I yesterday focused on Dante's Inferno, where the Third Circle is for the gluttonous. To avoid that area of Hell, I'm hereby making a case that my meals are gourmet and not gluttony. I usually watch the Kentucky Derby, and prepare the traditional Mint Julep:
- Did you know that the state of Kentucky produces 95% of all the bourbon in the world?
- The Mint Julep is simply
- 2 oz of bourbon
- 0.75 oz of syrup
- crushed ice
- a few mint leaves, with a sprig to garnish
- Sold on Friday (when the Longines Kentucky Oaks is run for fillies, which are female race horses) and Saturday (the Derby) for $9, although one with a souvenir cup sells for $15.
For charity, 11 gold-plated and 89 silver-plated mint juleps are made available by early reservation. The gold goes for $2500, while the silver costs only $1000. This year, what was inside those cups was something called Cherries and Cream Julep:- 2 oz Woodward Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon, the official bourbon
- 0.5 oz cherry juice
- half a vanilla bean pod cut into small segments
- 1 tsp powdered sugar
- crushed ice
- mint sprig
- #10 Wild Turkey
- #9 Old Grand-Dad
- #4 Knob Creek
- #1 Maker's Mark
- These are the only ones I personally own on that list.
- This drink was first concocted for medicinal purposes to soothe the stomach.
- Julep comes from the Arabic word julab, a rose petal and water beverage.
- Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky made this drink popular.
- A pewter cup is preferred because the drink is usually served in a hot environment, and serves to cool you.
- Old Forrester was once the bourbon used, but since 1999 Woodward Reserve, a new bourbon at that time, paid money to become the official sponsor. However, the Derby outlets still use Old Forrester.
When I worked in the U.S. Senate, Senator Wendell Ford offered to host members of the Senate Energy Committee to come to Louisville for the Derby. If the Senator himself could not attend, he could select one of his staff to go. I was chosen, but unfortunately had a conflicting need to be elsewhere, something I today regret.
About this 147th Kentucky Derby:
- It is the longest running annual sports event in the U.S., starting in 1875.
- Called Run for the Roses, as the winner gets 554 red roses at the end.
- The University of Louisville marching band traditionally plays Stephen Foster's My Old Kentucky Home as the horses trot onto the track. Even though the state legislature replaced darkies with people in 1980, the song remains controversial.
- This year Medina Spirit, a 12:1 under horse, won in 2: 01.02:
- You would have won $26 for a $2 bet.
- $9,456 for a $1 superfecta bet, with Essential Quality, the favorite, coming in #4.
- Bob Baffert, who now has a record 7 Kentucky Derby wins, and jockey John Velesquez also teamed to win last year.
- In the audience was Tom Brady, who this year won his 7th NFL championship. So was Aaron Rogers, who apparently will not leave Green Bay.
- The fastest Kentucky Derby was run by Secretariat in 1973: 1 minute and 59.40 seconds, which is moving along at 37.7 MPH. His heart was later measured to be twice the size of the average horse.
- The slowest winner was Stone Street in 1908: 2:15.20
- The race is 1.25 miles long, or 10 furlongs.
- The fastest human mile was run in 1999 by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 3:43.13, which averages to around 16 miles/hour.
- A professional bicycle rider can do a mile at 27 miles/hour, but the human-powered bike speed is 82 MPH by Sam Whittingham, over a distance of 200 meters, allowing for pick-up speed.
- The fastest Usain Bolt ran was 27.79 miles/hour between the 60 meter and 80 meter mark when he ran the 100 meters in 9.58 seconds, the world record, which equates to 23.33 miles/hour.
- A cheetah can run 100 meters in 5.8 seconds, which is 38.56 miles/hour.
- So which animal is the fastest?
- Depends on distance and terrain.
- A cheetah can sprint between 70-75 MPH for up to 300 yards.
- A pronghorn antelope would probably beat a cheetah in a one mile race.
- A horse can run at 44 MPH for 300 yards, but can continue at 20.5 MPH for 20 miles.
- A horse is probably faster than a human on a bike on grass up to 2 miles.
- Animals like a horse, antelope, camel, sled dog and ostrich would easily beat a human in a marathon.
- In the ocean, a sailfish has been timed going 68 MPH and black marlin at 80 MPH.
- A horsefly in Hawaii (and there is one now flying around my apartment) moves at 90 MPH. How did it get in? Don't know. I once had a mosquito problem, but that ended with the purchase of two electronic mosquito traps.
- A free-tailed bat, the official flying mammal of Texas, whizzes around at 99 MPH.
- A peregrine falcon was clocked at 242 MPH.
So back to the topic of the day featuring gourmet cuisine, for my Kentucky Derby lunch I prepared the standard Mint Julep, with the #1 ranked bourbon, Maker's Mark. The favorite meal at the Derby is the Kentucky Hot Brown, an open-faced sandwich of turkey and bacon on thick bread, covered with cheesy Mornay sauce and broiled until the bread crisps and sauce browns.
As another favorite is nachos, and that above dish did not appeal to me, I had a Fancy Nachos with the Mint Julep and beer, which is the second favorite drink at the Derby:
Otherwise my highlights for the week were my traditional wagyu beef, this time with poke:
The mint for the julep, incidentally, came from my herb garden, here showing spearmint and basil:
The basil was used for another meal, spaghetti, with salad and a Stanford Red wine, plus beer:
The hero for the week was a fly swatter. That horsefly bugging me for a couple of days finally met a vicious end. I swung the swatter so hard that the fly disintegrated into pieces. Otherwise, I would have shown that dead fly.
To close, I thought the Honohono Orchid season was over, but here is a late bloom, with the morning Star Advertiser, to show that this photo was taken today:
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