Smorgasbord #37

Esto Vir, Soapboxes, Singapore Sling

Jun 28, 2024

Hello friends! This is Smorgasbord, a self-service buffet of ideas—the None Pizza with Left Beef of newsletters.

First of all, my apologies for this Smorgasbord coming out later than usual on a Friday. I was making dumb jokes (a, b, c) about NYC’s Fat Beach Day. The kiddos are on their second Vacation Bible School of the summer, and last night, we got to see all of their crafts. Although there wasn’t too much glitter involved, I’m sure we’ll find remnants of cotton balls and tongue depressors around the house for weeks.

Alright, let’s get on with it.

Esto Vir

On Wednesday, it was St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer’s feast day. He was a Spanish priest and founder of Opus Dei, which encourages people to live the universal call to holiness in ordinary life. I found out about him early in my reversion to the faith, and I have considered him my friend for almost two decades.

I like two main things about St. Josemaria. One is that he stressed the importance of the laity being holy. Holiness is not just for priests and nuns; it’s for all of us. Like St. Benedict’s “or et labora,” St. Josemaria discussed developing our interior life and sanctifying our work. The other thing I like is that he talked in a very fatherly manner. I know this because there are hours of video available on the internet of conferences he held around the world where Opus Dei expanded. He did not sugarcoat things; he was direct and to the point.

There’s one phrase from his book Camino that I come back to regularly: Esto Vir. In his chapter on character, he says: “Don't say: 'That's the way I'm made… it's my character'. It's your lack of character: Be a man.” I highly recommend it if you're a man and need a little extra oomph in your spiritual life.

Soapbox Race

I went on a rabbit hole about Red Bull Soapbox Races after the algorithm decided I would enjoy them, and it wasn’t wrong. If soapbox races were a Venn diagram, they would be the intersection of creativity and engineering with maybe some showmanship in the mix. If you’re not familiar with them, teams build race cars powered only by gravity and go on different courses full of obstacles like kicks, seesaws, sharp turns, etc. The fun part is that they also have themes, and some people are incredibly clever.

These races are held in various parts of the world, so it was interesting to see how different people approach the same problem. I was blown away by the differences in two particular places, Tokyo and Chile.

In Tokyo, outstanding engineering, low centers of gravity, and beautifully intricate designs were the norm. The crowd was respectful, and it was an entertaining race to watch. In contrast, not all the contestants in Chile showed the same craftmanship, although the three soapboxes that made the podium spectacular. I wasn’t expecting to be bothered by the audience taking hay out of the bails and throwing it at the drivers as they went down the course. It didn’t cause an accident, but I’m sure it was mildly annoying for the participants.

Being a Latino myself, I can see how this could be deemed acceptable, but then again, I’m a big proponent of everyone aiming to be a decent human being. Maybe I’m just getting older and curmudgeonly.

Singapore Sling

The Singapore Sling is a single-serving punch created by Ngiam Tong Boon, a bartender at Long Bar in the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. It combines gin, Grand Marnier, cherry liqueur, Benedictine, pineapple, lime, bitters, and club soda, but most bartenders have their own version of the cocktail.

I tried a couple of recipes, and the one I liked the most was this one:

1.5 oz Gin
.25 oz Benedictine
1 oz Grand Marnier (I used Orange Curaçao)
1 oz Pineapple juice
.75 oz Lemon juice
.25 oz Cherry Heering (float)
Club soda

Shake all ingredients except the Cherry Heering and the club soda in a shaker with ice. Strain and pour the mixture into a Collins glass full of ice, top with an ounce of club soda, and drizzle the Cherry Heering on top.

If you want, you can add a dash of Angostura bitters and maybe up the Cherry Heering (like I did) because, come on, it’s cherry. The pineapple juice I used wasn’t super sweet, so I’m wondering if using a brand with a bit more sugar would round the drink a bit more. It came out a little too tart but still enjoyable.

This is one of those drinks that uses a lot of ingredients, but it’s well worth the effort to gather all of them. It's another summer drink to add to the collection.

Cheers!

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Sobremesa

What do you think is the laity’s role in the world?
Is Walther a curmudgeon?
Will the Singapore Sling be the drink of the summer?

P.S. In case you missed it, I wrote about the lessons I learned writing a serialized memoir. Have a lovely weekend!

-W