SIR HENDRIK’S

Hotel Andaz on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam has only been open for a year and a half. Before that, I often came here to return my borrowed books, some unread and way too late. Back then, it was actually the Public Library. Now you can plop yourself down on a comfy couch or chair and order a cocktail. Or you can reserve a table in the restaurant and then book a nice room. It’s a wonderfully large, comfortable hotel with incredibly funny art.

To make this cocktail at home, you need quite a few complicated ingredients, but you can buy them all at the liquor store around the corner. And if you find it a bit too much trouble, there’s a really nice bartender willing to make it for you.

What do you need and how do you make it:

• 45ml Hendrick’s
• 15ml Falernum
• 10ml Segerian
• 15ml Citrus sap
• 1 scheutje Tabasco
• 1 Eiwit
• Komkommer Muddlen

Put ice cubes in a tall cocktail glass (one of those glasses where Carrie always drinks her cosmopolitans) to chill it. Put a few pieces of cucumber, without skin, in the cocktail shaker and crush them with a muddler (a stick you can use to mash greens and fruit), then break an egg and add only the egg white to the cucumber. You can throw away the yolk. Then add the other ingredients and shake it up.

Empty the glass of the ice cubes and use a strainer to pour the drink into it.

Garnish it with a slice of lemon or cucumber or whatever. I’m bummed just like last week, because I’m still on the detox. In five days I can let loose again. Shall we have one together then?