Edible Tulip

Hoegaarden

Sometimes a beer, like a certain smell or piece of music, can evoke all sorts of feelings and memories. Last night my evening out began just after 11 p.m. 8 years ago I would have been listening to Rachmaninoff and smoking and making a collage of cut and paste words at 11 p.m. 5 years ago I would've been at my typewriter in some foreign country drinking Georgian red wine and smoking Russian made Marlboroughs in a dirty apartment block building at 11 p.m. 3 years ago I would've been in front of a hot burning woodstove in overalls playing boardgames after cooking dinner for our country neighbours and getting ready to take a pre-bedtime bundled up walk through the woods at 11 p.m. 1 year ago I was in such anguish over a decision that I had to make that for 3 months every night at 11 p.m. was like every other hour, and every other second, eternal and damning. I've gone off on a tangent. Hoegaarden beer started my evening last night. It's a tangy, slightly carbonated beer that goes down oh so easily and leaves a faint citrus taste on the tongue rather than a bitter coating like a Heineken. It's naturally cloudy as though fruit zest has been added which apparently it has - the spicy hint is from orange peel and coriander. Delicious! If you like complex white wine then this is a perfect drink to make the transition to beer.

Summer Cocktails

The great thing about booze is that it isn't necessarily seasonal. I mean a beer by a lake on a hot summer night is as good as a beer after a sauna after a long cross-country ski. Red wine is great with hearty wintry stews but it's also great with pizza late at night sitting shutting down an August day. Champagne? Goes with everything. Including baths. My personal favourite. My summer white wines are pinot grigio and Burgundian blends and Ontario rieslings whereas my winter whites are mostly gewurtz. and new world chardonnays. Cocktails? Cocktails may be the one drink I hardly venture toward in the winter. Although sweet vermouth on ice with an orange peel is yummy. As is a negroni. My dad makes the best (verified by at least a dozen friends) gin/vodka and tonic/soda drink in Ontario. Maybe even further afoot. It's his exceptional knack for balance of flavour and a deep abiding respectful love of booze. I can do a sangria pitcher on a leafy patio with a girlfriend. I'm not a martini fan. I don't love vodka. But I do love campari. I've found people either adore or despise the bitter syrupy almost pomegranate taste of campari. A shot of campari with a douse of soda and fresh lemon or lime on ice is great sitting in the grass, hanging out in a tree branch, sitting on a mossy stump. I love it because it's full of a complicated simplicity - Dorothy Parker floating down the river in a canoe.

Christmas Champagne

And a very Merry Christmas to you all!

A glass of champagne in a tall red flute embossed with gold is a fine way to bring in an eve any time of year but especially amidst the flurry of holiday activity around Christmas. What better to help a girl unwind then a cheap bottle of champagne and a bath?

I'm drinking Seaview Brut Champagne out of Australia. It went for $11.45 CDN LCBO #216333 at the liquor store. A steal considering it actually has an earthy, grassy, embracing, full bodied, satisfying, not to sweet bite to its bubble. And that's what I like in a man, er, a champagne.

The Green Angel -- or absinthe unveiled

Vintages (the fine wine and spirits division of the LCBO in Ontario) has a pastis in its June release (release B, June 21 2004) called Pastis Janot. A pastis is made from macerating herbs and spices in a neutral alcohol base. Pernod, also an anise seed flavoured alcohol, is made from distillation rather than maceration. Both were created after the banning of absinthe in Paris around 1910 and both have that distinctive aniseed/licorice flavour. Of course you can still find absinthe in bars in Europe and elsewhere but its made from the leaves not the root of the wormwood plant. Thujone is a toxic chemical that is found in wormwood and it has the same molecular make up as THC (the chemical found in marijuana). Absinthe is also made from distillation using wormwood, aniseed, hyssop, fennel (aniseed), angelica root. Absinthe is a lovely _wizard of the oz_ emerald green in its pure essence but, like pastis, turns a murky white when mixed with 2 parts water. Hmm, a perfect pre-dinner drink, great for digestive reflexes.

I think the Russians should be introduced to absinthe in its original incarnation. When I was there the aura was excessively moody and intense. There was a sense of desperation in the kids (oh, because they were about 15 and looking like they should be playing with fireworks) who guarded each bank terminal an AK47s to the babushkas selling grated spicy carrots at the metro. I think in Red Square every Friday night they should have gigantic pitchers of absinthe for the public to drink while the military band practices. I say this out of pure love for the complicated passionate spirit of Russians who need a little something to rejoice in. If we can’t cure the Russians of their malaise we might as well drink to them.

Martini Europa

½ oz Pernod
2 oz vodka
2 oz cranberry juice
shake DO NOT STIR and garnish with an orange peel