PIMM'S CUP

Well people, I have exciting news.  It seems Mark and I have become home owners!  Yes that's right,  we bought a lovely, charming little house in an historic neighborhood of Los Angeles.  

Finally we'll have a nice, little, private backyard.  I suppose I'll need to get a grill.

I can't tell you how excited we are.  We've been looking for months and months and finally we find a place that's perfect for us.  

It's a great house with a generous living room, a FORMAL dining room (here come dinner parties) and even a sunny breakfast room right off the kitchen, which will become the official Well Fed head quarters.

I wish I could say the kitchen was fantastic.  Alas, it's not.  The cabinets are a little junky, not exactly in keeping with the vintage of the house and I wish there was a bit more counter space beside the stove.  But I like to look at it as an opportunity to really create a space that is optimal for my cooking needs.  As such, I think I'm going to broaden the scope of this blog to include periodic updates on the progress of our kitchen remodeling.  I hope you don't mind.

But before we get to all of that, let me talk about Pimm's Cups.  Almost a year ago, Annie and Pierson bought their house and the first time I came over, Annie and I had a toast to celebrate their purchase, and what we drank that day were Pimm's cups.  Fast forward a year to this past Tuesday when we got the keys to our place, Annie joined us for a cocktail to congratulate us, the cocktail being a Pimm's Cup. It's sort of become our official New House Warming Drink.

For those who don't know, Pimm's is a gin based alcohol favored by the Brits.  Resembling tea in color, the flavor is mildly spicy as well as citrusy.  It's one of the official drinks at Wimbledon, as well as polo matches and other upper crust, gentile sporting events.  Somehow I envision anything involving an expanse of green lawn and women wearing hats.  The makeup of the drink varies from recipe to recipe, but generally it includes lemonade and/or ginger ale and is garnished with refreshing slices of cucumber.  Often the lemonade is sparkling and additional garnishes of slices of lemon, lime, orange apple and strawberries.

When Annie and I had Pimm's Cups at her house, I took the easy way out and just brought over a bottle of Pimm's, organic sparkling lemonade and a baggie of cucumber slices.  This recipe sort of takes it to the next level.  It includes freshly squeezed, home-made lemonade, home-made ginger beer, mint, lime and thin ribbons of Persian cucumber.  I would caution against going overboard on the garnishes. Anything more than mint, cucumber and a slice of some sort of citrus becomes a little to fruit salady.  

INGREDIENTS

(for the ginger beer)

4 cups water

2/3 cup finely chopped peeled fresh ginger

3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice

5 tablespoons light brown sugar

(for the lemonade)

3 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained of any seeds

4 cups water

1 1/2 cups super fine sugar

(for the cocktail)

4 tablespoons Pimm's

4 tablespoons lemonade

2 tablespoon ginger beer

2 tablespoon club soda

sprigs of fresh mint

lemon and/or lime slices

cucumber ribbons or slices or both (to make ribbons, using a vegetable peeled, peel off slices of a small Persian cucumber lengthwise)

METHOD

First make the ginger beer.  In a medium sauce pan bring the water to a boil.  Remove from heat and add the ginger, lime juice and brown sugar.  Let steep for one hour and then strain out the solids.

While the ginger beer is steeping, make the lemonade.  In a large pitcher, combine the lemon juice, water and sugar.  Stir until the sugar dissolves.  Note that the lemonade recipe makes way more than you'll need for even several of these drinks.  You can halve the recipe, or you can just have lemonade on hand.  That's not such a bad thing.

To make the drink, combine the Pimm's, lemonade, ginger beer and club soda in a goblet or collins glass filled with ice.  Garnish with a sprig or two of mint, some slices of lemon and/or lime and the cucumber. 

Mercy this is an easy cocktail to drink.  Not too sweet, in fact with a hint of spiciness from the ginger beer, the Pimm's cup is perfect for a warm, sunny summer day.  Refreshing and light, you'll be tempted to down several but watch out, it IS potent.  It really is a great way to help someone celebrate a new home.  

Comments

[rebecca]

looks like an involved recipe. had my first, second, and third in New Orleans a few years ago. can't recall whether i loved it or not. but, there's something about having a drink at a bar in NO.

[Ollie]

Congratulations! Your new house looks awesome. Now, get cooking! (simulated whip snap sound)

[marissa]

congrats again! can't wait to see the place.

[Clare]

Congratulations!! How exciting. Maybe you could get one of those rolling kitchen islands from IKEA and use it in your kitchen eating area? It'll give you the extra counter space, and if you add a few stools, a great place to eat breakfast...

[Simon]

Got no Pimms?

I've not tried this, so I'm unsure how well it works, but Wikipedia offers the following DIY solution if you don't have any Pimms No 1 in your cupboard:

"Bartenders who wish to make a Pimm's Cup without its main ingredient usually mix one part gin with one part red Vermouth and 1/2 part to 1 part of triple sec or Orange Curacao."

[Denise Genova]

CONGRATS on the new house!!!
Thank you for such an awesome site...I am such a hit when I use your recipes.
Can't wait to see what the formal dining room recipes are...guess that means I have to get a house now too...have done so well with the no dining table recipes ; )
All the best!
Denise

[Gwen]

Congratulations! The house is gorgeous!

Your Pimm's Cup recipe looks really good, but I'm pretty lazy, so it may take awhile for me to try anything other than my standard one part Pimm's + two parts sparkling French lemonade.

[dp]

congratulations! It looks so charming. I love older homes. Ours if from 1926 and it's got a lot of quirks, but we love it.

[susan]

congratulations on your new place too! and it's a house so double congratulations. :) i can just imagine all the great entertaining you will do there. your place is adorable.

[Michelle]

I'll add my congrats to the chorus of voices here. Looks like a lovely home!

[elyse]

Another congrats on your home purchase! It looks amazing...particularly that backyard!

[riya]

congrats !!!

you would very much enjoy decorating your new house!! : )

thanks for pimm's info - thats is very informative to a dummie like me.

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[Kim Lukasik]

Thanks for this wonderful site, I can't say that I am cooking, but I love all the
photos that you put on your site. Congratulation for the house.
I recommended your blog site to many friends that love it.
Don't ever stop, regards Kim Lukasik

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[Lawrence Cooks]

That open space you've shown looks ideal for an awesome kitchen! I wonder how your kitchen looks like after you've done the remodeling. Oh, speaking of remodeling, I really hope I can do some for my kitchen in our Minneapolis, MN crib. One more thing: thanks for the recipe!

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Now it's huge, and sits outside on the back porch. We've warned the boys about it, and I make a point of collecting the fallen leavesadfs and dumping them in the compost pile (composting will break down the toxins -- I checked), but it still makes me twitchy.

[Richelle Jelsma]

Wow! Your home is impressive. The house's ambiance is so cozy and relaxing. Did you purchase it using home loans or mortgages? I'd like to know 'cause I'm planning to purchase a great house like yours.

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