Gin & Bitter Lemon - 2 Ways

Bitter lemon was always a staple soft drink when I grew up in England. Schweppes Bitter Lemon. It was a common drink and as a kid I remember it being “too sour” for me. Later I discovered that you could use it with gin to make a low-rent Tom Collins. That's before I learned to make “proper “ cocktails.

However, like cheese 'n' onion crisps (yes, I know – they're called chips in NZ) it's an English thing that never caught on in New Zealand. Until now. Soft drink maker StrangeLove now make bitter lemon, as well as a couple of other groovy soft drinks (Hot Ginger Beer anyone?).

So today we have bitter lemon with a couple of different gins in a couple of different ways. Both are refreshing options for the hot summer months that are no doubt approaching. And they don't require shaking – it's just a simple stir. How easy can you get?

 

FOUR PILLARS BLOODY SHIRAZ GIN & BITTER LEMON

Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz is made by steeping Shiraz grapes in gin for eight weeks and then combining them with Four Pillars Rare Dry Gin. The result is a fruity, spicy gin, 38.9% ABV. Each year's batch is different, depending on the Shiraz harvest. Four Pillars describes the gin's character as containing "fresh pine needles, citrus and spice, and distinct peppery, dense raspberry notes. The palate is lovely and sweet with a long juniper and spice character on the finish."

Ingredients

• 60ml Four Pillars Bloody Shiraz gin
  
• 120ml StrangeLove Bitter Lemon
• Orange wedge

Method

• Fill a glass with ice
• Pour in the liquids
• Garnish with orange

 

LONDON DRY GIN & BITTER LEMON

Bitter lemon also picks up beautifully on the citrus and spicy notes in most London Dry gins. The extra touch of lime or lemon juice adds to this. I used Haymans here because it's our “house gin” - high quality, very classically London dry and surprisingly reasonably priced. 

Ingredients

• 60ml London Dry gin
• 120ml StrangeLove Bitter Lemon
• 10ml fresh lime or lemon juice
• lime or lemon wedge

Method

• Fill a glass with ice
• Pour in the liquids
• Garnish with orange

So there we go. Two ways with gin and bitter lemon. The second one is a little more "sour" so those of you with a sweeter tooth might like to add a little simple syrup. Big kudos to StrangeLove for finally introducing Bitter Lemon to New Zealand - Cheers!

Rebecca review

REBECCA (2020)

Director: Ben Wheatley

Stars: Armie Hammer, Lily James, Kristen Scott Thomas

Runtime: 121 min

 

"Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again". Again.

I was excited when I heard that Ben Wheatley was going to direct a remake of Rebecca. His last film, High-Rise showed that he has at least an unusual approach to adaptation, even if that film was ultimately a bit of a mess.

The question is which Ben Wheatley would show up? The one of early spooky ambiguity Kill List? Or the mushroom-popping psychedelic weirdness of A Field In England? Or who made the low-key blackly funny The Sightseers? Or the completely over-the-top shoot-'em-up Free Fire?

Well, none of those really. What is most striking about this new take on the Hitchcock classic is how relatively straight and safe it is. 

The story is of a naive young woman who meets and marries and older dominating man and upon being taken back to his extravagent ancestral home, Manderley, finds he is still mourning for his dead first wife (the titular Rebecca) and there is a very creepy housekeeper determined to make her life miserable and even drive her to suicide.   

This production is certainly lavish but by stripping back a lot of the exaggerated melodrama of the Hitchcock film the result here comes across rather like a slightly flat TV movie.

It doesn't help that both Armie Hammer and Lily James seem to lack whatever it takes to make their characters interesting. He is Maxim De Winter, just as brusque and dominating as Olivier was in the original but here it comes across as brooding boorishness. He also, to my eyes, never actually comes across as English, which is something Englishman Wheatley must have been on the lookout for. Was his casting more than a commercial decision?

As to James' unnamed narrator, she starts the film suitably simpering and uncertain but as she becomes more active (this film gives her more to do when she learns Maxim's secret) the development in her character is poorly flagged and gets lost in the drama. 

Kirsten Scott Thomas on the other hand is very English as the evil housekeeper Mrs Danvers, though her convincing take is less unsettling than the weird supernatural stillness that Judith Anderson previously brought to the role.

I found this unsatisfying in many ways. The major change – reflecting the book – is actually relatively unimportant in the great scheme of things and there seems little emphasis placed on the dubious nature of Maxim's character. To get the mix of danger and appeal required for Maxim is a hard balance and one not found here. Meanwhile, a tacked-on ending for Mrs Danvers just adds an extra scene without bringing any extra tension.

Actually, I might watch this again because I feel I must have missed something. There should be something more, something better, lurking in this film. Or was Ben Wheatley just acting as director for hire? I see his upcoming slate of movies includes Tomb Raider 2 and Meg 2: The Trench, something of a change from his strikingly original early English films.

(I actually watched the Hitchcock original again afterwards. It is clearly the least "Hitchcock" of all his films, owing more to producer David Selznick's influence, but it's still - despite being clearly an artifact of its time, particularly in its attitude towards women - a whole lot more fun than the remake. It has a class and poise about it that rises above the innate silliness and still engages. (And the dresses are much better in the original!)

On The Rocks review

ON THE ROCKS (2020)

Director: Sofia Coppola

Stars: Bill Murray, Rashida Jones, Marlon Wayans

Runtime: 96mins 

 

On the rocks is a sweet little movie which has two distinct attractions.

The first is the general sensitivity and intelligence with which director Sofia Coppola examines this low-key tale of infidelity and fears of infidelity in what initially seems like a settled happy marriage. The second is Bill Murray, who gets to go full Bill Murray.

Jones is Laura and Wayans is Dean. They are a happily married couple with two kids. She is a writer but has become blocked after becoming obsessed by the idea that he has cheated on her. He may have. He is a workaholic and has at least one very attractive and vivacious female work colleague.

Bill Murray is her irresponsible unrepentant father, the life of every party, always hitting on an inappropriately younger woman with a drink in his hand and a bucketload of charm. Their relationship is a tad strained, particularly from the fallout of his carefree past.

But together they rather bunglingly follow Dean around Manhattan and later have a brief sojourn at a resort. If you ever doubted Bill Murray's compulsive charisma, watch him talking his way out of a police ticket after being pulled over, but then also persuading the cop and his partner to help Laura and him start his car.

This is the sort of low-key gem that people say doesn't get made any more: sharply observed, of its time, and generous and humane towards its characters. Great stuff. It's a small film, not too long, a lovely little miniature; for a change you may well be left wanting a little more.

Oh, and give Bill Murray some awards. Anything really. It seems like these days he can do this sort of shtick in his sleep but, as in those early Hugh Grant comedies, it's worth remembering that projecting effortless charm and good humour is harder than it looks... 

                    

A Little Sichuan Food

SADLY THE TAURANGA BRANCH OF SICHUAN STYLE HAS NOW CLOSED. THERE ARE STILL OUTLETS IN HAMILTON (2) AND ROTORUA.

SICHUAN STYLE
Cuisine: Chinese, Sichuan
Address: 81 Devonport Rd, Tauranga
Phone: 07 571 3198
Website 
Drinks: Unlicensed
Reservations: Perhaps at nights

Chinese restaurants fall into two categories: those that serve a Westernised version of Hong Kong-style Chinese food and those who remain authentic to a particular Chinese regional cuisine. 

Actually, that's not exactly true. In broad strokes it is but, ultimately, nearly all Chinese restaurants are somewhere on the spectrum between those two poles. Outside the larger cities - where it is possible to be pretty specialised and authentic - most Chinese restaurants include a few, or more than a few, "crowd-pleasing" dishes, Western(ised) favourites you would be unlikely to see on original Chinese menus.  

Established in Hamilton in 2010, Sichuan Style now has two branches there plus another in Rotorua. The Tauranga offering, presumably because of the conservative nature of this city, features the "safest" of the various menus. If you look on-line at the full menu you will find that in Tauranga nearly all of the "weird" dishes - those involving tripe, other innards, and more unusual Chinese ingredients - are missing.

It a shame (for us unrepentant lovers of authentic Sichuan food) but you can't really argue with commercial reality. On the other hand, this isn't one of those restaurants where they ask you how hot you want the food. It comes as it comes. Though one time when I ordered a particularly hot dish (and it was blazing) they brought a complimentary cucumber dish to cool down our mouths which was a classy bit of service!

Three of us popped in for a quick dinner the other night and had:

 

Stir fry striped pork with Yu-Shiang sauce        $25.80

Sweet sour chicken in tomato sauce                   $25.80

Sour and spicy beef soup with rice vermicelli    $12.80

Shallow fry vege buns (6) with sesame seeds     $15.80 

Wonton soup with spicy sauce                            $12.80 (ordered to takeaway)

One of the regular features of a pretty authentic Chinese restaurant is that there are often a number of oddities on the menu in terms of the descriptions: many things simply do not translate well. 

For instance, instead of "striped" read "shredded" (that's how the pork and everything else - primarily wood-ear fungus and bamboo shoots - in that dish is cut). It is a dish with many names. Sichuan food expert Fucsia Dunlop calls it "Fish-Fragrant Pork Slivers" and it can also be spelled Yu-Xiang sauce. It is a unique and wonderful taste but difficult to describe. Even the menu has a subtitle - "Sweet, sour and spicy taste". Bottom line, Sichuan Style do an absolutely excellent version.

(BTW, just talking of Sichuan classics, they also do the only authentic and  - by some distance - best Kung-Pao Chicken in Tauranga.)

The Sweet and Sour Chicken I could take or leave. It is just fine but very much a Cantonese take. Sichuan sweet and sour dishes are a little different and I can imagine them possibly not finding favour with people expecting the usual bright "Westernised" sweet and sour style (which this was).

The dumplings were chive-dominated and very good, a really unusual and excellent texture with the sesame seeds adding a groovy crunch. The beef soup was rather wonderful. Those are chunks of bamboo shoot and peanuts on top and it was redolent with ginger, garlic and all sorts of spicy notes. The beef itself was succulent pieces of brisket.

There'll be more reviews of Sichuan Style coming up as we eat there fairly often and they do have a lot of interesting and worthwhile dishes. Just a couple of notes to finish up...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE: There are many price options here. There are some very reasonable noodle soups for around $12 - $16 which make a meal in themselves. The dumplings are damn good. The homemade noodles are very authentic and worth the extra $3 you pay for them (rather than the "regular" noodles). The main dishes are a little more expensive than some Chinese restaurants but they are sized to share and are quite large. To back this up, we actually ended up taking home half the beef and three of the dumplings as well as the wonton soup. There was just too much food...

ANOTHER NOTE: The manager, even to me, comes across as a little stern, but she has a real care for her customers. When we collected the takeaway Wonton Soup at the end, which we'd mentioned was for Jan's lunch the next day, she had packaged the wontons and soup separately so they wouldn't stick together overnight, a measure of service that we didn't expect and really appreciated!

A "Breakfast" G&T

You know what it's like - some days you just feel like nothing more than a Gin & Tonic. But then you realise it's only 8.00am. 

 

Good news! Today I've got yet another of the great things you can do with gin: a "Breakfast" G&T or as it's more commonly known, a Marmalade G&T. Not to be confused with a "Breakfast" Martini...

The great thing about this is that you're, once again, likely to have all the ingredients kicking around somewhere in the kitchen. I've used a specific gin and tonic here but that's not essential. And the marmalade? Well I'm lucky that I make my own so always have a few jars around. Just use your favourite marmalade. Mine is that bitter-sweet Seville marmalade in the English style but anything is good. For the adventurous, grapefruit marmalade - which medication denies me access to - might be sensational!

It's a really easy one to make and you'll be surprised at how subtle it is. The marmalade doesn't take over and dominate, it's actually a very 3-dimensional drink. Proceed like this...

THE ORANGE MARMALADE GIN & TONIC

Ingredients

• 40ml Gin
• 10ml marmalade
• 5ml fresh lemon juice
• 120ml Fever Tree Elderflower tonic (or other tonic)
  
• Orange slice to garnish
  

Method

• Shake gin, marmalade and lemon juice with ice.
• Strain into a ice cube filled glass
• 
  Add tonic
• Garnish with an orange slice

There we go. I told you it was easy. It's also delicious and refreshing. I used The National Distillery Company Verdigris Dry Gin from Hawkes Bay and Fever Tree Elderflower tonic. I reckon that tonic is best with marmalade as the elderflower brings out the orange but it really doesn't matter - any tonic will make a lovely drink.