"On really romantic evenings of self, I go salsa dancing with my confusion"
@Pandapixie that's me - 100% (the ant post)
@Concordiaesque I'm glad you can relate to the ant post too. 😊 I have trouble with it because of social anxiety but I try. You seem a natural.
Man, I wish I had a mercy dog
"You carry in your soul every ingredient necessary to turn your existence into joy. All you have to do is to mix those ingredients." -Hafiz
In 1986, Time Magazine called Charles Bukowski a "laureate of American lowlife". There are worse things to be called.
"Having many cats is good. If you feel bad, you look at the cats and you feel better, because they know that everything is just the way it is. You don't have to be nervous about anything. And they know it. They are saviors. The more cats you have, the longer you will live. If you have a hundred cats, you will live ten times longer than if you have ten. One day, this will be known and people will have thousands of cats."
~Charles Bukowski~
@MissAdventurous 🫠 He can buy waterfalls for me!
~ Sunset Snuggles
🦄 Enthusiast 🏞 Travel Fiend 🐘 Animal Lover
CORDIALS
"Our cough syrups and expectorants are mostly the post Prohibition stepchildren of their botanical antecedents. Cherry, ginger, and elderberry linger on in name, but once Prohibition divorced alcohol from medicine, chemicals and sweet syrups replicating efficacious herbs became carriers instead of the alcohol, which formerly preserved and enhanced the somnorific effect of healing herbs. In Europe the concept of food and drink as medicine better survived attempts at prohibition and the pressures of a pharmaceutical industry. Drinks served before a meal to stimulate appetite (apéritifs in France, aperitivos in Italy) are typically dry and lower in alcohol, though a cocktail can count as an apéritif, too. A cordial (digestif in France, digestivo in Italy) is meant to stimulate or support digestion or overall good health. The term harkens back to the time of the early English immigrants, who referred to any sweetened syrup or medicine that used sugar, honey, maple syrup, or molasses for a preservative as a cordial. In the United States, cordial is used interchangeably with liqueur, although it is most often associated with a sweet, sipping drink to be enjoyed with cheese, fruit, nuts, or prepared desserts.
Where I live, cordials have a long history of preserving the flavors and medicinal attributes of botanicals gathered ripe from the sun. They are typically made by steeping or distilling digestive (bitter) herbs, or fruits and spices, with sugar and alcohol. In the middle of winter, I can taste the sun-saturated ripeness and healing benefits of these liqueurs, which are intended to heal everything from digestive disorders to coughs, colds, and the winter blues. Like tinctures, cordials were a way of preserving medicinal herbs, fruits, roots, barks, flowers, and seeds in alcohol—but with enough sweetness to offer a sipping medicine that would warm mind, body, and spirit. Historically, they were prescribed for cough, colds, and digestion; and as we now know, many of the herbs and fruits used in cordials are indeed rich in antioxidants and vitamin C and are powerfully effective digestives, cough suppressants, and expectorants.
Some cordials are distilled, but in my home apothecary, I typically fill a glass jar or carafe two-thirds of the way with my favorite, very ripe botanicals and cover them completely with whatever base alcohol seems to pair best—most often that’s high-proof, unflavored vodka, brandy, gin, or rum. After two to three days in the sun, set the concoction aside in a dark, room-temperature space for one to three months—how long will depend on how quickly the botanicals infuse flavor. Once they have released enough flavor to tantalize your taste buds, strain out the botanicals and sweeten the resulting liqueur to taste.
Having lived through many a bitterly cold New England winter, I can lend firsthand testimony and praise for a cordial’s warming effect. Yankees may not be famous for their warmth, but they knew enough to self-prescribe a dose from an elegant decanter to warm the cockles of the heart (as my Irish grandmother would say) and to help make the cold winter, or a group gathered for the holidays, more cordial"
@Concordiaesque love the Sept 14 post 💜
Inspired by the song Run Like Hell on the new Gunship album:
"Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die." -Buddha