Absinthe friends

Through Fuelmyblog I've had the chance to sample some absinthe from Absinthe-Shop. What's that got to do with language use and journalism? Well, I could mention the (tired) stereotype of hard-drinking journalists, or talk about the connection between absinthe and writers such as Arthur Rimbaud and Guy de Maupassant. But really, I just wanted to try the absinthe.

What I got to sample was La Clandestine, a Swiss 'la bleue' absinthe (which is neither blue, nor indeed green, but clear). It also came with a metal absinthe spoon:

Absinthe-Shop has this to say on the "traditional method" of preparing absinthe:

A 1 ounce / 30 ml measure (also known as a ‘dose’) of absinthe is poured into a glass. A flat, slotted spoon is placed across the rim of the glass and a sugar cube added on top of the spoon. Add — slowly — 3 to 5 parts iced water to the drink, pouring directly onto the sugar cube.

It emerges that in our modern society it is now harder to obtain sugar cubes than absinthe, so I had to use granulated sugar instead - which didn't work particularly well with the slotted absinthe spoon. (Talking of spoons, the next time you are in a greasy one, pocket a few sugar cubes. You never know when you might need them.)

Despite this hitch, the best part about drinking absinthe is the ritual. It's up there with making a pot of tea or brewing coffee with a French press - except more boozy.

For my girlfriend Sarah, who also took part in this madcap endeavour, the best part is watching the absinthe change colour. It starts off clear:

Then, when the water is poured in, the drink turns opaque (and yes, magically transforms one glass into two):

This process is called the louche.

So I'd better talk about the taste. We tried the absinthe both with and without sugar because bleue absinthes often have a natural sweetness (I was told in the tasting notes). And actually, that turned out to be true - the absinthe was not at all bitter unsweetened. Sarah did find that "the sugar took away the alcoholic hit at the back of your throat".

Despite being promised an array of herbal flavours, all I could taste was anise - probably because of my undeveloped absinthe palate. Having said that, Sarah and I both found the absinthe surprisingly smooth, and we agreed that we would rather drink La Clandestine than ouzo, say, or Pernod.

Plus, you don't get to use a slotted spoon with any of those lesser anise-flavoured drinks.

And no, it didn't send me crazy.


Engine Room readers who want to buy absinthe or absinthe accessories get 10% off at Absinthe-Shop until 30 June. The offer excludes items already on sale or discounted. Input this voucher code into the box on the My Cart page to apply: FMBLUV10

Blogger Bognor!

I've tried to cut down on the product reviews on this blog, but when FuelMyBlog gave me and my girlfriend the opportunity to visit the Butlins resort in the seaside town of Bognor Regis, I couldn't say no.

Admittedly, the one and only time I'd been to a Butlins was on a school trip to Minehead about 15 years ago. I got caught up in a disagreement between some kids from my school and some rather older kids from another school, and was either headbutted or punched in the face (eye-witness reports varied, and I was left in no fit state to remember).

So this time round, as you can imagine, I was relieved that my girlfriend and I would be going on an adults-only weekend (no, not that kind of adults-only) and staying in a hotel rather than a chalet: the ship-shaped Shoreline.

It was a pleasant surprise: clean, spacious, well equipped. We didn't make much use of the room's "separate kids’ area with junior bunk beds and TV", but we appreciated little touches such as the Fairtrade teabags and the nice toiletries; the friendly hotel bar staff also offered to bring drinks up to the room at no extra cost. And the buffet breakfast was mighty fine, with a spectrum of hot and cold options.

Oh, here's the room's very accurately named "partial sea view":



The entertainment laid on as part of the Butlins 'Big Weekend' was a little boisterous for us (although we approved of the on-site cinema and shops), so we used the hotel more as a base to explore Bognor and the surrounds.

Highlights included Hotham House, in Hotham Park, just a stroll from Butlins. This was once the residence of Sir Richard Hotham, the chap who turned Bognor into a resort at the tail end of the 18th century. The house is now flats, but the Georgian exterior remains intact:



The nearby village of Felpham was also notable, especially for its fine pubs - one of which, the Fox Inn, was once the scene of an unfortunate altercation between the poet William Blake and a drunken sailor. But really, what can you do with a drunken sailor?

Blake ended up before the crown court charged with sedition - which I suppose puts my teenage scrape at Butlins into perspective. Not that I had any trouble this time round, I must add.

In which JD orders a takeaway over the internet

OK, this is the last product review for a while. I promise!

Last weekend, FuelMyBlog gave me the opportunity to test out Just-Eat.co.uk gratis. In a nutshell, it's a website that lets you order takeaways over the internet. Handy if you're stuck subbing a supplement until late in the evening.

Tap in your postcode and Just-Eat lists a selection of takeaways that will deliver to you. Refine your search by selecting a 'Type of Food' (we went for Chinese), pick a restaurant, read customer reviews, browse the menu and then place your order. That's pretty much it, apart from this good things/bad things list:


Good things about Just-Eat.co.uk

• You can order a takeaway without having to speak to anyone. Handy if you are antisocial, have a sore throat, or always argue with your partner about whose turn it is to phone.

• You can pay for your takeaway with your debit or credit card when you order it. But if you want to pay with cash when the food turns up, that's fine too.

• As you select your dishes from the menu, the website provides you with a running total so you know how much you're spending. No more maths!

• Just-Eat has a loyalty scheme: eat food, earn points. Mind you, who needs another reason to scoff more prawn crackers?

• The menu you're looking at is up to date. That's better than spending 20 minutes picking a dish only to phone up the takeaway and be told it's not on available any more.

Bad things about Just-Eat.co.uk

• Not every local takeaway is signed up. I'm guessing the service might not be so great in rural areas - but I live in London so can't say for sure.

• After you place your order, there's a nerve-racking wait as Just-Eat contacts the takeaway. We had no problems, but it was a pretty scary 60 seconds or so.

• It's trickier to browse an online menu than it is to browse a printed one. Those slow web reading speeds get me every time!
  

• Not much use if you live in the States...
  

Love, Death, Madness, and an American Biography

I've recently finished reading The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus, a biography of Mark Roget by the Boston-based writer Joshua Kendall. You have to love that title.

The book made for a pacy read - partly because of Kendall's writing, partly because of Roget's surprisingly eventful life.

In his twenties, for example, Roget was staying in French-occupied Geneva when war broke out between France and England; Napoleon ordered the imprisonment of British nationals, turning Roget into a détenu. Only by first declaring himself a citizen of Geneva and then... oh, but I won't spoil it for you.

Instead, what I'd like to blog about is the experience of being an Englishman reading the biography of a famous Englishman written by a writer who is (I assume) an American writing primarily for an American readership. Phew!

For example, Kendall has to explain some things that the average Brit would know, such as the meaning of 'Mancunians':

Perhaps that’s why so many Mancunians (the Latin-derived term for Manchester citizens) gravitated towards the teachings of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism

Of course, I can't criticise him for this. I did, however (and perhaps unaccountably) find some of his Americanisms jarring - especially this use of 'write':

From Cornwall, she wrote Mrs. Reid, “We three get on capitally together. I am sure Kate is already better and enjoying all enthusiastically."

Kendall also uses the least formal style I've ever come across in a biography. For example:

On Saturday, July 16, 1803, Roget learned that the French weren’t kidding. After several weeks of issuing threats, they had finally stepped up their aggression toward all foreign nationals.

Or:

Roget was also overwhelmed with anger. He couldn’t believe that a Frenchman was forcing him out of the city where his father had been born. A Frenchman was kicking him out of Switzerland!

I don't know if this is how American biographers usually write, but I found it surprising. To be fair, Kendall does admit in his acknowledgements:

This book is not meant to be a scholarly biography. Though all the scenes are based on actual events, in several instances, where primary source material was lacking, I offered my best approximation of specific details.

So The Man Who Made Lists is, if you like, the TV re-enactment of the biography world: Crimewatch with added classification.

I might even send it on to Apus to see what he makes of it.

• The Man Who Made Lists at Penguin.com (USA)

Nora Batty comes from Iffyton. Eeh ba gum!

My girlfriend is from the East Midlands so no doubt finds it hilarious whenever I talk about her 'northern accent' and pretend she says such things as 'eeh ba gum'.

She got her own back on me recently, however. FuelMyBlog gave me the chance to review online t-shirt retailer Iffyton High Street and in an unprecedented fit of generosity I said she could pick a t-shirt of her choice. Here's the design she opted for:


British readers of this blog you will probably recognise this formidable lady as the character Nora Batty from the long-running TV sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. As Wikipedia says, Nora "is proudly devoted to strict housework, and stands as a monument to classic northern women".

Not only that, but my girlfriend modelled the t-shirt in the style of a stereotypical northern housewife, complete with rollers, broom and scowl:


So I should say something about Iffyton now. The website is quite funky - it's a virtual high street (AmE: main street) where each 'shop' offers a different type or theme of t-shirt. The Nora Batty shirt, appropriately, came from the 'It's Grim Up North' shop.

Ordering was simple and delivery was remarkably quick (a couple of days). Being a skinflint I normally buy plain tees in packs of three from Primark but my girlfriend assures me that the Iffyton prices are "in the upper end of reasonable" (£12.99 plus P&P for Nora).

Iffyton is a new venture from Totally Original T-Shirts, an established retailer that I believe makes tees for rock bands. There are certainly a lot of music t-shirts available through Iffyton, for bands from The Smiths to Slipknot.

The Nora t-shirt seems to be of good quality but my only concern is how well it will wash; the design looks as if it might start to flake off after not too long. It's too early to say, though, so I'll give an update after Nora has been through the machine a couple of times.

My girlfriend would like to add that the range of t-shirts for women is "not massive" but that she liked the virtual high street concept. Oh, and there's something I'd like to say to her. All together now:

Eeh ba gum!

Caffeine and the production desk

Tea and coffee are big deals on my production desk, and among the editorial staff as a whole. I suspect that this is one of those trends that runs right through journalism.

In my workplace, the coffee drinkers take it in turns to pop downstairs to Starbucks and get the coffee, while the tea drinkers take it in turns to go over to the 'breakout area' and make the tea. Some people take more turns than others, but I'm not going to name names here.

I'm one of the tea crowd - and I have to admit to drinking mostly red (rooibos) tea rather than black tea. This is simply because I can drink six, seven, eight mugs of rooibos with no ill effects whereas too many caffeinated drinks can make me over-excitable. And an over-excitable sub is no fun for anyone.

So while I do sometimes drink coffee (after a meal in a restaurant, or sometimes at home), when Fuelmyblog gave me the opportunity to review some coffee from CoffeeBeanShop.co.uk, I thought I'd better get the opinion of a coffee-loving colleague. And who better than our web editor? After all, much like a caffeine addict (and New York), the internet never sleeps.

Also, he has a cafetiere at work and I don't.

Anyway, I was sent a packet of 'Mocha Guatemala Espresso Blend' coffee beans and we duly put them to the test. My colleague described the coffee as "almost floral" with a "chocolatey aftertaste", and remarked that it didn't exactly match the description provided by CoffeeBeanShop. A little unfair, perhaps, as this talked of "floral and rustic tones" and a "mixed chocolatey and earthy body".

The long coffee we made worked better than the espresso, but we put this down to the coffee-making equipment we were using and our inability to grind the beans fine enough (or something). You can see I've got this product review lark off to a tee!

One thing that did impress my colleague was the fact that the coffee beans arrived in the post two days after they were roasted. The packet even had a 'roasted on' date printed on the side to prove it. Apparently coffee connoisseurs consider this a Very Good Thing - although in the interests of fairness I should point out that CoffeeBeanShop isn't the only retailer to ship freshly roasted beans. Our web editor recommends Has Bean Coffee as an alternative.

Right, I think it's time for a hot drink...

Product review: Azor from King of Shaves

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about blogging and product reviews, and how through Fuelmyblog I've been given the chance to review some slightly more mainstream products than pinhole glasses and e-books about facial tics.

Hopefully I can use this opportunity to find out more about the whole 'blogger review' business, as well as get some goodies to give away to Engine Room readers.

Anyway.

I can reveal that the first product I've been sent for review is an Azor razor (as pictured on the right) from King of Shaves. It came in a nice little media/presentation pack with shaving gel and a CD of logos and images - plus-points for KOS there, as it means I don't have to inflict my photography on anyone today.

I have to admit that I already use King of Shaves tea tree shaving gel (although the company didn't know that). Being tea tree, it's quite tingly, and it doesn't foam much, so I can see what I'm doing when I'm shaving. That's all I have to say about shaving gel.

As for the razor itself, it looks like something from a 1970s vision of the future - a good thing in my book. It's light, and being smooth plastic it doesn't get grubby. Most importantly, I've not managed to cut myself with it once in three weeks of use. This might be down to its rather odd 'tuning fork' shape, which means I have to hold the razor quite far down the handle. Makes shaving my top lip a bit tricky, though.

Moving on to the marketing side of things, I'd like to mention one of the slogans KOS is using to promote the Azor: "Prepare to shave closer, longer, for less." Shave closer: well, yes, great, as long as I don't cut myself more. For less: less money or less effort, either is good. But shave longer? Why on earth would I want to do that?

(I can only assume that it means the blades and/or handle last longer than the competitors'.)

And in the promotional material I was sent there's a quote that includes a nice portmanteau. "'Wilkinette' have a brilliant future behind them'," says the designer's dad.

Lessons learnt:

• Companies with good products are indeed willing to send them out to blogs for review.
  
• Those companies should include media packs with information and photos.
• Portmanteaux are good. Ambiguous promotional slogans, less so.
• It's OK to quote your dad sometimes.
  

Overall, I have to say the Azor is a winner. Hopefully I'll be sent something bad to review next time so I can really slate it and see whether that effects my chances of getting further products.

One last thing. I know I said I would try to give away any review copies of products to readers of the blog, but I doubt anyone would want a used razor. And if anyone did want a used razor, that would suggest they were exactly the sort of person not to be trusted with a used razor. So I'm keeping this one for myself.

The Engine Room and product reviews

One consequence of writing an even slightly popular blog (and trust me, The Engine Room is only slightly popular) is that manufacturers ask you to review their products in the hope of a favourable write-up and some cheap publicity. In return, you get to keep the copies or samples of whatever it is you review, and – hopefully – give your readers some valuable information.

In my time with this blog, I've been asked to review a few unusual things, including a pair of pinhole glasses and an e-book about facial tics.

I did say yes to reviewing the pinhole glasses – not least because they were said to help with eyestrain, which is something that subs can suffer from – but when they arrived, I so utterly failed to get on with them that I could only attribute it to my short-sightedness (literal, not metaphorical). As a result, I felt it unfair to review the product.

I said no to the e-book about facial tics because I've never had a facial tic and know no one with a facial tic. Unsurprisingly, I felt unqualified to review the book.

I've also said no a couple of times to manufacturers asking me to review their products in return for a payment. This seems to me tantamount to bribery.

***

Recently, however, I was given the opportunity to review some bigger-name products through Fuelmyblog. I said yes to this, and received my first sample late last week (more on that in another post).

I'd like to take a moment to explain why I said yes to reviewing products that will often have no direct connection to language use, publishing or the media.

Firstly, I like free stuff. There, I admit it. And it's not like I get paid for writing this blog. However I'm sure you like free stuff too, so I'm hoping to give away as many of my product samples as possible to readers of The Engine Room – and I'm thinking of possible competitions as I write this.

Editrix gives away mugs to readers who spot mistakes on her blog, but I'm not brave enough to do that...

Secondly, I'm fascinated by this whole 'blogger product review' business and want to find out more about it. What's the best thing I can be sent for review? What's the strangest? And if I write negative reviews, will I be sent fewer products? In short, can blog reviews be trusted?

Thirdly, most products come with packaging and that means marketing. Could be some fun there.

The only thing left to say is that I'll try to review products fairly, if somewhat idiosyncratically. And I'll never take cash for a product review (cheques are fine).