Living on the Edge, Absinthe and a Curious Tale to Tell

Now, I know that Christmas is long gone past, but I have a rather curious tale to tell you this morning. I rarely, if ever, get Christmas presents from my children, and that's perfectly ok with me. I know that they are young, and that they have rather limited incomes and growing families. It is enough for me to just know that they love me as I love them. You can imagine my surprise this past Christmas, however, when the mailman brought this huge, rather heavy parcel to our doorway from Amazon.com.

"I didn't order anything!" I protested to Todd. (crossing my fingers behind my back and wondering all the time what the heck I did order . . . )

Surprise, surprise!!! When I opened it, it was not something I had ordered after all, but a gift . . . from my oldest son Anthony and his wife Anne, not to mention that cute grandson of mine, Gabriel. It was big and heavy, and it was all I could do to wait until Christmas morning to open it up and see what exactly it was! (Todd wouldn't let me open it right away, the big party pooper!)

Anyways, open it I did on Christmas morning, and what to my delight, I discovered that inside was Larousse Gastronomique! I put my hand up and confess here and now that I am a really hard person to buy a cookery book for. I have quite a few. (just ask anyone who's been here to the cottage and had a look) It is really hard to find one that I don't already have, although it can be done . . . so don't give up hope anyone who was thinking on getting me one. Lucky guess on my son's part though, as he has not seen my vast collection over here, and as this was one I didn't already have!!



Later on in the afternoon, after all the excitement had settled, I took a few moments to myself, and sat down with it, slowly perusing and digesting the pages. Now this is the ultimate reference book for cookery professionals and enthusiasts, bringing together a wonderful combination of history, theory and practice, not to mention more than just a few recipes. There's like about a thousand and a bazillion pages in it, and I would even dare to say that if it isn't in there, it's not worth wondering or talking about! I started off at the "A"s and I didn't get very far before I was completely enthralled with one ingredient. "Absinthe"

"A famous, or infamous liqueur, absinthe takes its name from an aromatic plant (see artemisia), which contains an alkaloid used since ancient times as a tonic. Wormwood is the principal one of 14 herbs, which are macerated in grape spirit, but hyssop and mint are also included. It is famous for it's green colour, and was called the fee verte (green nurse) in France (although the Swiss did make a blue one)." ~Larousse Gastronomique, pg 2

First produced commercially by H L Pernod in 1797, absinthe is generally served with water, although there is a wonderfully mysterious sounding ritual that goes along with the partaking of it. First one was to balance a sugar lump on a special flat, pierced spoon over a glass. The spirit was then poured over it into the glass, and then sipped.

Interestingly enough, I learned that Absinthe also contains a powerful drug, which has serious side effects on the nervous system, and it's manufacture and sale were prohibited by law across France in 1915 and, subsequently, most of Europe. It was never totally banned however and I was quite interested to read that it was now enjoying a resurgence in the 21st century at a Specialist Drink.

"Imagine," I said to my Todd upon reading all of this . . . "Imagine wanting to partake of an alcoholic beverage that could seriously damage your health!" I quickly moved on to other topics, but it stayed in my mind.



Now here's where it gets really interesting. I was recently contacted by a company that sells Absinthe online and they asked me to do a written review of their site. Buy Absinthe

As a Latter Day Saint, I do not drink alcohol, nor do I want to promote other's imbibing of the substance either, although I do cook with it on occasion. There are some dishes that it is necessary to use it in and besides, all the alcohol cooks off right? (Please don't burst my bubble and tell me that it doesn't, as I just don't want to know!)

Anyways, I thought it was quite fascinating and not a little bit eerie that these people contacted me about this and not only that but it was the very ingredient that had so caught my fancy when I was reading my new book! Co-incidence? I think not, really . . . I think I was meant to do this and so I am, and while I cannot with clear conscience extol on the virtues of absinthe, (for in truth I think you have to want to live a little on the edge to want to drink the stuff) I can tell you what I think of their site!

It's actually quite a well put -together page just chock full of anything you ever wanted to know about absinthe and were afraid or not afraid to (as it were) ask! Read Absinthe Blog

It's all there, it's very colourful history, it's uses, it's marvels etc. There are some excellent links and it's a very easy and informative site to maneuver. All the varieties, all the rituals, all the history, and even a few recipes are on these pages. I would urge you to go and take a look to see for yourself. And . . . while I am not entirely recommending to you that you Buy Absinthe , I don't think it ever hurts to learn something new, as that I do recommend. I think we should try to learn something new every day.

I'll close now with a intriguing little anecdote by Alexandre Dumas (yes, he wrote The Three Musketeers, amongst other literary tales) . . .

"DeMusset's fatal passion for absinthe, which incidentally perhaps gave his poetry it's bitter flavour, caused the Academie to make a modest pun. DeMusset was, in fact, missing many of the sittings of this august body, aware that he was in no state to attend.

'One day one of the distinguished forty members said to another: "Really do you not think that Alfred de Musset absents himself rather too often?"

"You mean that he absinthes himself rather too often." . . . was the reply.'


Who says that the French don't know how to party?