Foooood.

Today, I was more in the mood to make food rather than music. I woke up around 11 and went to practice with my band, then came home and made egg drop soup while listening to the Electric Ladyland album by Jimi Hendrix. What a great way to start the day off. My soup was pretty tasty, must say. After I ate, I spent some time doing research on the drink, absinthe. I was reading about absinthe connoisseur, Ted Breaux and his quest to prove that absinthe is not some kind of ridiculous poison that it has come to be known as. Breaux was born, raised, and continues to live in New Orleans, LA, which I happen to be going to this coming week. There, on Bourbon street is a place called The Old Absinthe House, which I will most definitely be going to to enjoy some of New Orleans' tastiest foods and sample some very good absinthe. 'The Green Fairy' does not look like what the general public has known it to look like, a glowing green liquid. It is actually a pale, translucent, olive color to begin with until it is diluted and prepared to drink. Absinthe is poured into a glass and then a slotted spoon is placed over it with a lump of sugar. Cold water is very slowly dripped over the sugar in the slotted spoon and into the absinthe. This makes the drink easy to taste and dilutes the strength of the 140 proof alcohol. After cold water is added, the absinthe becomes a cloudy, whitish color, and then it is ready to drink. I should mention that I, as a beer brewer and as a connoisseur in the making, my interest in alcohol is very much an academic interest. The tastes of different alcohols, mostly beer, and how the different styles are made intrigues me and I enjoy studying and tasting them.

After my little absinthe study, I made lavender cranberry cookies with lemon lavender icing and served them with warm lavender honey milk. Then for dinner, I made a variation on egg drop soup, also putting seaweed, a small onion, orzo, and a few other spices in it. Then I stole another one or two cookies ;) Needless to say, today was a very tasty day in my house.