engagement party; spicy ginger soda recipe

Whew! It's been a busy couple of weeks. Last weekend was our engagement party at my mom's house with our parents, close friends, and relatives.  I'd never been to my own engagement party before (huh?) so I will admit I was painfully nervous beforehand.  Like, cry-for-no-reason-and-pretend-there's-just-something-in-your-eye nervous. Sure, I've been to parties before, but this felt like really uncharted territory. Garret and I, the precipitous for a party? Garret and I usually blend in at parties. We're like, those people you didn't realize were at the party.  Plus, I hadn't had an event where all of my worlds were present at once in many moons. Well, actually, in any moons. 

I'm happy to say that I am a total freak, by which I mean there was nothing to worry about.  The party was absolutely wonderful and although I may have thought going in that having all of the people that make up my universe in one place was going to be somehow scary, what it was instead was absolutely wonderful.  How lucky are we that we have such amazing people in our lives, and that we got to see so many of them them on one day?

I'm making a photo album of the pictures which I'll post someday, but I don't have everyone's photos compiled yet.  Here's my favorite, though. I'm not sure why I love it so much.... I just do!  I think it's one of my favorites mainly because I didn't realize it was being taken, but we still look like we're having a good time (because we were!).

Between Garret snapping photos and our family and friends doing the same, we got some great shots.  Though, I will say that we learned a very important lesson at the engagement party -- we definitely need a photographer with a head on his/her shoulders for the wedding! I can't believe how many opportunities we missed by way of group photos. We were all having fun in the moment, and we forgot to get some very important shots!! Luckily we'll get to see everyone again in a year :)

After the party, Garret headed to the city for a couple of days of work, which meant I was up on the mountain by myself. I'm not complaining, honestly - it was nice to have a few hermit days following the whirlwind weekend. It also afforded me time to flip through the various recipes I've saved onto Pinterest as "(yes please) food" inspirations. I decided it was high time I actually tried making one.

I went with ginger soda, mostly because in the days prior I had seen several other blogs feature ginger syrup recipes and I was very intrigued.  The one I ended up going with was a spicy ginger soda, which was touted as a "hangover cure".  I haven't had a hangover so I can't speak for its curing qualities (and seeing if this soda is actually a cure doesn't seem a good enough reason to delve into a crazy night followed by a pounding headache).  Hangover cure or not, though, it's really delicious and refreshing.  A perfect (different) treat for summer.

I strayed a little bit, but not too far, from the original recipe... though the pictures with that one are much fancier than mine, so I do recommend taking a look.  For good measure though, I'll include the process here, as well.

Spicy Ginger Soda


You will need: 
-  Fresh ginger, peeled and chopped -- the original recipe said "six inches" - I went with two large knots (ginger looks like something out of Harry Potter!)
-   Red pepper flakes - 5 tsp (it seems like a lot but it's worth it!)
-  1 cup of white sugar
-  Club soda or ginger ale (Club soda if you don't want a ginger overload, ginger ale if you are like me and apparently do)

The original recipe also called for 1/4 tsp of salt, which I skipped.

Here's what you do: 
-  Fill a pot with two cups of water and turn it on high
-  While the water is heating up, add your ginger, red pepper flakes, and sugar.
-  Let it come to a boil, and then turn it down to a simmer. The original recipe said to simmer for ten minutes... I went more like twenty.  I wanted the flavors to really seep.
-  Remove the pot from heat and let it sit, covered, until it cools. In the winter this would be quick but when I made it, this took an hour or two.
-  Strain the syrup so that you remove the red pepper flakes and ginger chunks. I bet there's something wonderful you could do with the leftover bits (candied ginger?) but I... threw it all out.
-  Put the syrup in a jar (this is where Ball jars come in handy!) and put it in the fridge.  It'll last forever (it's only been five days since I made this... I'd say 5 more and then I'll toss it).
-  To make an actual soda, fill a cup with ice an add two or three tablespoons of the syrup to the ice.  Pour soda over the ice and stir.  Delicious!

spicy ginger soda

Ginger is known to soothe the stomach (is this the hangover aspect?).  I've decided it's also a good nerves buster, since before the party I went to the Brattleboro Farmer's Market and got fresh squeezed lemonade with ginger syrup in it, and it made me feel better about the world for at least thirty minutes.


<3 lsm