Kiddo: Straight Shootin' Since '88

Anyone heard of Schnapsen? It's this card game with many variants and names accross Europe. I think of it as a game of Scum/President with tricks, on crack.

It's pretty hard to get your head around, lots of old school rules to do with shuffling of cards, scoring in your head (no pens and paper allowed) and there are only 22 cards.

Same sex marriages between royalty, trump suits, acorns- it's all very controversial. I only learned it last night and there have already been a few dark moments between the Austrian and I- what with me being very competitive and wanting to be good at the game so I can WIN. I've downloaded a computer version so that I can practice secretly.

Moved in wit my homeboy this weekend. He left it up to me to clean everything up and arrange stuff (while he was down at the pub), and amazingly the Vogue/Russh/Elle/Gentlewoman magazines, kozyndan print, and lovely tea rose floral cushions made it in without so much as a blink of an eye!

Ahhh Whisky! I know it is for men, and my mother even reinforces this when I talk to her on the phone and she asks what I got up to and I say "Cripes Mama!- I drank a lot of Whisky!". But the fact is I have been Don-Draping the sheeit out Maker's Mark lately.

The Austrian and I like Whisky so much, we have done the white-folk thing and bought up the bar-tool paraphernalia to be flash. I am talking Old-Fashioned style glasses, a bar spoon, oz measure and a muddler for crushing sugar (mostly because we love any excuse to go upstairs at Moore Wilson's where we hypothetically 'bags' which Kitchen Aid food processor, juicer, swanky saucepan set or knives that we would hypothetically buy).

So we like Whisky Sours best. There are loads of recipes out there but I am gonna give you ours. We don't use a lame-ass cocktail shaker 'coz those things are way too wanky mixologist steez- and no egg white either because eggs are for breakfast only thank you!)

1 1/2 oz Whisky - (you wanna use a bourbon whisky like Maker's Mark which has a nice clean taste as opposed to something like J&B which we noticed gives too much of a smokey flavour, we save the J&B for Old Fashioned's.)

1oz Sugar Syrup (We like to make up a big batch to last the weekend. 1:1 ratio of white sugar and water in a sealed container good for pouring (we use a protein shake shaker ha ha). Shake the shit out of it until the sugar is dissolved- it takes a while but is worth it).

1oz lemon juice (freshly squeezed- so you wanna get the really big ugly lemons with lots of juice so you can just use 1 half).

handful of ice cubes

a slither of lemon zest- from a pretty yellow lemon.

Measure out the Whisky, lemon and sugar syrup. Slosh it around, then give it a wee taste to make sure it is sour/sweet/whisky tasting enough for your liking. Add a handful of cubes, give it a good stir. Crumple and fold your lemon zest slither over the glass to release them good citrus oils, then add it to the glass and give it another good stir around.

So it has been really far too long since I last posted. I like to say it's coz I am so busy- but realistically it is because I am out there living life, instead of writing about it. This has got to change! Must break down my days and experiences and share them on the interwebs. Social commentary on my own life shall prevail!

Things I am loving lately... My new blue velvet jeans (which to my dismay blend is fairly well with the carpet at work), Maker's Mark Kentucky Whisky, the NBA Finals Series, waffles with lemon juice and sugar. Re-integrating street slinging slang from The Wire into my daily speech (starting the show from scratch with the beau at the mo').

Work- check.

Pilates- check.

Lana Del Ray, 'Born to Die'.

I like this one.

I think (?) I am excited about this.

I don't like Nicole Kidman at the best of times (Why Kidman when you can have Blanchett I've always thought)- but judging from the trailer she doesn't look too bad in this.

Clive Owen is going to have a lot to live up to following whoever played Hemingway in Midnight In Paris AKA Swoon City- but obviously its not all about molding Hemingway into some sort of crazy hottie (Ideally they would use time travel to bring 'On The Waterfront era' Marlon Brando in for this part. Just sayin').