Vodka and berries

Ingredients; vodka 1 bottle (75cl), berries 500 gr, sugar 175 gr.

Rinse the berries, remove the stalks. Fill a jar with the berries, sugar and vodka, as simple as that. Make sure to use a jar with an airtight lid. Store in a cool dark place, stir once every few weeks until the sugar is dissolved. Store for at least 6 months, you can easily leave it for up to a year. When you decide on drinking it, strain through a metal colander. Store in a glass bottle with a tight cap.
Best served cool.
You can use almost any berry (strawberries don't work for me). Add a little more sugar when using sour berries, about 50 gr.
For a little kick. Infuse your vodka with a chili pepper. Just add a red chili pepper to your vodka the day before, and remove it when you fill the jar!

Feed me; floating market style...

Fruit vendors at Halong Bay, Vietnam. Coming from a local market, these mainly sell to tourist boats. You need to bargain hard though.

Cherries in syrup

Ingredients; sour cherries 1 kg. for the syrup; water 1 L, white sugar 100 gr, raw cane sugar 175 gr, juice of one lemon, dry white wine 10cl. Empty jars.

Bring water to the boil add the sugar, white wine and half the lemon juice. Boil for 5 to10 minutes and add more lemon juice if you like.
Wash the cherries and remove the stalks. Fill the jars with cherries and fill up with syrup. Close the jars. Take a large cooking pot add a few cm of water. Place the jars in the cooking pot close the lid. Bring to the boil, and cook for 8 minutes. Take the jars out of the cooking pot. Let them cool down up side down. Store in a cool dark place.

Feed me: Hama, juice shop.

Spend a few days in Hama, Syria. Met this man in his Juice shop and we had late night conversations for a few days. Sitting outside his shop he told me his story, back in 2000 I think. Wonder what became of him, Hama and ....