Skip to main content

Angostura Explained

Angostura bitters are old, really old. Dating back to 1824, the original recipe was developed by a German doctor who was living in Angostura, Venezuela and working as Surgeon General in Simon Bolivar's army. What slowly started as a medicinal concoction eventually made its way into food and drink. The centuries- old recipe is made today in Trinidad and Tobago. So why name a blog after Angosturo bitters? Well, for starters I just like the name. And how often do you use a product from Trinidad and Tobago? How often do you even think about that little country, other than every four years during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics? My sister, purveyor of all important information, was the first to introduce me to bitters when she shared her love for champagne cocktails. Upon tasting the sparkling concoction, I understood what the big deal was about this dark, medicinal liquid. Angostura bitters impart that special flavor that words cannot describe, and this lack of true definition is exactly what makes them so special. Muddy waters, indeed. I've always been drawn to people and things that don't easily fit into stereotypical boxes. And so I name my blog after a funky little bottle with an oversized label.


 My friend Kelly asked a question last weekend that I am still pondering. If I could go back in time, take back a decision made and re-work it, what would I change? At the time I though maybe I should have continued to lead bike trips (dating back half of my fifty years), which would have allowed me to do some incredible travelling. But the more I think about this question, the more I realize that with the bitter disappointments in life come the sweet moments that always put a smile on our faces, even when we think of them years later. I wouldn't trade those for anything. If I had veered off on a different course earlier in my life, it, too, would have produced the bitter and the sweet. There aren't always neat little adjectives to describe our motives and help us understand why we do what we do.  So in honor of all things bitter and sweet, all the decisions, good and bad, that help define who we are, here's a wonderful drink that is bound to help you remember those moments in life that  put a smile on your face. Skol!


Champagne Cocktail
Sugar cube
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
1 dash of Angostura orange bitters
3 to 4 ounces of champagne

Place the sugar cube in a champagne glass, add the dashes of bitters, and then pour the champagne. A perfect drink for the holidays or for someone celebrating her 50th birthday.

Comments

  1. KellyDecember 12, 2012 at 5:03 PM

    You inspired me to check out the bottle of bitters we have in the liquor cabinet. Now it is time for true confessions. 1) my fifty year old eyes can't read the writing on the bottle; 2) i had no idea it actually had liquor in it;3)I wonder what the shelf life is for bitters-maybe it is hidden in all that tiny writing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownDecember 12, 2012 at 6:10 PM

      Bitters have a very long shelf life -- they are medicinal after all. Their high alcohol content also helps preserve them. Besides, you're not old enough to have a bottle that's beyond its prime. Time to use them again!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cheaper by the Dozen

Beautiful, aren't they? There's something about farm fresh eggs that almost makes me want to quit my day job and become a lady farmer. Almost. For now I will settle for my son's occasional post as head keeper of a friend's menagerie, which happens to include ten chickens. Fortunately for me, these chickens are prolific producers, so when our friends go on vacation, we are the happy recipients of many  beautiful eggs. At first we revel in the most scrumptious omelets and scrambled concoctions. By day four or five, however, I admit to often having egg overload. Not this time. As soon as these eggs started appearing, I began thinking about Ramos Gin Fizzes because when made the old fashioned way, they contain an egg white. If you're like me, this news would normally bring a halt to my experimentation. But my new stock of farm fresh eggs gave me reason to carry on because they came from chickens that I have watched cluck and roost, and that makes all the differen...
Post a Comment
Read more

State of Mind, State of Body

Many years ago I competed in triathlons, and one race always sticks out in my mind. Actually, it's one moment from one race. I was on the bike leg, which for me was always my strongest. As I was riding along and happily gaining ground on all the folks who were stronger swimmers, another woman came up alongside and said, "Hey, nice bike." We chatted for half a minute about the finer points of Cannondale bikes, and then she sped off. When I looked down at her calf muscle and saw the permanent pen markings that indicated her age, I read five zero, fifteen years my senior! Humbled? Yes. Impressed? Very much so. I have long been drawn to older, fit folks. If you've been a longtime reader of my blog, you might remember when I wrote about George Garside and the Auckland Cycle Touring Association . This was a group of incredibly fit 60, 70, and 80 year old men I was privileged to ride with once, and the experience definitely left its mark. These men took their fitness serio...
6 comments
Read more

A Sense of Style

Some people collect stamps, others recipes. I seem to have a penchant for shoes, but let me just say that mine is not a typical collection because it has an extreme lack of diversity. To be honest, I was a little horrified the other day to look down in my closet and realize that perhaps, just perhaps, I had gone over the edge. You decide. Now, I have my justifiable reasons -- don't we all? My feet have always had issues, just ask my sister. For years she kept track of my toenails, or lack thereof. After years of running, hiking, skiing, and spending time in large, clunky boots with low arches that don't prevent my toes from slamming into the front of those boots, I have bruised (and lost) many a toenail. Nowadays, my feet are cursed by plantar fasciitis. If you've never suffered from this ailment, may you pray to the feet gods that you never do. This tends to be one of those aging problems. Your arches sink over time, which is not a good thing if you didn't hav...
2 comments
Read more