Life is Good: Lilac Simple Syrup and Martinis

If you also live in the Midwest, you know that this year has been particularly good for the flowering trees, especially the lilacs. If you grew up in the Midwest on a farm you most likely had at least one lilac bush. Drive through the rural areas now and you will often see random ancient lilacs just growing “wild” where an old farmhouse once stood. My parents have two old lilacs on the south side of the house, right outside the first floor bedrooms. My grandparents had a row of them between the backyard and their huge vegetable garden. My great-grandparents had them behind their house too. Steve’s grandparents even had them outside their somewhat suburban house in Saginaw Michigan.

When we were house shopping for this house 16 years ago we made an offer on a house even though we didn’t particularly like the house but it had a 50 yard long row of old lilacs along the property line. We didn’t get that house and I cried. (I was also pregnant and extremely hormonal at the time.) Now I have my own lilacs and this year is the first year that they have bloomed with abandon. Like my childhood home, I planted them right outside my bedroom so on warm spring nights I can fall asleep with their scent in my head. They are also right along the pool fence so this week we have been swimming with their heady scent.

I have mentioned before how much I love Facebook and how it has brought people back into my life that time and distance had taken away. One of those people is my friend Jeff. We went to middle and high school together. In  my opinion he is a modern day Renaissance Man. His interests and talents are also truly eclectic. He recently posted that he was making Lilac Simple Syrup from lilacs he “harvested” from an old homestead in the part of Michigan where he lives. I was intrigued! So today I made my own batch of Lilac Simple Syrup and took photos to show you all how it is done.

Step One:

Boil 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water until sugar is dissolved.

Step Two:

Harvest approximately 1-2 cups lilac florets (the petal part, no leaves or stems)

Add to the water/sugar mix. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Step Three:

Strain and cool. This can be stored in your refrigerator for about a week. Jeff suggests adding a splash of vodka or citric acid to help preserve it longer. It can also be frozen for a bit of May sunshine later in the season.

 

Now you may be asking yourself, “But Beth, you opened this post with a picture of a martini! I want a martini! Where is the martini recipe?”  This is how you make a Lilac Martini:

First off, chill your martini glasses. If you don’t have a bar fridge where you can just store them during the non-martini drinking moments of your life, fill them with crushed ice while you are doing everything else. The colder the martini, the better.

The recipe for a lilac martini is simple. Fill your martini shaker with ice. Pour vodka over it until full, add a shot of Lilac Simple Syrup. Then shake that bad boy like it is your job! Dump the crushed ice out of your now chilled glasses and pour.

Garnish with a sprig of lilac and enjoy.

Jeff and I have been comparing notes on Facebook and he has plans for a cardamom infused simple syrup to add to a gin martini and I’m thinking mint syrup for mojitos. I’m also growing nasturtiums this year which are also edible and have a peppery flavor and may make for an interesting cocktail. 

Garden Update: Mother’s Day 2013

Things have been growing great in both of my garden spaces. The home raised bed garden is my joy right now. I am so excited about it I’m practically giddy. I love that it is practically no-maintenance so far. The fence keeps critters and dogs away so everything is safe to grow. We’ve had just enough rain to keep things moist so I don’t have to water yet.

Seeds are starting to sprout. Here you can see tiny little spinach plants finally making an appearance.

A tiny sugar snap pea sprout popped up yesterday!

As an experiment I’m growing food from our kitchen garbage! No really. We had this celery end that was headed to the compost bin and I decided to just stick it in the dirt and see what happened. It has begun to sprout new growth! So I grabbed another one yesterday and planted it next to it. Growing celery from seed is difficult and takes a long time. This method is free and about the easiest thing ever.

I also rescued a wilted bit of kale from the compost that had started to grow roots while in the composter.

It was rather spindly and yellow when I first planted it but it has started to green up and grow new leaves so I think that is a winner too.

I stopped by the park garden last night to check on things but I didn’t take my camera. There was some damage from the cold weather we had earlier in the week but I don’ think it was irreparable.

This is what it looked like after I got done planting most of it last week. I have since mulched it with chopped straw and composted leaves. I have zinnia and sunflower seedlings growing on the porch that I plan to transplant here when they get a little bigger and the weather warms up more.

If all goes well we will have; sweet corn, cucumbers, watermelon (this is an experiment), pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, onions, basil, dill, mint, kale, spinach, carrots, celery, parsley, beets, and peas from my two gardens this year.

And if it doesn’t go well, we will have some of the above and I’ll have a great time trying anyway!

I’m also enjoying looking at the other community gardeners’ plots to see what they plant and how they do it. Some of my neighbors over there have quite the elaborate set ups and some even seem to move in for the weekend with canopies, chairs, picnics, and wine. I’ve seen greenhouses, solar panels, arbors, and much more put up there in the past few weeks. My bamboo teepee for my cucumbers looks pretty lame in comparison.

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Another thing I really like about my Community Garden plot is that it is adjacent to the park district working farm. So after I get done I can go visit all of these guys. It’s almost like gardening at my grandparents’ farm again.

My Mother’s Day was glorious. I started it by checking on my garden and photographing my finished quilt. Then Steve, Emma and I went to one of my favorite places, Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL for a day of hiking and wildflower viewing. Sarah couldn’t join us because she was in NC visiting a friend for the weekend. She and I will have to do some other Mother-Daughter activity this week to make up for it. Unfortunately many of my favorite park trails were closed because of recent flooding but we made a nice day of it. Steve had never been there before so we were able to share it with him for the first time. We also hiked to one canyon that we had never made it to before so we got to see something new too. We’ve usually gone earlier in the season over spring break so we’ve never seen the spring wildflowers in all their glory. It was wonderful! The only bummer was that after charging my camera all day Saturday specifically for this day, I left it on the kitchen counter after taking photos of my quilt and garden in the morning. So I have some photos from my cell phone camera but not the usual amount and quality I normally take when I go hiking there. When I get them transferred from the phone to the computer and edited I’ll share a photo album. But as is often the case, the photos just don’t do it justice.

I hope all of you had a fabulous weekend too. Now I really need to go clean my house!

Chevron Quilt is done!

I finally put away my gardening gloves long enough last week (it got cold and rainy!) to finish the binding on this quilt. It finished at about 48”x60”, perfect for pulling over you while watching tv or reading.

I pieced and machine quilted it all on my Bernina 780 and I am very happy with the results. I haven’t made a quilt just for me in quite a while. Usually they are store samples or small table runners. The inspiration for this quilt was the colors of this fabric line and the desire to test out both my machine and my own free motion quilting capabilities.

 

I attribute my success on this project to using the right tools. The Bernina Stitch Regulator on the 780 was the first step toward success. Adding the Supreme Slider and Machingers gloves I made it easier on myself. These two books as well as numerous visits to Pinterest, YouTube and various blogs provided ideas and directions to many different quilting designs.

And like any artist, I was sure to sign my work.