'Bout that lemongrass...

So, remember that lemongrass that I left in the shower to chill until I could get back to it?

Yeah, I got back to it, and spent about 3 hours finagling with the blasted thing, cutting it, taking apart the bulbs/clumps, and simply washing it.  After quite a few days in there it still was housing its own little eco-system and the slugs came tearing all out.

I ended up bringing the food processor INTO the bathroom because I was in no mood to carry dripping piles of lemongrass nearly 4 feet long across the house into the kitchen.

Oh, and as it turns out and I should have thought about this before starting, lemongrass leaves do not process well.  I saved the bulbs whole in the freezer because they have the most flavor and are great on their own, but the leaves... yes...  instead  of my brilliant plant of finely shredded lemongrass, I got a massive spool of it looped around the processor blades >_<.

I had to get my hand in there a million times to turn the shredded stuff to the top and the hoops of lemongrass to the bottom.   Much aggravation.  After I completed the leaves of one clump I said, "screw it, this is too painful," and decided that I would not process the other clump I am saving in a pot to overwinter in the house.

I didn't need the leaves of the clump in the pot and I knew that it'd do better if I gave it a haircut so that the rest of the plant could get a fresh start indoors and not be too stressed (and start pushing out fresh new leaves for me).   I just couldn't deal with anymore lemongrass!

The idea of just chucking it in the compost bin made me feel guilty (it's so precious, worth it's weight in...um, expensive grocery store lemongrass?) and thought about donating it to the local Vietnamese restaurant, but realized that they might not accept non-grocery store produce, but instead fell upon the idea of just giving it to a friend who was having a party and that was that :)

No guilt and no shame!

The great thing about processing all the lemongrass was that the bathroom and the house smelled obviously lemony fresh.   The bad news is that my bathroom looked like this:

 Blargh.  Mother visiting in 3 days and counting... Maybe it would be easier to just tell her in third world countries many people use the sink?  Just kidding!  I'll clean it up *grumble, grumble*

(DON'T FORGET, LABEL/TAG GIVEAWAY STILL OPEN UNTIL END OF THIS WEEK so comment if you'd like to be in the running!)

Lavender Vodka

What can you use for cleaning, your hair and is delicious?

Lavender Vodka!

Yep, I had some Munstead lavender in bloom (Munstead is good for this location with its high heat/humidity) and have yet to use it in my evil plans of making lavender vanilla creme brulee, so I decided to allow the soon fading blooms to soak in a recycled Frank's Hot Sauce bottle with some cheap vodka.

There the alcohol will draw out the flavor/scent and be great for cleaning (as the high alcohol content is a disinfectant), you can get rid of cat pee stains from it (use plain vodka with this one), spray it on clothes to freshen them up (the alcohol smell fades completely away), in your hair to make it smell good and remove product buildup, and make lavender-tinis.

The taste of a lavender martinis (I know, I know, REAL martinis are made from gin, yada yada, and this is especially true for the hibiscus martinis... if you want the recipe you'll have to ask) is pretty floral to the EXTREME, so take caution when using.

Cheers!