The phrase “dog days” makes me think of Florence Welch singing “The Dog Days Are Over”. I hear those words, and immediately the song starts playing in my head. Plus, look at her pretty hair! Not relevant, but I’m a sucker for redheads.
This week I’m assembling the third issue of Balm Digest, “Medium-Sized Dogs”. Dog days are on my mind — literal dog days — but that got me thinking about the figurative ones. I guessed the expression came from watching a hound dog pant on the porch during sweltering August. Location: the American South. Wrong and wrong! According to Etymonline, the idiom’s origins are Greco-Roman. Sirius, the bright Dog Star, ascends just when summer starts getting horrible. Hence, “dog days”.
Traditionally, afternoons in July and August are the most miserable, so hot that you can’t even take a nap. Here we are in January, no need to be cooled down, but I decided to make up a summer cocktail recipe anyway. Lifestyle content is fun, and I’ll be damned if the weather obstructs my whim!
Honey Mint Julep
- tablespoon of honey
- shot and a half of vodka (because bourbon is gross)
- stir thoroughly, aiming for syrup consistency
- fill the rest of the glass with chilled mint tea
- stir everything again to make sure the honey is dissolved
- add ice if you feel like it
- (alternately, put the ice in first and drizzle honey over it)
Yay! Get winter-drunk on a cocktail that makes no seasonal sense!