Monday, December 26, 2011

love love ,,,,, Absinthe....



I do not have a slotted spoon , nor a cube of sugar.I do not have a reservoir glass nor a French climate. All I have is a bottle of Absinthe and a sober mind to drink. I write this with a large , sorry extra large of Absinthe in me,. wonder what Absinthe is ?Historically defined as a distilled highly alcoholic beverage around 45 to 70 % proof. It is an anise-flavoured spirit derived from herbs (wormwood), including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium(worm wood), commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise and sweet fennel. Absinthe traditionally has a natural green colour but can also be colourless. It is commonly referred to in historical literature as "la fée verte" (the "green fairy" in French).

Worm wood a herb which gives color and flavor to Absinthe, has an essential oil called 'Thujone' which can bring your mind to a peculiar state of heightened awareness, its like a kind of open it up to new ideas, thoughts, concepts, and no wonder a favorite drink of Van gogh, Hemingway, Picasso and Oscar wilde.They called it the green fairy. and I call it the Green green fairy, after a drink everything is green, what i look, the fan, the refrigerator, the mirror and I in the mirror.

I started with my dinner, cutting green onions and green tomatoes, the green chili looked more green and my fried eggs almost green.Van gogh a painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty, and bold color cut off his ear for different reason but then he was under the influence of absinthe all his life, perhaps an extra large of Absinthe cold have been in him when his ear came off. Today here I am happy looking at the silver knife with black handle with a faded green in it.

A critic said that Absinthe makes you crazy and criminal, provokes epilepsy and tuberculosis, and has killed thousands of French people. It makes a ferocious beast of man, a martyr of woman, and a degenerate of the infant, it disorganizes and ruins the family and menaces the future of the country.and many countries banned it .. oh what a unfortunate thing to happen.

But then, here I am very much fortunate enough to have a student from France , remembering and bringing me absinthe , A simple word of 'thanks' is not Enough for you Sow for the Mighty Green drink, and to the readers the Brand what I drank is ABSENTE a refined Absinthe with slightly lower concentration of Thujone and the legend Van gogh self portrait on it, ABSENTE is a French word , Translates to ABSENT in English but here I am very much present with the Green Fairy.....

to be continued.....................