ferry, but something strange was afoot in sleepy Cambridgeshire.
My bedroom felt like a Jenga tower near the end game, being played next to a herd of stampeding buffalo.
Luckily my worries of a resident poltergeist were swept away when I listened to the news this morning. An earthquake with the epicentre in Lincolnshire at 5.3 magnitude, the largest in the UK since 1984.
After checking my house for cracks my mind turned to the remainder of a case of 2000 Pomerol stashed under the stairs (the only quality wine I currently have with lots of sediment). I have heard of 'bottle shock', and 'travel shock' but not 'ground shock'. Believe it or not there are products out there like specialist racks designed to cope with earth tremors.
As an earthquake of this magnitude is only likely to occur every 20 years I will pass on the damping gadgets, I doubt very much that the lions share of my bottles like 'Tesco Value Valpolicella' will survive 20 weeks let alone years.
Yesterday there were small warning signs. No fleeing sheep or deer, but I should have listened to the normally placid neighbour's barking dog, and left an unmixed vodka martini next to my bed last night. The ultimate cocktail, shaken by an earthquake, one you could never have made to order. Great to calm the nerves at 1.00am. James Bond would be jealous.
I was reading the Sunday papers and noted an innovative cocktail creator called Eben Freeman. He is a molecular mixologist, the Heston Blumenthal of drinks. He started off looking after wine cellars and has clearly moved to more potent pursuits.
His latest creation 'The Mojito of the Future' looks like a freeze frame of a cocktail due to the gelatinous consistency. Green balls of frozen mint puree are suspended in time. I reckon if I watered my Aloe vera plant with Bacardi and ate the leaves it would be similar. Think I will pass on his Mojito, but at least it would stay in the glass if the ground moved.
My bedroom felt like a Jenga tower near the end game, being played next to a herd of stampeding buffalo.
Luckily my worries of a resident poltergeist were swept away when I listened to the news this morning. An earthquake with the epicentre in Lincolnshire at 5.3 magnitude, the largest in the UK since 1984.
After checking my house for cracks my mind turned to the remainder of a case of 2000 Pomerol stashed under the stairs (the only quality wine I currently have with lots of sediment). I have heard of 'bottle shock', and 'travel shock' but not 'ground shock'. Believe it or not there are products out there like specialist racks designed to cope with earth tremors.
As an earthquake of this magnitude is only likely to occur every 20 years I will pass on the damping gadgets, I doubt very much that the lions share of my bottles like 'Tesco Value Valpolicella' will survive 20 weeks let alone years.
Yesterday there were small warning signs. No fleeing sheep or deer, but I should have listened to the normally placid neighbour's barking dog, and left an unmixed vodka martini next to my bed last night. The ultimate cocktail, shaken by an earthquake, one you could never have made to order. Great to calm the nerves at 1.00am. James Bond would be jealous.
I was reading the Sunday papers and noted an innovative cocktail creator called Eben Freeman. He is a molecular mixologist, the Heston Blumenthal of drinks. He started off looking after wine cellars and has clearly moved to more potent pursuits.
His latest creation 'The Mojito of the Future' looks like a freeze frame of a cocktail due to the gelatinous consistency. Green balls of frozen mint puree are suspended in time. I reckon if I watered my Aloe vera plant with Bacardi and ate the leaves it would be similar. Think I will pass on his Mojito, but at least it would stay in the glass if the ground moved.
1 Comments:
Shaken, but not stirred!!
Post a Comment
<< Home