Life, light and livestock

It has quite literally been years since I tinkered around on this and I wasn't even sure I would remember the login. Luckily, my browser did. Love technology.

Okay, so in the intervening years, life happened and death, truth be told, happened. The break that I took from the Seasons of Conflict novel still remains just that. I took up sailing and ventured around the Pacific and Caribbean, bagging the mountain peaks of southern California in preparation for hiking up Machu Picchu, went on a photographic safari across Tanzania, learned to snowboard, and rediscovered love - feline and especially agape.

I was also recently struck with appreciating the symbolism of light.

Light is one of the most universal and fundamental symbols. It is the spiritual and the divine. It is illumination and intelligence. Light is the source of goodness and the ultimate reality, and it accompanies transcendence into the Nirvana of Buddhist doctrine.

While waiting beside my father's deathbed, I knew it was a matter of time that his light would join the light of the world. It seemed a natural way for me to view his passing.

Writing appears to be a cyclical activity with me, in this particular instance spurred on by a recent incident such as death just as it was in the last instance eight years ago.

Everybody's coming back to take stock of their lives. You know what I say? Leave your livestock alone. ~ Debi Newberry, Grosse Pointe Blank

LA's Best Mixologist

Had the weather on Saturday not been bone-chilling cold, I might not have discovered some of the best tasting cocktails in Los Angeles. Some friends and I moseyed from the open courtyard of Hollywood & Highland and ventured into the Roosevelt Hotel.

I suppose all we were hoping for was to clink a pint or two of whatever was on tap, and as soon as the Library Bar opened, we stepped up eagerly to the long mahogany bar to find a panoply of colorful fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices.

I overheard Matt telling the other patrons that he had just brought these in from the farmer’s market that morning, and I filed that information away, but when I discovered that the only gin he pours is Hendricks, I knew we had found a special place.

As luck would have it, we were meeting other friends at another venue but we were eager to return later that night and so we did. I described my drink order: “I want something with lots of layers of flavor and with sage,” and Matt proceeded to measure, pour, tear, and shake in a way that harks back to the days of alchemy, the result of which was “Sage Heaven.”

The Sage Heaven is made with Hendricks gin with agave, sage, ginger, and cayenne pepper topped with blackberries. The one he served me varied a little from what is pictured, but until I update my camera phone, we'll settle with the photos taken from Matt Biancaniello's album on Facebook.

Ben ordered an "Old Fashioned," which was thoroughly updated with a twist. The whiskey was really smooth and light with an orange twist, which accented the taste nicely. Gabe had the refreshing "Melonette" pictured below.

Ken generally doesn’t drink but he does like his Bloody Mary’s, so Matt concocted his 17-Step “Mother Mary” which was the best tasting Bloody Mary I had ever tasted, as if you can taste an entire garden in one draught.

Probably one of the most innovative drinks Saturday night was "Lost in Laos" which Matt mixed up for Jason because he loves cilantro. It was particularly distinctive because it tasted what I would imagine it to be like in Southeast Asia. Matt describes it as a fusion of a Mai Tai and a Pina Colada and for me it was like taking an adventure through your taste buds. It's made with Hendrick's gin, curry leaves, keffir lime, cayenne, coconut milk, ginger syrup, green chartreuse, pistachio simple syrup and cilantro. The cocktail's subtle heat perfectly cuts the rich creaminess of the coconut milk and sweetness of the pistacio syrup.

The next night, Ken and I went back to sample the "Breeder's Cup," as a natural savory complement to the "Mother Mary." The cucumber highlighted the cool cucumber notes in the gin and the horseradish provided a nice bite to the finish.

Caroline On Crack's Bartender Mentor: Matthew Biancaniello from Efren Pardilla on Vimeo.

...while I had the "Last Tango in Modena" which was named among the Top 10 Cocktails in the US by Gayot, made with Hendricks gin, strawberries, balsamic vinegar and St. Germain foam.

Matt takes care not just to deliver a cocktail tantalizing to the palate but also to the eye with these visually stunning creations. Bravo Matt! for your achievements to date being named by Table 20 LA's Best Bartender and your continued passion in creating adventurous drinks for Angelinos to enjoy.



Punchlines
They really need to do something about this weather.
Perhaps we should scrap the whole idea of having weather in the first place.

Merci Coco!

On a whim, I watched a little film called Coco Avant Chanel, a story about Chanel prior to her prominence in the fashion industry. In it, you see the influences that shaped her fashion ideas and style, from her humble beginnings growing up in an orphanage the simple clean lines of a nun's habit and garment, functional clothes that allowed you to move as well as to see a woman's face. These influences  in turn reveal the beginnings of how Chanel came to influence the rest of the world through more than fashion.



Before Chanel
This period of fashion for women was characterized by huge mutton sleeves that ballooned above the elbow and tiny, cinched waistlines accentuated by sashes or ribbons. Corsets created the look, but they confined the wearers. The materials were wool or serge and tailored. The French named it La Belle Epoc because the clothing was beautiful.

Chanel's Influence
Coco created designs that abandoned the emphasis on waist definition. She used neutral colors like cream, beige, sand and navy. Her jersey fabrics were soft and fluid. Chanel used simple shapes, designed for comfort and simplicity of wearing. Later in her career, she introduced the bell bottom, turtleneck sweaters and pea jackets; these styles found great success in the United States.

The Little Black Dress
In 1926 Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel published a picture of a short, simple black dress in American Vogue. It was calf-length, straight, and decorated only by a few diagonal lines. Vogue called it “Chanel’s Ford.” Like the Model T, the little black dress was simple and accessible for women of all social classes. Vogue also said that the LBD would become “a sort of uniform for all women of taste.”

Perhaps even more far-reaching, Coco is sometimes credited with popularizing short hair for women and shorter skirts. Here she is pictured in her own little black dress.

Many thanks to Coco for ushering in comfortable clothes for women. Not only have women become free of corsets but they had found freedom in movement, enabling women to work and take care of themselves which eventually led to their own financial independence. She was a self-made woman, very pragmatic in her approach to life, abandoned as a youth and although she fell in love, she considered marriage and coupledom boring and worse yet, resented dependency and so she never attached herself to a man, but rather focused her efforts on her work life.

In this movie, the theme of great sacrifice that propels success echoed a similar theme underlying another recent film The Adjustment Bureau. Does great success require great sacrifice? Can an individual seek achievement without hunger, challenges, competition or fear motivating her? I'd like to think not, but it's an interesting notion to reflect on. In any case, the movie about Coco Chanel while far from being a biopic certainly did inspire me as I witnessed her struggles and how that contributed to shaping her values. She was indeed a feminist before there were feminists.


Punchlines
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Or perhaps it's a stye.