Recipe: Rhubarb Gin

Remember those New Year's Resolutions I was harping on about a few weeks ago? Well, one of them was to make my own flavoured alcohol. J and I had a good start with a batch of sloe gin we made before Christmas and were inspired to make more!

The internet is awash with recipes for things like Skittles vodka, which, while fun, are a little more studenty than I was hoping for. But then I stumbled upon the idea of rhubarb vodka. 'Delicious!' I cried, but we're not really vodka drinkers - so we used our heads and adapted the recipe to work with gin. And here it is!

Rhubarb Gin (adapted from this recipe)
You will need:
1 x 400g bag of rhubarb (chopped and trimmed to make around 340g)
50g sugar
70cl of gin (nothing fancy required - the value range will do nicely!)
A splash of lemon juice
Simple syrup of 2 parts sugar to 1 part water (here around 70g sugar/35ml water)
Large jar/bottle with a lid you can seal firmly

1. Chop the rhubarb (chucking out the tops and tails) into 1-2 inch pieces and throw it all in the jar. You want the pinkest rhubarb you can get - none of that green stuff! 

2. Add the sugar (omit the simple sugar syrup for the meantime) and the lemon juice, then give everything a good shake. (I encourage you to smell it at this stage - divine!)

3. Add your gin and, once again, give everything a good shake up. Don't worry if your sugar settles at the bottom. This will dissolve in time. Place your mix in a dark place and shake every other day for at least 2 weeks. Over this time, the sugar will dissolve and your mix will become pinker and tastier by the day!

4. When the time is up, strain your mix through a sieve or coffee filter and then sweeten with your simple syrup to taste. Once it's just right, you can bottle it up and either give it as a gift or keep it all to yourself and drink it!

Pretty easy right? I think my next adventure into flavoured alcohol will be this delightful concoction by Katie Cakes - Turkish Delight Vodka! *swoons*

Global Rainbow

In the UK, we're currently on the much hyped run-up to being the host nation for the Olympics and Paralympics this summer. I must confess, I'm not exactly a sports fan (I know, shocking right?) so I'm not really that psyched about the whole thing. When it comes down to it, I'll probably watch the opening ceremony then wander off for the rest!

However, it seems the good people of the Olympics Trust have created something I actually can get my teeth into - the Cultural Olympiad. The programme sees artists creating experiences and installations around the country celebrating creativity and international culture. Proceedings were kicked off in the good old North East last week with 'Global Rainbow' by Yvette Mattern. A series of rainbow lasers shining down the coastline from St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay. 

All for any kind of art-based adventure, J and I packed ourselves into the car that Friday night and hightailed it to the coast to take a look!

Once we'd shaken the crazy amount of traffic and crowds, we headed down the beach where we were treated to the spectacle in all its glory - without the distraction of light pollution. It was really rather beautiful and surprisingly tranquil considering how many spectators were around.

During our walk I couldn't resist playing around with the light a little - shaking the camera mid-shot to see what patterns I could create!

The next event to visit us 'Flow' - a sound sculpture creating music from the river Tyne. It's already moored at the Quayside, so I can't wait to go and explore when it lets us onboard!