Thursday, September 26, 2013

Make Pop Tarts Not (Autumn) Pimm's

playing statue in Oxford, England

Good morning!  If you're arriving here from Freckled Italian, I have to apologize - I promised you autumn Pimm's but, having tried it for the first time last night, I'm actually not sure you'll want it.  (For my regular readers, I'm guest posting for Megan today!  And please accept my apology also.)

I had high hopes for this stuff and if you've ever had the normal kind you'll understand why.  Regular Pimm's is the classic English summer drink; it's gin-based and you mixe it with lemonade and plus strawberries and fresh mint plus as well as slices of cucumbers and apples and oranges.  It's delicious and refreshing!  You'll find it everywhere once the weather warms up in the spring - pubs, garden parties, weddings, polo events, you name it.  So when I went through Duty Free at Heathrow on my way back to DC after our wedding, I picked up a bottle of the autumn version to try.  True confession: I also thought it would make a good blog post.

Well, this is what happens when you plan life around blogging rather than blogging around life!  I invited two good friends over for dinner last night to be my autumn Pimm's guinea pigs and, I'm sad to say, none of us were crazy about it.  When mixed with lemonade, the drink tasted vaguely of cough syrup; it was better when we mixed it with sparkling ginger and tossed in a few blackberries, but, honestly, I think the rest of the bottle of autumn Pimm's is going to go to waste.  On the bright side, though, the three of us devoured the two beet pizzas I made and enjoyed the delicious pop tarts (from Ted's Bulletin) and macarons that Beth and Harriet brought!

I think the moral of the story is this: don't plan an evening around a drink you've never tried before but, if you do, make sure you have excellent company and yummy desserts to soften the disappointment.  Also, stick with the classics - if you haven't had normal Pimm's, find some before it gets too cold and unseasonable!

26 comments:

  1. We tried some blackberry Pimms at a party and it tasted like ribena mixed with cough syrup. EEW!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love your honesty :) And I love how quintessentially British your outfit is in those pictures. England looks good on you my friend... bloody good! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Big Pimm's fan here! Love the classic as well as the Blackberry and the hot winter one with apple juice, but have never heard of the Autumn Pimm's. I'll steer clear of it if I do see it.
    PS your blog has inspired me to visit Norfolk and the seals (cute!!) over Easter!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I haven't had the winter one but I hear good things! it might be worth TRYING the autumn one... just don't buy a whole bottle until you know you like it :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. that's what this is - it's the blackberry elderflower one! Let me know if you find a way to make it good...

    ReplyDelete
  6. haha thank you! the photo is actually old - but I will be that slim again, darn it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I really need to try winter Pimm's - not sure how I've missed it all these years! and yay for the seals :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. So what was it exactly? Was it gin-based with a weird flavor? I'm super curious as to how they made it "autumn" like.


    I had Pimm's when I studied in Oxford, but I haven't had it since. We're going on um, 12 years!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I hate Pimm's, no matter how many times I try it :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love this! I love inviting friends over to experience your blog. Even if you planned life around blogging. It's a two-for-one win: you get a blog post (either way) and got to see two great friends! Sad the drink didn't work out, but at least you had co-conspirators in the cough syrup (yeecch!).

    ReplyDelete
  11. What does it taste like? So the Autumn version is different from the regular one? I need to know!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jess Gerrow / The Stroke BlogSeptember 26, 2013 at 11:59 AM

    It's weird right? Because the flavour should be good. I feel like if you throw in a little gin and tonic maybe... hmph. If anyone gives you a good recipe, do post it!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love that you are honest enough to say - well, even though I planned this thing to be this way, this is how it REALLY is, so, lesson learned. And those beet pizzas sound fantastic, so I got a recipe out of this anyway :D

    ReplyDelete
  14. I could not agree more! I had romantic fantasies of a refreshing and delicious Pimm's Cup. And lord, it was god awful. I couldn't even get anyone at my table to take a swig.

    ReplyDelete
  15. it tasted kind of like diluted cough syrup. like, good cough syrup that you don't mind taking, but still. the autumn was the blackberries and the elderflower in the drink!

    ReplyDelete
  16. haha luckily both of them are very social media savvy so they didn't roll their eyes (too much) when I started Instagramming everything :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. yes! the autumn one has elderflower and blackberries in it and normal Pimm's is just... um... just the liquor? haha I'm not sure actually!

    ReplyDelete
  18. THE BEET PIZZAS ARE SO GOOD! I used a mix of arugula and spinach this time and ran out of goats cheese on the second pie so added some crumbled feta :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. truly, these are the tragedies of life.


    (I am not being sarcastic.)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Love Pimm's. With ginger ale and cucumber. Discovered my Canadian friends had never heard of it, gave them some, they were just as grossed out as you! Different palates?

    ReplyDelete
  21. no but I love normal Pimm's! it's just this new edition... grr

    ReplyDelete
  22. Autumn Pimms?! What the?! It even sounds wrong. It's like, winter Rosé... WRONG.

    ReplyDelete

I love reading your thoughts and suggestions! Please do leave a comment so we can get to know each other better.