Roses and Elderflowers and Vodka, Oh My!

Well, I could write some long apology on why I've been distant lately, but hey, somebody has to pay the mortgage around here! I can't really complain too much, this current job I have is an absolute pleasure compared to my last one. It's not that my last job was bad, I loved my work, but the stress level was out of control. Now I work with these all these techie kind of guys and for me, it's way low stress. But we have a big project (which is a good thing!) and it's been sucking up my time and energy.

So when I come home after a long week, or work all day on a Sunday, I make myself a drink!! And last Sunday I found the best drink in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD. Say what you want, this is the best.

It all goes back to my childhood....(imagine the picture in front of you getting all wavy in preparation for a flashback)

No really, though, when I was probably like 11 or so, my parents took me downtown to Philadelphia to a restaurant called, "Middle East Restaurant". I couldn't make up that name. It's the small sign to the right of the furniture sign in this picture. I vaguely remember grape leaves and lamb, maybe there was a belly dancer? Or that might be memories of EPCOT. But what I do remember, for sure, no doubt, was that they got me a glass of rosewater to drink.

I've often wished for the ability to project into other people's heads the song I was thinking of because I am horrible at carrying a tune. It's the same thing with my first taste of this rosewater. If only I could make you realize how incredible it was to me! I felt like I tasted the smell of a rose. That's the only way I can describe it. It was an unforgettable sensation, probably because I had no frame of reference, no idea of what it would taste like, and I was young and fresh and unjaded. Unlike now, where I am old and cynical and very very jaded. :-)

So that was a moment in time, I tasted a rose.

Fast forward 154 years from my childhood to this past summer (you see, this is a multi-faceted and complex blog post!). I went to this restaurant in Washington DC called PS 7's. It was a great meal, I think I had some sort of fabulous risotto or something, but the highlight of the meal was an accident...for an after-dinner drink, I had a glass of Elderflower liqueur. Fantastic!! Apparently the flowers are hand-picked by French elves only when the moon is full or something equally as complicated. Once I was home, I literally ran to the liquor store and bought up bottles of the stuff. And promptly forgot about it. It's been languishing in the dark in my liquor cabinet for months.

Last Sunday after a hard day of thinking about work stuff and typing work emails and working on work spreadsheets, I thought I'd have a drink, so I poured myself a glass of the elderflower stuff. And it was good. But then I decided to search around for some mixed drink recipes for the stuff. And I came across one where the drink recipe included rosewater.

~gasp!~

I thought to myself, why, I have rosewater! Locked up in the cupboard being saved for some special occasion! So I broke it out and mixed me up a Rose-Hip Martini as they called it.

And...it was good. It was very good. It was SO good, I had three. And would have had more, but had to go to bed at some point!

Moral of the story? Don't be afraid to try drinks with ingredients picked by gnomes in the Alps. Or something like that. And go smell some roses.