Hello again dear IZ Readers! I have been away for quite a while and have missed being here in the starry, shaken and stirred world of our lovely and intrepid Gwen. For reasons that shall be clear shortly, I missed out on tippling with you in February, so this month I am giving you not only one recipe for your use and enjoyment, but two! This month I give you the medicinal and the indulgent, which spans the particular Zodiac traits we’ve encountered since I’ve visited with you last.

It seems that the transition from the thoughtful and ordered daydreaming governed by Aquarius to the highly emotional and occasionally volatile aspects of Pisces has hammered many of us between the eyes with slews of interpersonal and immediate environmental mishaps, catastrophes and other sundry difficulties. And waiting in the wings later in March is, of course, another chaotic transition into the just-as-volatile-in-a-different-way demeanor that signifies Aries. (cool appletini painting $650)

One would think that with the past month being absolutely filled with much gray, dreary, cold and inhospitable weather, the best course of action would be to curl up in bed with a good book and stay there.

Until Spring.

While I highly endorse this course of action it was neither practical nor desirable for me to do so, and while I’m sure many of you found the same to be true, I’m sure you also found that Mother Nature sometimes takes it in hand to give a bit of an assist to the notion of staying in bed. When we push too hard, do too much, cram too much activity into too little time and space, there are consequences. Sometimes these are dire, but more often they are inconvenient and just plain yucky.

In short, dear readers, I got sick during the cusp in February. Completely and utterly miserable with throat and sinus wars raging I was unpleasant to be near from the standpoint of noise pollution alone, not to mention feeling as though there was a cubic yard of cotton stuffed in my head, neck and chest cavity. Organic or conventional notwithstanding, Best Beloved reminded me that the surest way to get rid of my “congestion cotton” was to employ a tried and true recipe for the Hot Toddy. (photo)

I put great stock by this one. This recipe helped me heal my throat following invasive surgery (swordswallowers have bad days at work too, after all), and my swordswallowing mentor, Red Stuart swears by it as well. I have used it to great healing effect for friends, family, colleagues and neighbors on and off the road. I still have friends contact me to clarify this recipe for them every winter during flu season. It is powerful and it is effective. Use wisely.

The Cocktail Sword’s Hot Toddy

In a coffee or tea mug mix the following:

1 jigger of rum or whiskey (personal preference on this one … )

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

1 tablespoon honey

Fill with boiling water

Drink it while it is as hot as you can stand it without burning your lips. The heat and steam will work wonders for throat and sinuses, the honey and lemon will open breathing passages and the liquor will relax even the most irritated of muscles about the affected areas. For an extra effective cold-arse-kicking concoction, add a ¼ to a half a teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper to the mix. It will make you sweat whatever sickness is lingering right on out.

***gwen advises boiling chopped ginger in the water, and using that water in the toddy. if your throat’s been sore, it will be no more!

When you are recovered and strong and feeling frisky around the imminent arrival of Spring on the Vernal Equinox, some celebratory mixing is most definitely in order. Apples are a favored food of mine this time of year, with all the Eros and Eve implications that go along with them, and I found that while I was working part time behind a bar, the apple was favored among my clientele as well. Washington Apples were a favorite cocktail in the DC Area among lobbyists in particular. Others preferred a lovely spicy piece called the Indian Summer. By far the runaway hit, probably as people geared up for getting out of doors (and for yours truly, the carnival season), was the Appletini. I always did my level best to give my Appletinis a bit of tartness in addition to a bit of circusy sweetness and judging by the number of repeat customers I had who drank almost nothing else during my shifts, I seem to have hit on a wonderful flavor combination.

The Cocktail Sword’s Appletini

2.5 parts Vodka

2 part Sour Apple Pucker

1 part cranberry juice

Half part Midori

A splash Butterscotch Schnapps (optional, but good for that circusy touch)

So dear readers, a recipe to help get you back on your feet and another to sweep you off of them again, just in time for the fiery shifts that Aries brings us in preparation for some Springtime goodness. Enjoy in good health!

Cheers~Charon, The Most Dangerous Beauty Alive
theswordswallowers.com
oddangel.com

Charon Henning is one of a handful of female sword swallowers in the world today. She’s performed on carnival midways and at wine tastings, on theater stages and grassy lots.

Charon also reads tea leaves professionally, a skill she inherited from her grandmother on her mother’s side of the family. Tea-leaf reading is a wonderful and elegant form of entertainment, suitable for many time periods and venues.

Charon loves being on the road seeing new places and meeting new people. Want to catch Charon on the road for her live show? View her tour schedule here. Or, book Charon’s talent for your next event!

And so it begins, another Solar year here at IZ. Hands up, gentle readers, who among you have already stumbled on, broken, or otherwise, like yours truly, completely demolished their New Year’s Resolutions?

I’d like to think we’re in good company. Our human nature makes a perfectly fine and reasonable cause for toasting, don’t you think? Perhaps next year I’ll resolve to get over my growing sense of perfectionism (which, if you saw me typing this entry, you would understand completely. Bless you little spell checker!), but right now I truly believe it is time to let myself off the hook, and for all of you to do the same.
Every day is a good day for new beginnings. We don’t need it to be a Monday or a holiday to start a new project or change a habit. We can empower ourselves by truly stopping to consider our needs and then making desired changes according to the way we understand our minds, bodies and spirits to work. We know them best, after all.
I have had a lot of time to consider this while on the road. I spent the first part of 2010 in the desert, replete with all the silence and saguaros that I could stand, and was able to take the time to step outside of my long-held notions of self in order to find out what changes I truly wished to make, in what order and how important each truly was to my health and happiness.

It is heady stuff, and good food for thought on long hikes to the rare spots of water hidden in the mountains. Once back to the familiar and safe environs of my Silver Twinkie, though, I tend to ruminate on the lighter side of things, and perhaps have a laugh at how very human I am after all.

When I am struck by the humor of such things, and when I need to stop taking myself so very, very seriously, I have been known to put together a lovely and wonderful concoction called the Sake Martini.

In this particular martini manifestation, sake is substituted for vermouth, and being a white wine as well, brings a soothing and feminine quality to a cocktail traditionally associated with drab-suited businessmen seeing just how quickly they can ingest them before returning to the office or, more tellingly, before returning home. While I admire business savvy, I am very particular about what I consider good business savvy. Speedy consumption of good spirits is bad business, IMHO, so the only traditional element I retain in my mixing of martinis is the classic main ingredient: Gin.

[If you prefer vodka martinis I won’t hold it against you, but I’ll forever and steadfastly maintain that you aren’t drinking a martini. You’re drinking vodka in a martini glass.]

Gin is a tricky alcohol in the wide and wonderful world of mixology, and I think it’s probably safe to say that most first time gin samplings end in unmitigated disaster due to it’s very potent, as well as pungent, nature. To further complicate matters, juniper, gin’s reigning ingredient, is a fiery and masculine sort of plant, ruled by the sun. Additionally, the Brothers Grimm identified it with extreme feminine angst (most often applied liberally and vengefully) in their myriad works, so the foundation plant that allows us to have gin has enjoyed a rather confusing and powerful reputation for many generations, one that lingers on our psyches to this very day.

This is why I am particularly fond of one brand of gin amongst all the marvelous offerings out in the world today. Above all others towers the Great Shining Black Pillar that contains none other than Hendrick’s, a gin touted by its makers as both “ridiculously good” and “loved by a select few”, and with good reason, dear readers.
Hendrick’s methodology with one particular ingredient not only calms the fiery rage of sun-ruled juniper, but also makes their gin the perfect foundation alcohol with which to blend an appropriate cocktail for the turning of the Solar year AND the transition in Pisces within the first month. They have added a generous amount of the cooling and calming flavors and effect of cucumber. Being ruled by the moon and having a watery disposition, as well as being best planted during the turn of Pisces in the heavens, cucumber makes the very best partner for the vivacious juniper, and with it, Hendrick’s creates a flavor absolutely unique in the world of gin.

Your choice of sake in the matter is strictly yours. I sometimes prefer unfiltered for a sweeter drink, and it creates a lovely and wonderful snow globe in the martini glass that I’ll get lost in from time to time. Filtered is my main squeeze, though, and I mix them 2 parts gin to 1 part sake in a cocktail shaker full of ice.

Shake, strain, enjoy. It’s a simple as that.

And now, gentle readers, I believe it is time for me to get down to the business of figuring out how best to salvage 2010 from my ridiculous initial batch of resolutions and plotting something more realistic and forgiving for fostering long term change. And, since it’s strictly business, a martini is most definitely in order.

Cheers~Charon, The Most Dangerous Beauty Alive
theswordswallowers.com
oddangel.com

Charon Henning is one of a handful of female sword swallowers in the world today. She’s performed on carnival midways and at wine tastings, on theater stages and grassy lots.

Charon also reads tea leaves professionally, a skill she inherited from her grandmother on her mother’s side of the family. Tea-leaf reading is a wonderful and elegant form of entertainment, suitable for many time periods and venues.

Charon loves being on the road seeing new places and meeting new people. Want to catch Charon on the road for her live show? View her tour schedule here. Or, book Charon’s talent for your next event!

OPEN SKY has decided to donate 100% of their profits for any sales made friday through the end of Sunday to help the people of Haiti.

as luck would have it, OPEN SKY sells intoxicated zodiac candles. IZ candles make AWESOME birthday & valentine’s day gifts. buy that special someone’s pressie now and give the gift of aid to haiti at the same time…

road trip planned? IZ travel (shot) candles are great, because according to the jet set girls, “some hotel rooms smell funny.” true that.

cheers to OPEN SKY for their humanitarian generosity in this dire time.

This new year, write down those resolutions! Place them in a box to be opened this time next year with a shaker full of Yule Tide sweetness…

THE YULE TIDE

2 oz. Cranberry Pomegranate juice (Northland, Lakewood and Knudsen all make an excellent organic cran-pom juice blend)

1/2 oz. Orange Juice

1/2 oz. Grand Marnier

Dry champagne of your choosing

Mix first three ingredients in mixer with ice. Chill, shake & pour. Fill remaining space with champagne.

This year, for the first time, I will not have spent either of the traditional family gathering holidays with my immediate family. On Thanksgiving I was with extended family in Southern Louisiana. There was more food than our small army of folks could feasibly handle and a good deal of it left the house with us the following day, packaged securely for transport to northern Alabama, to be delivered to more extended family there. It was humbling, really, that so much abundance was in evidence at both locations. The houses were warm and full of light and family and there was always plenty of food and drink. Even the animals were slightly corpulent from seasonal overfeeding. It was impossible to feel as though one wanted for anything in such environments.

In stark contrast, Christmas will be spent on the road, most likely at a truck stop or someplace similar in the great state of Texas. Oddly, I’m very much looking forward to it because it will afford me the opportunity to reflect on the concept of family.

I’m one of those who has traditionally taken in “orphans” during the holidays, those friends who have no family (either nearby or existing at all) with whom to spend a time which rejoices in such connections. This season, at Christmas, I and my partner and our kitty will be orphans ourselves. We duly signed up for it, planning our time on the road as we did, but we never really stopped to consider the import of spending Christmas on the road. We’ll be certain to see and spend time with other orphans, as we’ll likely go into whatever truck stop we’ve decided to camp in, for tea, warmth, and hoping, I’m sure, with many others for some sort of silent fellowship.

Having family close at hand has been a practical consideration throughout human history, most especially during the winter months when help was needed to make sure food supplies were at the desired levels and the very young and very old were cared for with the extra attention that cold and damp conditions generally make necessary. The idea of several generations of a family sharing living space and resources has become rare in this day and age but we are seeing it spring up anew as we travel these days. Parents asking their college aged children to stay under their roof as long as they would wish, young parents asking their own parents to move in and assist with child rearing, and similar family dynamics that mirror those of days gone by are happening right before our eyes. There are financial considerations at work here, but more importantly, and more easily missed, are the bonds of love and friendship that encourage such decision making.

On the approach of the Winter Solstice, when the nights are at their longest, I can think of no better place to be than with family, be they blood or a family of one’s choosing. It is no mere coincidence that the sun sign being transitioned into is all about family, practical choices, reliability and a firm grounding in all that is necessary for not only surviving, but thriving. This is a time of gathering with those closest to you and deciding what is to be left behind in the Darkness since it either no longer serves you or is acting as negative ballast to keep you from reaching other goals. It is also a time for setting those goals anew, so that they might be nurtured by you as well as your immediate family, growing in strength as the days lengthen and coming to fruition even as the light returns to our lives.

As the sun moves from inventive and spontaneous Sagittarius into the more stable and dependable Capricorn, I and many others, will turn attention to practical matters of family, finance and health. New Year’s Eve is not the only reason we are resolution-minded this time of year. Capricorn’s resoluteness and desire to finish what has been begun also lurks in the sub-currents of our psyche around the Solstice when it begins its ascent in the Zodiac.

Rather that reflect on what we haven’t got or failed to achieve in the previous year, Capricorn urges us to look ahead at what opportunities still exist before us, and what we can do about them. We are encouraged to recall all of the sweetness that this year has afforded us and hold gratitude for each and every bit of it. We are reminded that what is important right now, in this moment, is always right in front of us, and that if we are not diligent in paying attention, we will miss it entirely.

With this in mind, I offer you a dose of the previous year’s sweetness in a wonderful little sparkly concoction I like to call The Yule Tide. Share it with someone close to you or sip it in solitary reflection. Mull over what your definition of family is, for there is no wrong answer. Family is generally where we find it, where we are moved to make an effort to connect with our fellow human beings and other living creatures. And it is mostly about the love that you have for all that you hold dear and your willingness to share it with your particular corner of the world.

May your holidays be filled with warmth and joy and the family of your choosing…

Cheers~Charon, The Most Dangerous Beauty Alive
theswordswallowers.com
oddangel.com

Charon Henning is one of a handful of female sword swallowers in the world today. She’s performed on carnival midways and at wine tastings, on theater stages and grassy lots.

Charon also reads tea leaves professionally, a skill she inherited from her grandmother on her mother’s side of the family. Tea-leaf reading is a wonderful and elegant form of entertainment, suitable for many time periods and venues.

Charon loves being on the road seeing new places and meeting new people. Want to catch Charon on the road for her live show? View her tour schedule here. Or, book Charon’s talent for your next event!

my friend steve visited utah recently and shared with me something i did not know. and that strange bit of information has amazed me ever since, compelling me to blog about it. perhaps you are also unaware that in this largely mormon state, in order to patronize a bar, you must belong to it. yes, that’s right. you just can’t walk in to any bar on the street without paying an annual membership fee! of course, if one is not a millionaire, one must choose their drinking holes wisely. (see on the photo how it says “members.”) the only bar i know of retarded enough to voluntarily have this policy is milk & honey. and they just need to get over themselves all ready. snooty brits. utah really makes me love new york.

today, october 17th, i went to the liquor store in nutley, new jersey. and what to my wondering eyes should appear? but a fucking christmas wreath, in fact many jolly wreaths strung up on lamp posts lining the street. ok, as jen would say, this town needs a TIME OUT. it’s not even near halloween yet, never mind thanksgiving. and for the record it was 75 degrees today and i was sweating bullets as i drove by this shocking display. but that’s another global warming topic for another unseasonably warm day. why am i ranting about wreaths in october? because it’s ridiculous and i want it stopped. bah humbug. can’t we celebrate one holiday at a time? ok, fine, walmart and the drug stores have some christmas stuff out, hidden in the back of the store. but such a blatant display? have some couth. granted, consumer buying has kept us out of a recession… but at least give us ’til halloween’s over before bombarding us with commercialism. kudos to nordstroms, who religiously abstains from holiday adversting until black friday. if only more stores would have that kind of class.

this season, make it a BIRD FRIENDLY HOLIDAY WREATH

this past week i ventured out of the empire state and into the wild wild west. didn’t find any gold… but i did find a whole bunch of interesting liquor! i’m feeling pretty deprived here in new york… when i go to the liquor store, i rarely find the particular bottle i seek, and have to special order it, if i’m lucky. in colorado liquor stores are conveniently located… like at the gas station! pretty cool, though not so much for the drinking and driving set. those cowboys know how to drink too… my friend was perpetually sipping a white russian. he was rarely seen without a water bottle in his hand, filled with a milky white liquid. kind of like chain smoking, but with alcohol. so i thought i’d share with you some spirits that i found, in between the white water rafting and rock climbing (ha, j/k). the aspens are just starting to turn, and the town that takes it’s name from that curious tree sits in the most beautiful valley. a feast for the eyes, along with colorado’s other amazing mountainous views.

the patron orange liqueur is really good. i plan to substitute it for cointreau. did’t taste the wild turkey, but hear it’s as sweet as honey.

i’ve got a goat fetish, so i had to buy this for my collection. it was good… smooth. as for the vampyre vodka, i didn’t taste this either. anything to do with vampires scares the crap outta me.

the highly recommended almond infused tequila was a score. delicious – who woulda thought? the margarita liquer, was good, but nothing to write home about. it’s essentially a mixer, good to serve on rocks.

finally, i found the cherry infused vodka that can’t be found anywhere in NY. very good, but on the sweet side. i can see it in a gussied up manhattan. didn’t taste the whiskey in the crock, but how cool is that packaging? they also had an alligator beer in a crock that i didn’t get a photo of.

fat tire beer turned about to be a real find. not a big beer fan, but wow, really good. not sweet, not bitter, just right. the company is wind powered and employee owned which makes it even better. as for the peach beer, yum, but only if you have a sweet tooth. i’ve had the raspberry before and it’s not quite as good. big fan of all the lambic fruit beers though.

biodegradeable water bottle, awesome! too bad in general colorado’s recycling standards are seriously lax. as for the mason jar whiskey, it’s aged less than 30 days… how insane is that? and no, i wasn’t insane enough to try it.

love this wooden cooler…

NOW FOR THE GEEKY TOURIST SECTION:
this crazy guy built, and continues to build, this fantasty castle by himself. BISHOP’S CASTLE is incredible. and his signage is even more incredible!

SOME OTHER INTERESTING COLORADO SIGHTINGS:

i approached the girl who owned this bike to ask why she had an engorged dick strapped to it, but she got caught up in a bar brawl with another biker chic, so i high tailed it outta there. i think they were fighting over the penis.

the aspen’s roots are all connected to other aspen trees. they are not separate root systems, unlike other plants. also, their leaves flap in the wind making a very distinct sound. they turn gold in the fall.

rock structures in GARDEN OF THE GODS and the CAVE DWELLINGS.

i’ve heard of natural spring water, but natural soda water? no! yes… it’s true, this fountain in COLORADO SPRINGS contains carbonated water. and it is really tasty. wish i had a spring like that outside my apartment, never have to buy seltzer for my mojito again!

i went to vegas a few weekends ago (8/25-8/28) and had the most random trip. allow me to outline some of the bizarro events that unfolded…

1. i sat in emergency seating on three legs of my four legged trip.
now i’ve traveled all over the world, and have never sat near the emergency exit before. it’s a little bit of a big deal… the stewardess make you say “yes, i am able to help” (in case our plane explodes into a gazillion tiny pieces). and if you don’t say it loud enough, she’ll make you repeat it. and do push ups. j/k.

2. i was standing at the top of an escalator in the airport and a woman fell down backwards on it. people were yelling, it was quite the scene. she had somehow positioned herself so that her head was towards the ground, and her feet were up in the air. one false move, and she was sliding down backwards. she was still there when i left to board my plane, surrounded by airport officials who wouldn’t let her move. i felt bad for her, kinda embarrassing.

3. out to dinner in a moroccon restaurant (see sexy above) and this crazy guy comes in and starts yelling. he picks up some wine glasses and threatens the staff and customers with them. he’s running around the tables in the restaurant screaming in some language that wasn’t english. it sounds funny, but it was a bit scary. finally the staff cornered him in a booth and talked him into putting down the glasses. one of the patrons had called the cops, and four cars showed up and reenacted a COPS scene for us. btw, these were donut-eating cops, and they knew how to throw someone down on a hood.

4. in an airport restaurant and decided that if i didn’t get to the powder room asap i would do myself permanent damage. so i told the couple next to me i’d be right back. um, yah, not so smart as it turns out. upon my return that same couple told me that my bag had started a bomb scare! they had to convince the manager not to call security. hmmnn… maybe next time i’ll pay attention to those loud-speaker announcements. i guess that one could have turned out a LOT worse.

5. the guy sitting next to me on the airplane had a heart attack. i had to flag down a steward and walk down the aisles of the plane asking for doctors. luckily, i found a nurse who administered CPR. he was laid down in the aisle next to my seat the whole trip home, and i thought he was dead for sure, but he lived. i sat on the stewardess’ bumper seat and we made an emergancy landing. after traipsing from one to terminal to another trying to catch a flight that didn’t exist, i missed my connection and spent the night at ramada inn. i must say though, that was some of the best tiramasu i’ve ever had. (in times of extreme duress, this vegan-inspired vegetarian allows herself to indulge in dairy laden desserts).

6. all of the above doesn’t even include the drama that was ongoing. such as changing my plane ticket three times, and just missing dinner dates, and getting tickets to an exclusive show and then losing them, and so forth and so on…

so for a three day trip, that’s kind of crazy no? i thought to myself, my god! what is the reason for all this insanity? could it possibly be related to my astrological chart? i asked molly Cliborne, of north-node.com for help on this befuddling tale. here’s what the astro sleuth turned up:

molly looked at the chart for the nutty weekend in question, superimposed on my natal chart. in it, she found a t-square with mercury as the focal point (a t-square is a stressful formation of planets that tends to show up as unsettled energies and conflicting needs or goals.). mercury occupied my 9th house, which rules long distance travel. and apparently, the other aspects happening were strange, dramatic and serious! see below for the technical jargon, but suffice it to say that some wild energy occured in my chart during my trip. now remember that mercury, planet of transportation, travel and the details thereof, is at the head of this t-square in my 9th house of long-distance travel. hanging around the position of my natal mercury the whole time, was pluto – planet of upheaval. so, in addition to all this intense t-square energy happening in my ninth house of travel… i have pluto, planet of life and death, acting out too! bear in mind that mercury is the planet of goings on around oneself, not necessarily oneself, keeping me at a comfortable distance from the drama.

now, if you’re interested in molly’s technical explanation, here it is:

gwen’s 9th house of long distance travel:

a t-square with mercury at the apex, conjunct the south node of the moon. (south node of the moon refers not to a pink floyd song, but in day-to-day life tends to bring up chaotic energies). also, retrograde venus conjunct saturn, (this makes for serious social interactions). gwen’s natal south node was at the midpoint of the conjunction, tying it together and making it very strong and personal to her – and leo made it a dramatic south node too. as the trip progressed, venus squared gwen’s mars in scorpio and applied to a square her natal saturn. (venus square mars brings out the “fight” in and around us, particularly in close relationships. scorpio makes everything intense).

and so, yes, in answer to my question, i found that my wacky trip was definitely related to planetary movements. as i believe so much of our lives are. why not have molly check out what the stars have in store for you?

oh, and next time you’re in vegas, eat at Marrakech. great food, and bellies.

i saw a huge absolut ad on the leaning tower of luxor, the egyptian themed hotel in las vegas, while i was there this week. i think it will end up saying, “welcome to vegas. you are now in an absolut world.” i thought it was pretty impressive.