Today is Canadian Maple Syrup Day. It is also happens to be National Werewolf Day. Let us sniff out what the library can off for these two events. First we have “the Maple Sugar Book , Being a Plain Practical Account of the Art of Sugaring.” by Helen and Scott Nearing, 1950. As the title suggests, this is a great handbook for everything maple syruping. The authors begin with the history of tapping trees, and I found out there are many different trees that can be used, including the date palm. In modern times, the Nearings go through every step of the process of ‘sugaring’, that is from sap, to syrup, to sugar. As they state “We had three things in mind…first was to describe the process; Second was to present some interesting history; And third to relate our experience in homesteading and making a living from the maple.” They were able to get out of the city, and live a different lifestyle in the country. In fact, they noted that the first full moon in the year, is called The Sugar Moon.
Speaking of full moons, this day is also National Werewolf Day. To honor these beasts, I have from my movie collection “The Movie Treasury, Horror Movies” by Alan G. Frank, 1974. This is a wonderfully illustrated book of old horror movies, with pictures in both color and black and white. Werewolves make up a big part of the scene. It tells of after the big successes of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, in Frankenstein and Dracula, Universal Studios wanted to make another monster. They went with “Werewolf in London” 1935. While the actor was not successful, the monster idea was. in 1941, Universal came out with “the Wolf Man” with Lon Chaney Jr. He was then the face of the werewolf for many moonlit movies after that, ending with “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” in 1948. Other actors have picked up that role, making more successful werewolf movies, especially with Hammer Films.
Now my research was able to find a connection with the two special days today. There is a restaurant in Vancouver Washington, the Makenzie Room, that serves an interesting drink. I have printed it below:
“Werewolf in Vancouver”
2 oz moonshine
0.5 oz Maple Syrup
1 Dash Black walnut bitters
1 dash Bittered Slug Moondog Bitters
2 tsp chili water
1 tsp citric acid solution
“Add all ingredients into a mixing glass, add ice and stir to chill and dilute. Strain into glass over ice. Spritz cocktail with orange oil from a peel. Wrap orange peel around an olive and secure with a cocktail pick.”
“*chilli water is water infused with thai birds eye chilli, infuse to desired heat level and strain chilli out.
*citric acid solution is one tsp of citric acid to 200 ml water”
Before I end this post…A werewolf went into a bar. The bartender said “what’s your poison?” The werewolf said well, silver bullets, but I hear maple syrup is tree-licious”
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