“Sacrilege!” they say!
“Indecency!” they say!
“Like another?” I say.
Your humble host very much enjoyed the Edgar Allen Poe we looked at toward the beginning of the month, with its classical references dense with meaning. Implication and reference are crucial to the poetic mindset, because it allows a lot to be said with a few carefully assembled words. It does, however, require some knowing in order to make any sense of it, when they are literary or historical references.
I am informed, reliably as it happens, that last week’s recipe is not the only one that goes by Perfect Storm. In fact, there are at least a few! The only other one I’ve found that sounds tempting, though, is this variation on the delicious Dark and Stormy. In fact, I’m off to make one, now.
This is one of those items best stirred in a mixing glass and poured over ice.
The Perfect Storm (cider)
· old fashioned, ice, vanilla sugar-rimmed
2 dark rum (pref. Gosling’s Black)
1½ apple cider
1 ginger beer
– ½ vanilla bean (opt.)
Omar Khayyam may have been speaking metaphorically in this little quatrain. If you sit or walk in the Garden, though, full of birds and flowers and fresh breezes, it is exactly how it feels.
Come, fill the cup, and in the fire of spring
Your winter garment of repentance fling.
The bird of time has but a little way
To flutter – and the bird is on the wing.
(Omar Khayyam)
Last week’s Grand Marnier shot put me in mind of the other ways to enjoy that venerable liqueur. Its sweetness and mouthfeel are important to consider when using it, and it shouldn’t be used as a triple sec stand-in unless those changes are wanted. It is its own creature with its own personality.
Today’s cocktail looks to be a variation on the Dark and Stormy, with refinements afterward. I’m quite honestly unsure about how the drink came to be, but I’m glad it did: it’s the perfect thing for a warm spring day.
The Perfect Storm
· highball, ice
juice of ¼ lime, in 2 wedges
1½ Grand Marnier
3 ginger beer
3 dashes Angostura bitters
orange peel strip
Stir lime and Grand Marnier, leaving spent wedges in glass. Fill ice. Build ginger beer and bitters. Twist orange over drink, rub rim, and drop into drink.
Be sure to use a spicy (that is, ginger-heavy) ginger beer.
It’s been a while since a Dickinson poem has come along that your host found interesting enough to our topics here for mention. Yet, here she is again, explaining in brief eloquence what so, so many simply do not understand – even fearfully object to – unless they are in love at the moment, themselves.
Grand Marnier held a contest of sorts during March, their “Mixer Madness” in which Twitter followers voted on what mixer they prefer to use with the famous orange liqueur. That pineapple juice won is perhaps no big surprise. Orange and pineapple have been fast friends for many years.
A silly start, whether a reference to the epic Queen song or an epic New Orleans sandwich, but here we are. It’s really about Edgar Allen Poe, well known for spooky stories and poetry, and less known for romantic verse.