Quick cocktails for Christmas morning guests

One thing about Christmas morning-it’s going to be busy. Those crucial hours between eleven o’clock and one o’clock when half the street drops in, yet you dare not forget the relatives who are staying, or the steadily building drumbeat of the Christmas Dinner preps, can be frantic. You need to entertain them, you need to shut them all up. Above all you need to do it quickly and painlessly so you can concentrate on higher matters like Yorkshire Puddings and Brandy butter.

As there will be no miracle worker present who will to turn your water in wine, here is our guide to three boozy, plus one virtuous, easy-make cocktails.. Above all they’re simple: Each requires but one or two ingredients: a little ice , the right glasses and a few eco friendly straws, and you become the perfect hostess/host. And just to make it even easier, we have stripped out all those pesky shakers, strainers and other complicated mixing equipment which will only complicate matters and generate further washing up, Our making times assume you have all the ingredients ready to go: a safe assumption, as LSS readers are known for their wise foresight.

Gin Sling (see left above) Put 4-5 ice cubes into a hurricane glass , add one measure of cherry brandy and three of gin. Stir and top up with cold sparkling water .Decorate with one cherry, add 1 straw. Estimated preparation time : 25 seconds

Champagne cocktail (see centre) To a classic champagne flute add 1 brown sugar cube and cover with one measure brandy. Add a tiny dash of angostura, and top up with champagne. Decorate with a cherry and serve. Tip: Have a tissue nearby in case the wine bubbles over Estimated preparation time : 40 seconds

Harvey Wallbanger (see right above) Put plenty of ice in a tall glass and add 1 measure of vodka. and a half measure of Galliano. Top up with fresh orange juice and stir. A slice of orange will decorate, You will need a two straws. Estimated preparation time : one minute

And our Non alcoholic for the drivers: A delicious fruit punch. We are nothing here if not responsible, and know that good people never drive with alcohol in their system. What’s more there’s almost no preparation time with this one, as you can buy/prepare most of the ingredients the day before. All you do is add 750 ml of fresh orange juice, 750 ml cranberry juice, 400 ml of pineapple juice to a large punchbowl. Keep it in the fridge for an hour or two before serving. When ready to go, add lots of ice sparkling water and slices of colourful fruits like oranges. lemons and pineapples. You can adjust the amounts to serve as many or few people as you like. We know it’s tasty, because we have experienced more than one non sober guest ask for their own serving of this stuff, just adding a little gin or vodka to get the right Christmas spirit.

We hope the day goes well.

#christmas day #holidays #parties #cocktails

Our recipes inspired by one of our most treasured possessions: The Ultimate Cocktail Book, published by Paul Hamlyn in 2003, and which we still use today!

Why taxes are good for you #4: health and safety, guvnor

Ever since our earliest youth, Budget Day in the UK has always been accompanied by a chorus of cantankerous moaning “They’re putting a penny on me beer! He’s puttin’ tuppence onner packet o’ fags!” Spurred on as ever by a less than objective nor benevolent right-wing media, this was taken as firm evidence of a creeping Communist plot, designed to strike at the very foundations of British Manhood. But they paid; then many died of cancer or other hideous diseases. For the evidence they chose to ignore was overwhelming: such taxes were good for their health. A 50% rise on tobacco tax leads to substantial declines in smoking, with all the falls in things like lung disease, cardiovascular disease and the many other ills associated with the widespread consumption of the drug nicotine. Regular readers will not be surprised to learn the same is true of alcohol taxes. The literature is vast, but we hope that the studies which we have included will give you a starting point.[1] [2] And add : will future societies discover the same truth with regard to sweet foods and drinks?

What is true for the particular turns out to true for the general. You don’t have to read this blog for long before coming across the names of Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett and their seminal work The Spirit Level.[3] Taxes, they admit create more equal societies. And more equal societies experience a truly amazing number of health benefits when compared to less equal ones. Obesity, childhood health, life expectancy, reductions in crime-all have been the subject of careful longitudinal and randomised studies which confirm the thesis of their book. Which advances in turn lead to more money available for better health care services, leading to less obesity, better child development……no, we’ll leave it there. You know what a virtuous cycle looks like. .Again, our references barely scrape the surface of what’s available[4] [5]. But we’ll trust you’ll do a little digging yourselves rather than take our word for all of this

Which leaves it hard to write a concluding paragraph when those conclusions are so obvious both to intelligent readers and patriots. For what can be more patriotic than to promote the health and well being of the society in which we are grounded? But. as we saw in the last blog, patriotism comes at a cash price, and you need an economy to pay for it, And in the next blog in this series we will learn that without a government and the taxes it collects, you will not have an economy at all. Don’t miss it.

[1] The Case for Health Taxes Masood Ahmed, Minouche Shafik World Health Organisation

[2] Estimating the effect of transitioning to a strength-based alcohol tax system on alcohol consumption and health outcomes: a modelling study of tax reform in England – The Lancet Public Health The Lancet

[3] Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett The Spirit Level Penguin 2009 updated 2024

[4]A UK wealth tax for better health | The BMJ

[5]Does income inequality cause health and social problems? Oseph Rowntree foundation

Friday Night Danger: The Long Island Iced Tea

And so, gentle readers, after five years of writing about cocktails we come to the one we have always tried to avoid. The Long Island Iced Tea. Why? Because it is so seditiously powerful, the one after which you will be incapable of anything else. Tasting your food . Engaging in serious conversation about Natural Philosophy or the Liberal Arts. Or even asking the waiter the way to the John. And believe us, once you have scanned the recipe(see below, see link) you will see why.

According to that excellent website The Cocktail Society, the Long Island Iced Tea evolved in te United States as a way to conceal the drinking of illicit hootch during Prohibition. “Make it look like Iced Tea,” was the rationale, “the Feds will never spot it for a ringer”. The Society gives a recipe, so we won’t cut across their know-how. But merely to list the ingredients from our own favourite recipe will demonstrate the potential head splitting power of this famous drink. They include 5 alcoholic ingredients; gin, vodka, white rum, tequila and Cointreau. Toppers up include ice, lemon juice and sugar syrup and above all cola, which gives it that iced tea look. And as sharper eyed readers will have already noted, there is no tea in it. Because that’s the whole point

As the Society observes , some smaller cocktails such as martinis may come with a higher alcohol content. But its the sheer volume of the LIIT which enables it to deliver such an enormous punch. And so we say: enjoy, but with caution. Do not attempt to i operate heavy machinery, drive nor attempt to make love any time after, as the results will be inevitably tragic. We had one at lunch yesterday and we are still recovering. Be glad we got this far.

[1]https://cocktail-society.com/recipes/long-island-iced-tea/

Friday Night: More in praise of Gin and Tonic

If there’s one common theme to this blog, it’s probably Gin, often accompanied by its old sparring partner , tonic water. That seems to be the case judging by a recent trawl through the archives, in desperate hope of reheating some old ideas for new posts. (LSS 4 9 20;13 2 24 et al ) Which is why we were pleasantly surprised to come across this article by Luke Chafer of the Mail, hymning the praises of the old tincture according to a new tune. If you’ve got to drink alcohol, declares Luke, this tipple is a lot less bad for you than many others.[1] That is, if you do it responsibly, as we always have, and not getting drunk. So here’s a few G and T questions and answers, based on Luke’s amiable article. Just think-it might be you gentle reader, and a pal or two, in a cocktail bar in one of the better hotels off of Park Lane as dausk falls over the London skyline

So-who invented the G and T anyway?

Back in the 19th Century, Britain’s Royal Navy was looking to get the drug quinine into its sailors, as the stuff was meant to have anti-malarial properties. It was too bitter to drink on its own (“tonic water”) so Her Majesty’s Admiralty had the brainwave of mixing it up with sugar .lime and gin-and hey presto, a new jewel sparkled in the crown of human achievement

So is it safe to drink?

No. No alcohol is safe. But, quoting his experts like a good journalist Luke adduces

It is about making sensible choices. If you are swapping five pints of beer for G&T’s then that is a good decision, because it has fewer calories and will not cause bloating,’ says Ms Lohia, [a leading nutritionist whom Luke consulted

Where can I find out more about variations and recipes?

We would strongly recommend searching the back catalogue of this blog, Learning Science and Society, and go from there

Does quinine really cure Malaria?

Weeeeelllll……………according to Luke you need rather a lot of it :

……theoretically, to protect against malaria, someone would need to drink 14 standard gin and tonics every eight hours, which is the equivalent of a week’s consumption of alcohol according to the NHS.

I see. Not a good idea. But surely those juniper berries they make the stuff from are pretty good for anti oxidants or something like that?

See above, Once again Luke has done his homework He finds:

However experts say that there is not enough juniper in a modern bottle—or shot—of gin to give any health benefits.

Our advice? Drink it moderately Drink it for fun, with your mates.. Stop quickly. In which case it will be one of the best moderate alcohol drinks you can get.

[1]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-15288483/Make-double-science-gin-tonic-one-healthiest-alcoholic-drinks.html

#gin #tonic #cocktails #pub #bar #quinine

Friday Night Feast: Sangria

“We’ve just got back from Spain” To those growing up as a child in 1960s London, especially in poorer working class districts, those words rang with magical prestige. Few of us had even been on an aeroplane, let alone to somewhere as warm, as sunnily sandy, and as downright distant as Spain. If you were lucky enough to have a holiday at all it would be a week in a Victorian boarding house in some windswept grey town like Blackpool or Bognor Regis. But these lucky people brought back tales of modern hotels with receptions, swimming pools ,and bars, just like the ones in James Bond films. And the artefacts! Curious little black bulls in hollow plastic. Dolls in exotic flamenco costumes, arms frozen in some eternal paso doble. And funny china jars with a picture of Minorca on them, drinking cups to match. Which, they proudly informed us, were all for the drinking of Sangria. A taste for it was born; and we think it still remains one of the best parts of an Iberian holiday today (you can get it in Portugal too)

The aim is to make it with lots of ice, so that beads of dew form on the outside and trickle down in the hot Spanish night to the sounds of a flamenco guitar(these days it’s more likely to be Rosalia or Aitana; but no somos nadie as they say in that country) After all the ice, there as many variations on the theme as there are bars in Benidorm. This BBC recipe produces an out come as good as any which we have tried down the years. [1] 3 parts of a good full red wine such as one from the Duero or Rioja, one part of orange juice and two of lemonade will get you over the line. After which you can add the sorts of fruits you want, though it being Spain and all that, oranges and lemons seem almost statutory. A little twiglet of mint will give the whole things a most Pimms like ambience, and the scaling up possibilities for two to fifty drinkers are manifest.

The word sangria of course comes from the Spanish word sangre, or blood, as anyone who has holidayed in somewhere like Magaluf or Torremolinos will recognise at once: a reference to the deep red colour of the wine. There are records of something like it in eighteenth century Spain and Portugal. Though the Romans had been experimenting with similar wine punches long before. Don’t accept ones made with rose or white. they are poor imitations , avoided by locals and experienced costa hands alike And so, even though the nights are drawing in we raise a metaphorical copa of the stuff to you all gentle readers, and hope it evokes memories of happy sunny holidays. Thanks again for all your comments, ideas and other general feedback.

[1]https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sangria_93847

#Spain #Portugal #sangria #wine #holiday #costa

Two good news blogs: #2 The next pandemic is on BBC2

One thing we are quite proud of at this blog is that we have tried to warn you, gentle readers, of the several dreadful dangers that will confront you if you are not careful. Well aware of your tendency to find creative new ways to hate the neighbours wherever possible, we have, like faithful retainers, quietly sought to adduce the presence of other mortal perils. (LSS passim) Including massive volcanic eruptions, crashing asteroids, polar magnetic flips, toxic pollutants and climate change, which may also be lurking in wait. Nowhere have we been more assiduous than in adverting the threat of new pandemics to follow the COVID -19 epidemic. We have examined possible candidates such as antibiotic resistant bacteria, various viruses, and even fungi. We even speculated, following the work of the great Professor Harper, if such pandemics could lead our own society to share the dreadful fate of the once proud Roman civilisation which preceded us [1]

How gratifying then, when a man of learning and ability far greater than our own covers so much of the same ground, as Dr Chris van Tulleken does for BBC2 [2] In Disease X: Hunting the Next Pandemic. This polymathic Professor of Infectious Diseases at UCL makes a veritable tour de force of the worlds hotspots of deadly virus potential. Taking in such tragic examples as the Nipah virus which still represents a mortal peril in regions of Southern Asia [3] and of course considers the avian flu H5N1, a real old favourite of this blog. Its full of heartbreaking scenes, scarily secure suits and laboratories, and some really intelligent doctors and scientists talking knowledgeably, using reason instead of wild emotional overreaction.

And it may surprise you to learn that Dr van Tulleken ends the show on a cautious note of hope. We doubt that he is a regular reader of our blog. But he touts one of the same themes we have been pushing in the last year or so: using AI to design and synthesise new molecules-antibiotics, vaccines, what have you-to stay ahead of the genetic permutations and combinations thrown up in the organisms that are trying to make a meal of us . If there is hope, it lies in science and reasoned investigation. As certain Presidents of the United States of America should take note.

{1] Kyle Harper The Fate of Rome Princeton University Press 2018

[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002jy6q/disease-x-hunting-the-next-pandemic

[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998%E2%80%931999_Malaysia_Nipah_virus_outbreak

[4]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_A_virus_subtype_H5N1

#avian flu #pandemic #health #medicine #virus

Best Time to be alive: California 1960-1980

California dreaming. A tumultuous, fractal, sub-infinite series of images. Deep green forests and rugged mountains. Sun-drenched coasts with surfers riding unfeasibly large waves. Burning deserts and fertile valleys. Vast sprawling townscapes scattered with deep blue pools linked suburb to suburb by enormous, mustang-filled freeways. UCLA. Berkeley. All those funny people camped out in VWs around Mt Shasta. La Jolla and the Scripps Institute, Everything the good life could be, democratically arrived at, and mass produced for ordinary people. Which made this State, in the peak years 1960-1980 the cultural and social centre of the world. Our hope, our dream, our shimmering light.

It was defence that caused California to boom as the USA began its long tilt towards the Pacific after 1945. The US Government’s act of undeclared Keynesianism funded Cold War icons such as Lockheed (Burbank) North American (Inglewood) McDonnell Douglas(Santa Monica, Long Beach), Hughes(Culver City) and Northrop (Hawthorne). As the money flowed through these companies and out the other side, it funded not only the great learning institutions, but also one of the most comfortable and agreeable lifestyles that had ever been known. Everyone, potentially, was in, although if you were black or Hispanic, your share of the pot was going to be much, much smaller. Hollywood, to its credit, was self-funding. But its endless output of iconic films and TV shows afforded the USA a soft power capability that was equal to at least ten carrier battle groups. All of this in turn grew the next generation of industry: Information, games and now AI. For this was a culture built not on oil, or gold or military power, but in the last resort on brains. In places, it still is.

You will by now, gentle reader, have intuited your own huge list of favourite films, TV shows, books popular musical singers, foods and brands which are your California. Yet it is poets who see most clearly, capturing the distilled essence of time and place most of all when they set their thoughts to music. Those poets were Eagles Don Henley and Glenn Frey, whose songs such as Tequila Sunrise, Hotel California, The Last Resort and others managed to capture the crazy contradictory kaleidoscope of hopes, dreams, indulgences and despairs in a land and place at the leading edge of our species’ experience. Perhaps the shimmering light it is now growing dim. . But for us the word “California” carries the hope that somewhere out there still lies the possibility of a prosperous, future.

#california #cold war #JM Keynes # The Eagles #Los Angeles #hollywood

Friday Night Feast of Fun: Strawberries, cream and what to drink

As May rolls into June, England hits peak summer. All those muddy football players yield to natty cricketers and immaculately coiffured green wickets . Gardens fill with flowers. At Wimbledon and a thousand other places, the air is filled with the thwack of racket on balls. Nothing captures the ambience like a well-turned bowl of strawberries and cream, that near quintessential accompaniment to a day out at the tennis or the Derby. Ok there’s one rival, but we’ll be doing that next week

People have been eating strawberries as a summer dessert since at least the sixteenth century. However the big ones we take for granted today didn’t really come about until the middle of the eighteenth, [1] as a result of a wheeze by an enterprising Frenchman called Amédée-François Frézier . Frankly we found all the botany and genetics in the Wiki article a little cognitively challenging: suffice to say he crossed a North American version with one from the southern continent to produce that plump juicy berry which not only tastes good, but is admirable to look at. And our recommendation to go with them? Cream, single or maybe double. Not ice cream, not clotted, not that funny squirty stuff that comes out of tins from some of our cheaper supermarkets. And certainly no sugar. Just good, old fashioned cowsmilk cream. Gottit?

Now for the really important question: what to drink? Our Intelligent researchers came up with the following list, each perfectly tailored to a different aspect of your dish. Bowl. Whatever.

 Sauternes – A classic French dessert wine with honeyed sweetness that complements the creaminess.

Coteaux du Layon – A Loire Valley wine with citrus and honey notes, perfect for the richness of cream.

Pinot Noir Rosé – Light and fruity, with strawberry and peach notes that enhance the fresh berries.

Demi-Sec Champagne – The bubbles and brioche flavors contrast beautifully with the sweetness of strawberries.

Riesling (Spätlese) – A German Riesling with floral and orchard fruit notes that highlight the strawberries.

Prosecco – Slightly sweeter than Champagne, making it a great match for ripe strawberries and cream.And much, much cheaper!

Gewürztraminer – Aromatic and floral, with lychee and ginger notes that pair well with strawberries.

And with the end of that list, may we wish you another happy Friday night feast.

[1] Strawberry – Wikipedia

#strawberries #cream #summer #wine #garden #tennis #cricket #wimbledon

Bit of a round up: Yes Men, Fusion, Bowel Cancer, molecular shuttles and seething in the Sahel

Overwhelmed by a huge flood of suggestions , the only way we could cope was to pull them into this handy easy to access guide to some of the most significant happenings of the week. You don’ have to click on all of them

Will the Yes men Bring Down Donald Trump? As organisations get successful they attract more people who are adept at climbing the ladder rather than doing the job. The USA is somewhere near peak Trump at the moment. The Conversation warns how bad advice could end all in tears

https://theconversation.com/trump-surrounds-himself-with-sycophants-its-a-terrible-way-to-run-a-business-and-a-country-257391?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from

Fusion on Trent The person who sent us this idea has had to endure our enthusiasm for nuclear fusion for more than fifty three years, despite the fact that it hasn’t worked for fifty of them. Now all that may be about to change in Nottinghamshire in the UK as The I newspaper explains https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/limitless-clean-energy-nuclear-fusion-3711971

^{thanks to P Seymour} ^{via Apple News}

Weighing the risks of bowel cancer Inequality leads to poor diets. Poor diets lead to obesity. Obesity leads to bowel cancer. How ironic, therefore, to see a riff on this theme in the Mail, of all places. But there it is so, there you go, as they say(that’s enough cliches-ed)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14756279/Doctors-discover-vital-new-clue-search-cause-mystery-bowel-cancer-explosion-50s.html

Shuttle and open We’ve riffed a bit ourselves here about the blood brain barrier over the years. It’s a pretty tough problem for those who would like to treat various disorders of the central nervous system. Now new hope come sin the form of molecular shuttles as Nature Briefing explains

To reach the brain, drugs must pass through the highly-selective blood-brain barrier. Large molecules, such as antibodies, don’t cross easily, if at all. Now, small chemical tags that can ‘shuttle’ drugs across the barrier are offering a way forward. Several such shuttles, which take advantage of natural transport systems, are in the works. Some have already been trialled in rare diseases, with signs of success. The field is in its infancy, but these shuttles promise to revolutionize treatments for diseases from Alzheimer’s to cancer.Nature | 10 min read

When scientists have a bone to pick It is an invariable law in paleontology , especially of the human kind, that the rancour of the disputes between its protagonists is in inverse proportion to the numbers of remains they have to work with. There is no better example of fear and loathing than the disputes over the bones of Sahelanthropus, the famous Toumai, which was once hailed as the uber-ancestor of us all. Before you hand over the world to an Aristocracy of the Educated, as some advocate, read this.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/may/27/the-curse-of-toumai-ancient-skull-disputed-femur-feud-humanity-origins?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

#cancer #bowel #nuclear fusion #dona;d trump #health #medecine #alzheimers #sahelanthopus

Friday Night Feast of Fun: VE day

The 80th anniversary of VE Day has bought an immense outpouring of celebrations. Millions who were not there will tell you how they long to put on a zoot suit and jive the night away to Vera Lynn, or roam the streets of London getting up to goodness knows what with perfect strangers on bomb sites (wasn’t it a bit cold?-ed)

But-how much would you have enjoyed it? For those who advocate free markets and liberal trade as the best cures for human ills, the Second World War makes very difficult reading indeed. The Government seized control of the nation’s food supplies in 1939,introducing an utterly comprehensive system of rationing, backed by bulk buying and ruthless imposition of standards. By VE Day on 8 May 1945 the nation was thinner, heathier, fitter and better fed that it had ever been before. Or would be ever again. But Civil Servants are not chefs, and the menus available on that famous date may seem very spartan indeed to the modern palate. We thought we’d offer the kinds of things which might have been served up. With the help,naturally, of one of the most likeable books in our collection: The Ration Book Diet [1] And follow it up with what you could drink.

First Course There isn’t one Both shipping and fuel were in short supply, making this stage a superfluous luxury. Now you know why they were so healthy. Wanna try it?

Main Course In their spring section, Brown et al suggest recipes for Kidney with Mustard and Madeira Gravy(p76) Vinegar and mustard baked chicken(p78) or broad beans with minted salsa verde (p80 ) Other things served up might have been Ham and pickle pie monkfish and bacon casserole or salad of some sort. Everything grown locally, or sourced form the nations own fields and fishing grounds. Should we go that way again?

Dessert They would probably have called it “afters” or “pudding”. Apricot compote , rhubarb bread pudding or rhubarb fool might have graced many a VE Day table . For treats as the night drew in: oatmeal scones. And that really is it. There were things about like spam, corned beef and even cheese(heavily on the ration) But you’ll have to read the book iof you want to know more about them.

Happy so far? Let’s pour a drink , or go to the pub

Popular beers of the day included Bass, Guinness and Trumans At home, these would have come in bottles. There were no fridges of course. The Ministry had strained every nerve to ensure the pubs were well stocked with much the same. We also found a cocktail list from a site called Bistrot Pierre. For us, the Gin Fizz stands out as an iconic component of the war-time vocabulary. At least from the films and TV programmes we’ve seen.

And wine? Oh come on. It all came from the continent, which had been under enemy occupation for four years. You had about as much chance of finding a mobile phone as bottle of chardonnay in London in 1945.

Still want to go there?

[1] The Ration Book Diet Mike Brown Carol Harris CJ Jackson The History Press 2010 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ration-Book-Diet-C-Jackson/dp/1803993448

[2]https://www.bistrotpierre.co.uk/propeller/uploads/2020/04/VE-Day-cocktails.pdf

#food #drink #VE day #world war two #diet #health