the maple tree is thankfully ubiquitous in north america, as we enjoy our maple syrup very much. not that fake syrupy stuff, like aunt jemima, but the real deal, tapped from the trunks of sugar maple trees and boiled down on the stove to make the little piece of heaven we call maple syrup. ever have a maple syrup candy? if you haven’t, then you simply haven’t lived, either. in the fall when the trees shed their seeds in hopes of sewing a zillion little maple babies, the abundance of jupiter is blatantly obviously as the ground lay covered in a blanket of green seeds. now that’s proliferation, the jupiterian way. come spring, many of those will have all ready taken root, continuing the legacy of their far-reaching, and super self seeding, ruling planet.

SPICY PEACH TART:

2 oz brandy
1 1/2 oz maple syrup
3 oz fresh squeezed peach nectar
5 drops tabasco
maple leaf

add brandy, maple syrup, peach nectar and tabasco to ice filled shaker and shake vigorously for ten seconds. pour entire contents into lowball glass and garnish with a sugar maple leaf. (created by gwen sutherland kaiser)

special thanks to mark, who bravely climbed up a rickety ladder to grab my garnish, all the while shaking like a leaf!

(Cocktail created by Gwen Sutherland Kaiser)