Jello Shots

Today’s recipe: Jello Shots. You don’t have to be a frat bro to appreciate them. Basically, it takes 2 cups of water to make one package of Jello; just make it with 1 cup, then add a half-cup of booze and a half-cup of cold water to the thick hot goo, pour into small cups, and put them in the refrigerator overnight.

You can read about Jello Shot chemistry here, or watch a quick video. If you’re too genteel for gellified booze shooters, make some Port Wine Jelly.

More:

“The Science of Jello Shots,” Kevin Liu, Serious Eats

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Image (“Jello Shooter Night at The Bar of the Folies Bergère, after Edouard Manet”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Young People In Japan Aren’t Drinking Enough

Japan’s young people aren’t drinking up, the number of the nation’s older imbibers is shrinking, and nightlife is down due to COVID, so tax revenue from alcohol is down. To boost boozing, the National Tax Agency’s new “Sake Viva!” contest invites youngsters to submit business ideas to encourage alcohol consumption. You can even submit entries from abroad if they’re written in Japanese. Kanpai! (“Bottoms Up!”; “Cheers!”).

More:

“Japan has a message for its young adults: Drink more alcohol,” Rachel Pannett and Julia Mio Inuma, Washington Post

“Drink Up, Japan Tells Young People. I’ll Pass, Many Reply.” Hikari Hida and John Yoon, New York Times

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Image (“Young Beauty With iPhone, after Kikugawa Eizan”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

 

Seis de Mayo

Last night, the 5th of May, millions of Americans commemorated the Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla (1862) with volleys of shots — of tequila — bravura barrages of beer, and murderous margaritas. Unsurprisingly, this morning finds heads held hostage and stomachs seared from nacho napalm. Today’s Spanish vocabulary lesson: crudo means ” hangover.”

If you celebrated Cinco de Mayo with cerveza, celebrate Seis de Mayo this morning with el desayuno de los campeones, the Breakfast of Champions. The traditional Mexican hangover cure is menudo – tripe soup or stew.

Emergency hangover instructions issued by the Department of Homeland Security suggest a stockpile of canned menudo —Juanita’s,  Pico Pica, La Preferida, La Costeña, — but if you prefer fresh relief, have an ambulance deliver a few pounds of white honeycomb beef tripe (culin or pancita), posole (white hominy), dried or fresh chili peppers (ancho, poblano), onion, garlic, and maybe a nice calf’s foot (veal knuckle). Sure beats corn flakes.

Passover Seder: Greek Symposium?

The Haggadah (הַגָּדָה‎) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover ritual meal, the Seder.

“There’s a reason the haggadah feels goyish: Formally speaking, it’s Greek. It’s a Judaicized version of a Greek genre called ‘symposium literature’. Plato loved the form. So did Xenophon. The symposium enshrined the most appealing traits of the Hellenic personality: conviviality, Epicureanism, a love of good conversation.”

–”Platonic Form,” Judith Shulevitz, Tablet Magazine

The ancient Greek symposium (συμπόσιον) was a drinking party; drinking four glasses of wine is a Passover obligation. Diners are supposed to recline while they do so, just like the Greeks.

There’s a cute Passover tradition, breaking a piece of matzoh (unleavened bread) and hiding half of it. The bread can only be eaten at the end of the meal, after the family’s children discover it. That piece of bread has a funny name, afikomen, but its origin isn’t Hebrew. You guessed it, it’s Greek:

“In Greek, the word is epikomen and is made up of two smaller words: epi, which means after (as in an epilogue), and komos, which means a banquet or merrymaking, and is the same word that inspired the English word comedy. For centuries, Jews have taken afikomen to mean ‘that which comes after the meal,’ more commonly known, of course, as dessert.”

– “Breaking Matzah,” David K. Israel, Mental Floss

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Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-nC6

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Seis de Mayo

Last night, the 5th of May, millions of Americans commemorated the Mexican victory at the Battle of Puebla (1862) with volleys of shots — of tequila — bravura barrages of beer, and murderous margaritas. Unsurprisingly, this morning finds heads held hostage and stomachs seared from nacho napalm. Today’s Spanish vocabulary lesson:  crudo means ” hangover.”

If you celebrated Cinco de Mayo with cerveza, celebrate Seis de Mayo this morning with el desayuno de los campeones, the Breakfast of Champions. The traditional Mexican hangover cure is menudo – tripe soup or stew.

Emergency hangover instructions issued by the Department of Homeland Security suggest a stockpile of canned menudo —Juanita’s,  Pico Pica, La Preferida, La Costeña, — but if you prefer fresh relief, have an ambulance deliver a few pounds of white honeycomb beef tripe (culin or pancita), posole (white hominy), dried or fresh chili peppers (ancho, poblano), onion, garlic, and maybe a nice calf’s foot (veal knuckle). Sure beats corn flakes.

Passover Seder: Greek Symposium?

The Haggadah (הַגָּדָה‎) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover ritual meal, the Seder.

“There’s a reason the haggadah feels goyish: Formally speaking, it’s Greek. It’s a Judaicized version of a Greek genre called ‘symposium literature’. Plato loved the form. So did Xenophon. The symposium enshrined the most appealing traits of the Hellenic personality: conviviality, Epicureanism, a love of good conversation.”

–”Platonic Form,” Judith Shulevitz, Tablet Magazine

The ancient Greek symposium (συμπόσιον) was a drinking party; drinking four glasses of wine is a Passover obligation. Diners are supposed to recline while they do so, just like the Greeks.

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

An employee of a Federal intelligence agency got drunk at a party and crashed his friend’s DJI Phantom aerial drone on the White House grounds. The Chinese drone manufacturer says it’s updating the quad copter‘s software to keep it out of no-fly security zones in future. Maybe what the thing really needs is a breathalyzer interlock.

Please Daddy, Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas

“Please Daddy, Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas,” written by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, performed here by Alan Jackson. Many people think this song was written by John Denver, who first recorded it. The Decemberists also have a version:

Hangover

Korean novelty pop star Psy (Park Jae-sang) hosts LA’s Snoop Dogg (Calvin Broadus, Jr.) on a binge-drinking tour of Seoul in a new music video. The hard part must have been convincing Snoop to forgo his customary herb for Korea’s potent soju (소주) distilled spirits, the best-selling booze in the world.

Where In the World Is Rob Ford?

 

“Where is Rob Ford? Brother, lawyer say he’s in rehab,” Kendra Mangione, CTV News

“Toronto crack-smoking mayor Rob Ford missing after flying to US,” RT.com

“Rob Ford declined to officially enter United States,” Robyn Doolittle and Greg McArthur, Globe and Mail

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Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-jhg

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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