Categories: uncategorized
Date: 17 December 2007 13:02:42
So tonight I was making rum balls using my grandmother's recipe. My grandmother is getting on and probably won't be making them this year. After tasting the mixture and doubling the rum content at my mother's urging, I began the rolling process. After I had made 51 balls, I ran out of chocolate sprinkles. Luckily there is a supermarket near me open until midnight. Unfortunately the restrictions on my license (first three years after passing test) require me to have a blood alcohol level of 0.000 max. If the machines went to 4 decimal places then it would be 0.0000. They initially said the limit was zero. I'm glad they've clarified how many significant figures are involved. While alcohol displays zero order pharmacokinetics (ie. rate of elimination is not dependent on concentration - it is usually about 10g (one standard drink) per hour) at most concentrations, at very low concentrations, the rate of elimination is first order (dependent on concentration). The concentration is hence perpetually approaching zero, but should never get there. This means that there is theoretically no such thing as "zero" blood alcohol in anyone who has ever had a drink, used mouthwash, taken cough medicine that uses ethanol as a solvent, eaten rum balls...
The rum balls on their own would not have put me above 0.0004. However earlier in the evening I had a piece of my mother's Unusually Potent Fruitcake. This cake is unusually potent because a) the fruit and brandy were put in a bowl to soak overnight. Unfortunately the next morning my grandmother was not well. Hence it remained soaking for two weeks, with my mother adding more brandy each day and b) when the cake came out of the oven holes were jabbed in it and more brandy poured over.
So while evaporation occurs, it seems likely that the total amount of alcohol still present in the cake is rather high. Don't get mee wrong, it's a delicious cake. But it is the most potent fruitcake I've ever had.
Anyway, cake + rumballs = probably too much alcohol to go and buy chocolate sprinkles. Luckily my father is permitted a blood alcohol level of 0.05 so he was able to drive me to the supermarket to get sprinkles to continue my rum ball production.
The end.