Violets

The air has been cold here and incredibly clean. Breathing outdoors feels like the first time you take a drink of cold spring water. I don’t recall breathing such pure air here. It is delicious.

I started this blog to document my isolation. Last week, on my birthday – exactly a week ago – the quarantined family members returned; my isolation ended. Today I have time to write again.

It was a good birthday. I gave myself the gifts of clean sheets, a tidy writing area, a bouquet of the first daffodils from the garden and a nice dinner. It was sunny, and just warm enough to enjoy working outside. DH and YD were home, finally. We had a bottle of Prosecco that a neighbor dropped off. My oldest daughter sent me flowers, and every member of my family called me. The rest of the week was busy with Pesach preparations, a zoom seder, prenatal appointments and time with my youngest daughter.

Yesterday, in response to western and north-eastern governors forming coalitions to plan for economic re-opening the economy based on best scientific evidence, in particular, Gavin Newsom referred to California as a “nation-state,” the occupier-in-chief threw a fit worthy of a toddler, claiming that he has “total authority” over the stated. Anyone who paid attention in fifth grade civics know that this isn’t true, yet because he has an attorney general who believes in ultimate executive authority, because Mitch McConnell is eager to empower and enrich himself through the actions of the president at the expense of national welfare, and because the rest of the Republican party is made up of feces-faced sycophants, such a temper tantrum holds danger for the nation. The stalwart efforts of democratic opposition seem inadequate to stave off what would be at the least a constitutional crisis, at worst a coup. As I speculate on how this will all play out, I can imagine the union splitting into separate countries, with the northeast and western states seceding. That’s unlikely. I’m no political analyst; it’s just the imaginings of an intermittent blogger.

Meanwhile, the violets are blooming in my lawn. I was delighted to find them here when we moved in 15 years ago. They are fragrant, but their odor is fragile and difficult to capture. I have candied them with mixed success, and tinctured them. Steeped in vodka, they produced a beautiful, fragrant liquid. Yet it was unstable, and after a few months on the shelf, the color and scent faded.

This year, I tried again. I was leery of using a heat extraction, but I followed directions on a blog to pour hot water over the violets and steep. The final product – simple syrup – tasted, according to my husband, like weeds.

After some research I came across information about the enfleurage method of extraction, a very old method, which uses cold fat. My next experiment will be to soak violet blossoms in a tasteless oil. It’s difficult to make progress since I have very limited quantities for only a couple of weeks every year. I will certainly have to splurge on a bottle of creme de violette if I want to have this flavor in cocktails.

There are a number of delicious cocktails that feature violet, the Aviation being the classic and most famous https://www.thespruceeats.com/aviation-cocktail-recipe-760055. Violet is often paired with lemon and gin. For a simple cocktail that would be delightful for brunch or an afternoon on the deck, I would combine creme de violette with Prosecco and a splash of soda, much like an Aperol spritz, but with violette replacing the Aperol (however the proportions won’t be the same. You’d need less creme de violette than you would Aperol). Garnish it with a twist of lemon.

Drink it on a sunny morning while enjoying a virtual brunch with friends or family. Stay strong. Prepare to resist mightily. The orange man in the white house has declared publicly that he is a dictator. He must be removed.