What is your decadence? You’re cup of tea.. your poison? It is finally that time of year to indulge the senses and frolic that ass in frivalry. finally time to raise that glass with the one’s you love. Connection is the protection of the human race. And ritual, the glue that keeps us grounded to tradition and meaning. Time to acknowledge strangers just a little more than usual. To chirp the holiday phrases that echo into the vapors like a pinball off the flappers until the kinetic energy is exhausted.
And so it is thursday december 9, 2021 raining in los angeles. Just that lazy-hazy dribble rain that is enough to soak everything to the bone in minutes. The shoes are all drying on the porch from the morning trip to the dog park the pets are in fact, back in bed. Soggy wet hair. Eyes squinted in total submission to the kind of day it’s going to be. Meanwhile I’m sipping on cold coffee at 11:19 am, still in my winter robe.
My appetite for new work is insatiable at the moment. Yesterday I finished up these large scale figurative pieces I have been working on now for the last year. It feels monumental to achieve this. yesterday I celebrated with a decadent snack of caviar, ritz crackers, and cheap champagne. My mind was clear and my thoughts were free because nothing quite captures my attention like a blank canvas and I am that much closer to a studio of blank canvases, open road, and new possibilities in adventure and discovery. But today there will be no artistic discovery. At least not in the field. I’ve discovered fir pine scent of the Christmas tree goes very well with a light rain. I’ve learned that black coffee and the smoke of a Virginia Cavendish out of an Italian briar-wood pipe really gets me in the writing mood. And i’ve discovered that staying in your robe all morning is not necessarily the mark of an under achieving man. In fact it can be the uniform of a simple person doing the work that must be done behind the scenes. If greatness is made amongst the work you do out of the public gaze then consider this studio in the deepest end of a narrow pit on a moonless night. Churning out etchings, paintings, photographs, and writing’s created in solitude with one goal in mind, Get better, make somethings great, and when that’s done-get that scrilla. I love being alone with my mind, I love being alone with my books, and I love being alone with my imagination. A bit maniacal, a bit narsaccistic…but i’m a proud solituder for the work.
Enough of the navel gazing let’s get to the formerly stated topic at hand! Our poison’s. The potions that tickle the fibers of our stringy little hearts. I am going to share a delectable recipe I last made about a year ago when me and my buddy (s/o manny fresh) drove across the country to Arizona to hand deliver some art work. I whipped this silky elixir up and took it to the wild west. What followed were memories for a lifetime and taste buds excited in ways never told. I’m talking about a little something called Butter Infused Bourbon otherwise known as the kiss of paradise. If you have a taste for bourbon you will surely impress your tongue and any guest’s tongues to oblivion. It’s got a flavor and a sensation that buzzes around said tongues with robust profiles and silkyness.(thats a word). Ok so you need a bottle of your favorite bourbon and a wide mouth glass jar for mixing that you can also seal. I use large mason jars. Pour the bourbon into the jar. Melt down two sticks of butter (3 if you’re nasty) until it is the color of maple syrup. Pour the melted butter through a fine strainer or cheese cloth into the jar with the bourbon and mix with a large wooden spoon for effect. Seal the jar and let it cool. Once cool put the jar in the freezer for a day or two. The longer you let it sit the deeper the flavor. Take the jar out of the freezer after a day or so. Pour out the bourbon that is now washed in beautiful fat though a fine strainer or cheese cloth so that the solid parts get separated from the bourbs. violaaaa a lively unique decadence. You can now enjoy a finely crafted siperu. Bourbon is obviously a bold drink so to soften and balance it out add the juice of a lemon and simple syrup (easy to make on your own) and enjoy with or without ice. You can also do this with bacon fat. i once did that and let it sit for like 3 weeks in the freezer and im still talking about it. Have some in celebration or navel gazin’ but make sure you have some.