Cold Steel & Absinthe – a traditional family Thanksgiving

[stusegal]

I love carving the bird, but not so much for culinary reasons.  Years ago, my cousins Dave & Miriam Witten gave Rashmika and I the carving tools you see on our table. 

Dave, who was actually my Mom’s eldest first cousin, was a Captain in the elite Army Ranger battalion, Merrill’s Marauders.  (This was the only Army Ranger battalion active in WWII, and has the rare distinction that every soldier in the battalion was awarded a Bronze Star).  The unit was assigned to “deep penetration”, their mission being to engage enemy troops in Burma.

Dave brought home the carving tools, and the beautiful peacock handled serving tools, from India.  When he and Miriam moved to Washington, DC (in, I think, 1991) they made a gift of these to Rashmika and I.  Whenever we use them I think of Dave and Miriam, two of the sweetest, most cultured people I ever knew.

And a side note, Dave is the first person I ever knew who ever told me he was going to be cremated.  This was clearly not the norm for Jewish people, and certainly not for people of Dave’s generation.  (As I recall, Dave was the oldest of the cousins and was actually about the age of my Grandmother, born around 1910.)  So I asked him about it, about not having a headstone, and I’ll always remember what he said  -  not a quote, but it was something like  -  I’ll be happy knowing people think of me kindly sometimes.  Rashmika and I think fondly of Dave and Miriam - the music, the bread - and were enriched and influenced by them.

Then of course there’s the other Thanksgiving tradition, the Absinthe.  OK, I’ll admit it’s not exactly an established tradition  -  what with Absinthe being banned in the U.S. for 92 years, and just being legalized again in 2007.  But Rashmika, David and I are going to establish this as a family tradition, starting today  -  we’ll let you know how it goes.

 

Comments

[lasirenadolce.livejournal.com]

Sounds wonderful. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

[alanashinean.livejournal.com]

I've never had Absinthe, let me know how it goes. What a beautiful carving set! Happy Thanksgiving :)

Well . . .

[stu-segal.livejournal.com]

. . .we tried the Absinthe.

• First of all, it's 110 proof.
• Second, there's a process which they say is due to the strong bitter taste, whereby you put an ounce of Absinthe in a glass, then put a sugar cube on a slotted spoon on the rim of the glass, and pour 3 ounces of ice cold water over the cube, thereby melting the sugar with the ice water into the Absinthe. Which we did.
• David was not enamored of the taste.
• I on the other hand thought it was very tasty and interesting - a strong licorice flavor, but unlike Galliano or anisette it was not heavy or "syrupy" like a liqueur.
• Rashmika observed that it was so tasty and light it did not taste at all like it had alcohol in it (a pretty sly and dangerous trait of something 110 proof).

But we really did not get to the core of the question of Absinthe, because we drank a moderate amount. We would have had to ingest a lot more to determine whether it would produce a typical alcohol reaction, or whether the thujone and/or wormwood actually produces psychedlic effects.

So whether or not we'll ever get an answer is unknown, but my initial take on Absinthe in moderation is - doing the sugar cube/icewater thing produces a very pleasant tasting and aromatic drink which is seriously potent. Very nice after dinner. (And a couple of these would probably get most people smashed).

Nice enough that I think we'll declare this as an official family Thanksgiving tradition.