vanilla vodka, eh?

So my birthday was last Saturday...wahoo! I am now officially legal! And old...haha. A big bash was held at my casa; the fam was invited as well as a few friends. Lampshades were worn by all, and we even got a visit from our friendly neighborhood policeman. Just kidding, just kidding....seriously. :) It was pretty tame for a 21st birthday, and the craziest thing my friends and I did were lame attempts at pull-ups in a school playground circa 10pm. Oh, and eat sinfully dense and delicious chocolate cake.

So you might be wondering what this bottle of Absolut is doing on my wholesome baking blog. For one, who knew that the Absolut bottle was so pretty? So sleek and so elegant with that flowing script across the front? Well, my mom gave me a make-your-own vanilla extract kit. And what did it call for, but vodka! I never realized you could get drunk off of vanilla extract! Really, though, you can't...sorry to crush your hopes and dreams. Most vanilla extracts don't use vodka, though, unless they are the super duper fancy-expensive kinds. And the vodka explains why some of those vanilla extracts can, in fact, break your piggy bank. Not to mention that real vanilla beans aren't exactly cheap, either.

Making the vanilla extract was pretty easy. The kit came with its own vanilla beans, and all I had to do was split them lengthwise down the middle, stick them in the bottle, and get them drunk on vodka. It was my first time handling real vanilla beans, so, naturally, I took an obscene amount of vanilla-bean-closeups. But...they were all lost when transfering them to my computer. Boooo. :(

But anyway, these drunken vanilla beans will need to sit for 4-6 months before the extract is ready to be baked up into something delicious....what?! Yes. You heard me. 4-6 months. And in a cool, dark place. Long time, I know, but I'm sure that it will be the best vanilla extract ever. :) And the good news is, is that the extract is good for 7 years! Though I can guarantee that it will be all used up by then.