Category Archives: Drinks

Pimm’s off!

Posted in Blogathon, Drinks by
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Mine

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Jen’s go-to Pimm’s cup

What happens when two people in one book club love the same British liquor only prepared differently?

Why they have a Pimm’s off, of course.

I’ve written about Pimm’s before, the quintessential summer English drink I fell in love with during a summer in London. I’ve long prepared it the way pubs there serve a Pimm’s cup (or a jug of Pimm’s, with friends): with lemonade, strawberries, cucumbers and mint.

But book club Jen takes a much simpler — perhaps, Americanized — approach: with ginger ale and lemonade.

We tried my version first. “You win,” Jen quickly declared.

But Jen’s, Sandhya noted, was “more Pimm’s-y.”

(And mixed much stronger, I might add.)

Really, is there a wrong way to drink Pimm’s on a summer’s night? Personally, I think not, especially when it’s paired with good friends and a good book.

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‘It’s Pimm’s o’clock!’

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Four summers ago, I spent a warm and sunny afternoon on the south bank of the River Thames, at London’s famous Anchor pub, enjoying a Pimm’s cup — the quintessential English summer drink. I’m not sure if it was the mysterious gin-based liqueur mixed with lemonade, strawberries, cucumbers and mint, the breezy Katie Fforde novel I couldn’t put down, or just being on a solo adventure in such an amazing city, but that afternoon is one I look back on often and smile.

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Days like that simply can’t be recreated. But now that Pimm’s is available in the United States, my favorite drink can. And when I saw garden cucumbers and Michigan strawberries at the farmer’s market last Saturday, I knew it was “Pimm’s o’clock.”

Unfortunately, Mike doesn’t partake in Pimm’s. He claims the concoction, which ends up being brown with stuff floating in it, looks like “a garbage disposal backed up.” When we first started dating, he refilled my glass and tossed in his beer cap to further demonstrate his point. Yum.

So, I made a pitcher (a “jug of Pimm’s” in London-speak) the other night for my friend Kim and me. While the view from our back porch doesn’t exactly compare with the one from the patio of The Anchor, it was still a lovely night. And a lovely drink.