Some would say that music is passion made audible. I’d say it could be, but there’s a lot of distinctly passionless music out there as well. Be that as it may, the overlap is hard to ignore. So I won’t! For the first of today’s two readings, I give you a short series of quotes combining love and music. Continue reading
Aphrodisiacs: History, part 2
We now continue our little overview of aphrodisiac history. Let’s move (for now) from odd practices, and look at things people have tried that could more recognizably be called aphrodisiacs.
Margarita
Did you know there’s a National Margarita Day? There is in the United States, at least, where it is by far the most commonly consumed tequila-based drink. It’s been assigned (for reasons opaque to me) the date of February 22, which happens to be tomorrow! It is my solemn duty to be sure you’re ready for it.
Lemon Drop
This often gets lumped in with martinis. It’s not, really, but I won’t get into it now. What is indisputable is this: it’s delicious! Lemon trees all around me are begging me to lighten their load, and this should be a big help.
Beautiful
She was walking North as I walked South. I saw her for only a few moments. She was, objectively, plain. An unremarkable face, not blessed with much of a figure.
But she had a spring in her step. Her hair flowed in the light breeze and bounced a bit from her cheerful gait. An expression of gentle happiness was amplified by her smiling eyes.
She was beautiful.
Acrostics, An Introduction
An introduction to mine, that is. It’s very doubtful you haven’t come across such things before. As sonnets were to Elizabethans, acrostics are to me: a poetical diversion and an exercise in one. The variation in name length (I almost always base it on a name) inspires different solutions for meter and rhyme… if I decide to use either.
Presented here for your entertainment are a few acrostics. More will likely follow.
Aphrodisiacs: History, part 1
While most charms and spells have little to do with food, there are a few that touch on the subject of aphrodisia. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon said,
Fetch me that flower, the herb I show’d thee once;
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid
Will make man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Drink Recipes, Condensed
Perhaps the best benefit of attending a bartending school (as opposed to flailing about on one’s own) is learning the structure of drinks. This applies to the techniques of building them, the reason certain proportions work, and the similarities that exist between drinks. Knowing one recipe is often 80% of the way to knowing a few more, since they tend to develop one from another. I’ll introduce you to some cocktail families as we go.
Black For A Patron Saint
Yes, yes. I know what tomorrow is. You’d think this place would be all over it, wouldn’t you? One of my many goals here is to make a serious resource for such things. Continue reading
Seductive Vocabulary