Musings from Ballantine 666
In December, we presented a weekly series of 10 cocktail suggestions for the holiday season. In the spirit of rejuvenation, we've decided to participate in Dry January. People may choose not to drink for a variety of reasons. Maybe they're permanently sober, maybe they're just taking some time to detox a little, or maybe they just don't want to drink every night of the week. Whatever your reasons, it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy something fancy or festive,
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...The Superhero Landing - sometimes referred to as a "three-point landing" - involves heroes touching down after flying or jumping from a great height by catching themselves on two feet and one hand, typically crouching into the kneeling position at the end, if not flat out landing on their one hand, one knee, and the opposite foot in a bend-leg crouch. Here to demonstrate it is Tony Stark - aka Iron Man - at his very own Stark Expo in Iron Man 2:
The landing is certainly impressive,
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...In the spirit of taking time to reflect on New Year's Eve, we want to present two sides of reflection: looking back and looking forward.
...For this week's drink, we review a Blue Motorcycle and a Sidecar, and consider who's driving the bike and who's riding shotgun?
...Jon revisits some Indiana memories and shares a delicious cocktail concoction that he learned about when he moved to North Carolina, and Rachel recalls the sensory impressions associated with various Christmas markets she has visited throughout her young(er) adulthood by providing a recipe for the classic German seasonal hot drink Glühwein.
...“Camille understood that people often wanted to erase the pain of what they’d been through, to reinvent the past and their part in it.”
-Alice Hoffman, The Marriage of Opposites
Around this time of year, we are frantically trying to buy and wrap all the perfect presents, decorate for the benefit of ourselves and guests, prepare for long-distance travel or hosting the perfect holiday party. For all the hardships and weirdness 2020 has brought,
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...For me, romantic comedies set at Christmas are like chocolate pecan pie – treacly and high fructose. I wouldn’t want more than a couple pieces a year, and when someone asks me what my favorite kind of pie is, I never say chocolate pecan, but I usually think about it. You know what you’re going to get, and you know how you’re going to feel afterwards.
The demographic for the Hallmark Channel is women between the ages of 25 and 54.
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...There's a surprising (and perhaps annoying?) amount of alliteration in character names in comics. Whether it is intended to be a clever play on sound or have some other purpose is not entirely clear, although the late Stan Lee claimed that he used the convention to make it easier to remember the names of characters that he created.
...In Week 2 of "Superman and God's Cocktail Countdown to the New Year", we've decided we should pay homage to the workplace of the world's greatest superhero by making drinks in honor of two of his closest friends and colleagues.
...Looking for a pick-me-up over this long, long holiday season? Not sure how to reconcile like pretty much ALL of 2020 with your lingering suspicion that maybe you shouldn't be drinking ANYthing at this point? Why not try some of these creative and inspiring cocktails recommended by the creators of Superman and God themselves: Rachel and Jon!
...Disclaimer: We have no affiliation with the products that we're talking about, and we take no responsibility for quality, enjoyment or fulfillment of orders placed.
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...R is a really interesting sound. Or rather, it's a letter that has an interesting range of possible pronunciations. It can be rolled or glided in the back of the throat like in some dialects of German, trilled in the front like in various Spanish dialects, or pronounced as a fairly tight, fluid liquid up against either the palate or alveolar ridge, like in English. In some Asian languages, R and L aren't well defined,
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