The Queen of Clubs

Today is the Birthday of a young woman named Louise. Louise, when said, rolls symphonicly of the tongue, and whose name means "Famous in war". So when thinking of a drink name, I wanted to grab every quality of Louise and then add the definitions which will enhance the drink. When you hear about a woman who is "Famous in war" - you immediately think of a Heroine - or - other great women of courage and virtue. These would be women such as St. Joan of Arc, Queen Isabella, Eowyn in Lord of the Rings, Jane Eyre, and Irene Sendler (just to name a few). So this elixir of life must have a name that has some sort of regal quality that matches the person it is named after. Therefore I chose the name "Queen of Clubs" otherwise I would have gone with just "Lady Louise". But the Queen of Clubs is regal and yet has a strong will attached to it, especially with weapons in which a heroine can defend herself with. But also the Queen of Clubs has a background that I believe mirrors the life of theWoman in whom this drink is being named after. Let me explain:

Within mysticism, the Queen of Clubs is known as "The Mother of Intuition Card", and takes qualities from both the Queen and Clubs. Queens are considered to have a subservient nature (however, the Queen of Spades "don't know the meaning of subservience let alone play the part", and male Queen of Spades can also have a temper). This, coupled with the mental nature of clubs associates this card with "publishing trade, secretarial work, or...psychic work". As Queens, they are aware of their place in society

(the "royal court"), and resist change in character. As the Three of Hearts is its displaced card, The Queen of Clubs represents "indecision about love and friendship" and means its is hard for them to find success in these areas. The card is also known as the "Mother Mary" as many of have children who they are forced to make sacrifices for, ("just as the Virgin Mary had to undergo the sacrifice of her son Jesus"). The Queen of Clubs "often has two jobs and does best where there is some creative expression and freedom of movement". While they are very organised, they live life at a frantic pace which can often leave them stressed out. They often have a quest for knowledge, and are "impatient and intolerant of ignorance or mental laziness in others". Queen of Spades also have one of the strongest intuitions of any of the cards.

 Now on to the Characteristics of Louise which the Drink is to reflect. She has a noble quality about her. She is enchanting, well versed in literature, very smart, coordinated par excellance in fashion and in spirit. Her voice turns the heads of men and makes women raise that one eye=brow effect. Her voice has this smokey effect that puts the finishing touches on a jazz quartet or a big-band orchestra. She fights gallantly for her faith, and at times can spin a hint of persuasion while captivating her audience - at the same time. So this classy woman, who walks and acts like

Lady, needs qualities in a drink that is explosively elegant, subtle in boldness, dressed for a night on the town and a clean bite. 

So I came up with a rendition of a Classy drink known as the Sidecar, but the differences is, we are going to add the seductive and powerful nature of the Blood Orange. The Sidecar was invented sometime around the end of World War I and is claimed to have been first introduce at the The "Ritz" in Paris, France. The token notes that harmonize into this cocktail are Cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice. So we are going to makeover this drink and dress it up for the night, making it elegant, bold and classy.

In this unique "Queen of Clubs" drink, we are going to use  - the nobility of the Cognac. Instead of Cointreau, we are going to use the exotic "Solerno" blood orange liqueur. "Solerno is created from bittersweet bittersweet sanguinello blood oranges hand-picked at the height of their season. This potent liqueur is blended from three small-batch  distillates: one made from the meat of the oranges, one from the skins and one from local Sicilian lemons. The result is a complex, zesty, flavorful liqueur. This luscious citrus blending, with a tang and acidity from the skins of the citrus provide a delicate balance and interplay that yields a drying acidic backbone that gradually plays out across the midline and back of the tongue like a drying sunrise evaporating dew. Aromatically and gustatorially intoxicating, a wonderful achievement in terms of taste, balance and usefulness as a cocktail ingredient.  Basically it's perfect! Add some of the Blood Orange Juice and you have yourself a "Queen of Clubs".

So how is this fighting Queen made?
1 1/2 part fresh Blood Orange Juice
1 part Solerno
1 part Cognac


Combine the Ingredients together with ice in a shaker and shake it like the world is coming to an end. If your feeling on the sweet side that night, strain it into a Martini glass rimmed in sugar. If your feeling bold and daring, pour it in a classic champagne glass. You may add a Blood Orange for double-take effect (because the flesh of the Blood Orange looks as if it were grown in a Vampire grove) but straight up gives it a dashing effect as well. 

Feel free to pick and choose or even add to the ingredients, your taste is your spell.

Muddled Quotes:
 "Drink because you are happy, but never because you are miserable." - G.K. Chesterton

Distilled Quotations

"Brandy, n. A cordial composed of one part thunder-and-lightning, one part remorse, two parts bloody murder, one part death-hell-and-the-grave and four parts clarified Satan." - Ambrose Bierce

An Angelic Wine

Today I walked into a Whole Foods store before going to a Mass at Florida Atlantic University, and I've been dieting and staying from my first love, the brown bubbly, know to the mortal world as beer  (how I miss your frothy flavor) and  I decided to take up a healthier, red-blooded, fruit, and happened to turn down the aisle where these dark, earthen, glassy, bottles of this mysterious liquid filled the metallic garden, and went immediately to the Napa region (because, as my father says, you can never go wrong with Napa). After spending some delightful moments, scanning the hedges of wine, I came across a  marked off bottle of a wine named after the Angelic Doctor of the Church himself, Saint Thomas Aquinas. The bottle was created by the Vintners known as “Don Sebastiani & Son” Winery.  So I bought the bottle ($16.99 on sale) and took it home with me.

 I said my prayers for the evening and opened the bottle, and then posted on facebook that I had just bought a curious bottle of wine, named after a very Catholic, Doctor of the Church, and then heard a knock on my collegial door. Opening it, I found a class mate (we will call him Augustine for anonymity) and he just noticed that I posted a very interesting thing on facebook (56 seconds ago), and asked if he could take part in the festivities. Who am I to reject a friend in partaking of the goodness of the vine, so I said of course and welcomed him in to my humble abode.

The bottle I had opened about 15 minutes before, to allow time for oxygen to enter into the wine’s blood stream. After pulling out the cork, I looked at it to see how much the wine had bled into the cork, and saw it was a thing of beauty. This cork not only was in scripted with a quote by the Angelic Doctor "For it is written that wine makes glad the heart of man" but it had the letter A – in a font of script, that would have made the Scarlet Letter seamstress herself (Heather Prynne) extremely proud! But the bottom of the Cork was what was exceptionally fascinating. The wine marker on the cork had infused only slightly, making it look as though it had been turned into a signet-ring marker. It was something striking to behold, and I couldn’t help but stare at its masterful craftsmanship. I wanted to turn it into a ring and say that any letter, whose wax would be sealed with its mark, would be marked as an indelible mark would be to the soul. Breathtaking and beauty would be only simpleton words to add to such a site.

 The wine was then poured, and at first taste, did not seem to be much. It was surprisingly smooth for a Cabernet, and the flavor was that of a very soft port, but velvety smooth. Plum, black cherry, and  truffle were on the palate, and there was a light after taste that appeased the sense. That was the first glass and a half.

45 minutes to an hour later, the nature of the wine changed completely. Smelling the notes of the wine, one couldn't help but think of a deliciously chocolate covered truffle, whose taste was rich, exciting, and defiantly not chastely. It was an aroma of pure love, with hints of lust and coffee. When taking a sip, the texture had changed from something thin in value, to thick and smooth, almost like a red-velvet cushion, contouring to the touch, that beautifully frames a couch which it lays upon.

The taste was rich and exciting. Like separating a long kiss from a forbidden lover. It was a luscious, bolder, thicker in flavor, the flavor as that which one enjoys while biting into a juicy nectarine. A nectarine that had been crossbred with a plum, a pomegranate and some black cherries. Asking Augustine his thoughts he exclaimed, “It’s like walking through a dark, exotic, rose garden on Mid-summer nights eve.” So go out and buy it, and maybe Titania, Queen of the Summer faye will grace you with her presence!

St. Benedict's Beer

St. Arnold of Metz once said, “From man’s sweat and God’s love, beer came into the world.” Indeed the fruit of the grain has flowed and frothed from many a pint, throughout the world. To keep with the tradition of beer creation, a brewery has come back into the public eye, from a lush and ancient town at the bottom of a mountain, whose prayerful walls and quiet stirrings, remain to this day, the center of the Benedictine Order. The peaceful city of Nursia, from where the great sibling-saints (Benedict and Scholastic) hale, a new scent has sent this gently city stirring. 

The brewery of this ancient monastery "carries with it hundreds of years of history. It rests tranquilly within the walls of the monastery that date back a millennium and is crowned at the entrance with a fresco of the Blessed Virgin Mary upon grains of barley. From ancient times, monks have understood that their vision of life must be shared with society by means of earthly experiences; otherwise it becomes closed off and isolated from the world.

In the course of monastic history, Benedictine monks have given witness to the presence of God in the world in many ways.  First of all, through their daily rhythm of prayer, monks have sought to remind themselves and the entire world that the only way to true happiness must have the God of salvation at its center.  A vision of the world without God will always leave us empty and incomplete.

But from ancient times, monks have understood that this vision of life must be shared with society by means of earthly experiences, otherwise it becomes closed off and isolated from the world.  Monks have implemented this view in the liturgy, with the singing of Gregorian Chant, the use of incense, and the use of bells—things which involve all of man’s senses, as well as in the area of study, seeking to enlighten the farthest reaches of the human intellect, and finally in work aimed at bringing forth the fruits of the earth which nourish the human body.  In all of these undertakings, monks have never ceased to sanctify material things in order to make them paths that lead to God." (Brewery )

The monastery has created two styles of beer, a light and buoyant blond and a reflective darker beer, rich in color and deep in flavor. Not as light as a blond, but not as heavy as a stout. 

One pilgrim reflects upon his journey to these hallowed halls and describes it in the following. "To start: pecorino slices drizzled with local honey infused with elder berries. Then: pasta with summer truffles shaved generously onto the plate. For the main meal, a roast wild boar with roasted local root vegetables. Bottles of the local mineral water and, following on our new friend’s example, the house red wine washed it all down.

 
When it was time for dessert, our Belgian friend eschewed the sweets and invited us to join him for a plate of figs and a couple of large bottles of Birra Nursia Extra up on the outdoor terrace of the restaurant. Figs and dark Belgian-style beer made fresh by the monks just steps away while Diana the hunter rose in the southern sky, talk about alignment!" Truly a taste of heaven. 

Sidecar: The Back to School Cocktail.

It’s that time of year when the heat begins to settle down and the axis of the earth begins to turn away from the direct rays of the sun. Lady Autumn begins her dress fitting for her walk along the earth in a few short weeks. But more on these Autumnal drinks later. In reality, it is that time when intellectual activity is placed into full swing and students as well as teachers begin to wake their brains up from the slumber of summer.  But after a hard, days work, most children go home to Hot Chocolate after a long hard day, to those students of higher learning (and most teachers) they can go home to a smooth, crisp drink called: The Sidecar.  

The Sidecar is a sour drink. Sours were quite popular during the golden age of cocktails in the early 1900's and were a simple mix of base spirit, sour (primarily lemon), and a touch of sweetness.  It is a drink which history brings out of the World War I era. The ingredients, though simple, are very rich and elegant. Served in a Cocktail glass, rimmed with sugar (if your sweeter kind of person), it has a crisp beginning, smooth finish, with lingering notes of oranges. Be careful drinking this stylish-concoction, for it is a head turner and should be sipped, while talking about things of higher intellectual pursuits. It also goes well in the hands of very well-dressed, persons. 

Recipe:

1 1/2 oz Cognac

1 oz Cointreau

1/2 oz lemon juice

Lemon twist for garnish

Sugar for rimming (optional)

Shake well (with ice for a crisper experience) and strain into a prepared cocktail glass. Garnish with Lemon Twist.

On the subject of Beauty.

Death of St. Sebastian

There are many things to be said about beauty in our day in age. For many, it was that which came from an imagination, that though tainted by the passions, brought forth the whimsical-musings of a longing for the tranquil and inspiring. 


In our common day in age, art has lost its transcendent and benevolent wonder. Instead, art has been replaced by illogical, basic, fundamental-immoderate caricatures of an unsound mind. Leonardo DaVinci claims that "inaction sap the vigors of the mind" and that is exactly the problem in a utilitarianistic world such as our own. The respect for the person has been lost and in that loss is that of art.  


Many great minds of the past, philosophers, historians, authors, musicians, theologians and pagans have subscribed to inner soul which releases the spiritual essence on a corporeal vision. Plato once said "Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may."  Or as Edgar Degas says, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” Whatever the product your raising, whatever you believe in, that is what you will make people see. 


Here is a video done by the BBC about how Beauty has been lost in the world. Beauty has been set aside, and modernity has replaced it as the model of art, but as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe says, “A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” 

The Crown of a Woman

G.K. Chesterton wrote this exquisite, lyrical, poem on the beauty of a woman. Focusing mainly on that which catches every man's eye and what St. Paul told women to cover up (because they were distracting of course) "But when a woman has long hair, it is her glory!" (1 Corinthians 11:15)

- The Crown of a Woman - 

In a house between the sunrise and the sunset
In the twilight of a mighty house and old,
Sits a woman ' mid the treasuries of her tresses
Like the fountains of a living sea of gold,

Photo not my own. 

And she weaves the golden legend of the ages
With the braids of her own tresses thereunto
And only with that tracery for the pages
Is the story ever old and ever new.
        For the hair of a woman is her glory
        It weaveth all of secret and renown
        Through all chivalry and mystery and story
              The glory of a woman and her crown.

When the giant limbs of Adam stirred primeval
From the sudden sleep that smote him on the hills
When the sparrows scattered at his vast upheaval
And his blinded gropings rent the daffodils
On his mighty twilight broke a windy splendor (I really would like to know what this means)
Round eyes that were as suns upon his sleep
The burning halo passionate with colours
The leaping locks that call the heart to leap
        For the hair of a woman is her glory
        It weaveth all of secret and renown

Lady of Chivalry

        Through all chivalry and mystery and story
              The glory of a woman and her crown.

The sunshine of the Lord that crowns and quickens
The brows and breasts of all the lives that toil.
The cornfield of the Lord that nods and shimmers
The stirring of the splendor of the soil
The harp-strings of the Lord that ring and crackle
With the song of all the stars and their desire
The war-flame of the Lord, to scourge the Evil
The fangs thereof consuming as a fire
        For the hair of a woman is her glory.
        It weaveth all of secret and renown
        Through all chivalry and mystery and story
               The glory of a woman and her crown.