Some people collect stamps, others recipes. I seem to have a penchant for shoes, but let me just say that mine is not a typical collection because it has an extreme lack of diversity. To be honest, I was a little horrified the other day to look down in my closet and realize that perhaps, just perhaps, I had gone over the edge. You decide.
Now, I have my justifiable reasons -- don't we all? My feet have always had issues, just ask my sister. For years she kept track of my toenails, or lack thereof. After years of running, hiking, skiing, and spending time in large, clunky boots with low arches that don't prevent my toes from slamming into the front of those boots, I have bruised (and lost) many a toenail. Nowadays, my feet are cursed by plantar fasciitis. If you've never suffered from this ailment, may you pray to the feet gods that you never do. This tends to be one of those aging problems. Your arches sink over time, which is not a good thing if you didn't have high ones to start off with. That's where the Danskos and Birkenstocks come in to offer support to my sinking arches.
I also have bunions, which I learned more than ten years ago -- long before I had crested the hill. I was in Sun Valley trying on some new hiking boots (so I could crush a few more toenails), and a strapping young salesman looked down at my feet and said, "You know, you would be wise to go with a wider shoe because of your bunions." "My what??" I replied, horrified. In my mind, bunions went with little old ladies with blue hair, not an athletic mom like myself. It was at that same moment I realized that strapping young salesmen saw absolutely nothing in 40-year-old, bunion-laden women. It was a dark day, indeed.
A while back I read an interview in the New York Times Magazine with some famous woman. I was not aware of who she was, but I will never forget one little comment she made about women's fashion, specifically regarding shoes. She questioned the sanity of any woman who would wear concrete blocks on her feet in lieu of a cute pair of feminine flats. Although she didn't name the brand, I knew immediately that she was talking about my beloved Danskos. Now I recognize that they are neither ladylike nor sexy, but I have embraced my lack of style, and my feet are happier for it.
Now it might make sense to pass along a granola recipe with this post, but I'm going to do quite the opposite. As I sit typing in one of my many beloved sets of concrete blocks, I share a recipe for a very delicate and sophisticated drink, the Brandy Crusta. This drink has been around for more than a hundred and fifty years and beckons to be sipped in a cute floral party dress with accompanying dainty shoes. The Brandy
Crusta was developed in the deep South, so you might have to use your imagination if you, too, having aging feet. I guarantee, however, that the taste is delicious, no matter what you're wearing.
Brandy Crusta
adapted from Dale DeGroff
1 1/2 ounce brandy
1/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
1/4 ounce Cointreau
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/4 ounce simple syrup
lemon-peel spiral
sugar to rim the glass
Combine the brandy, maraschino liqueur, Cointreau, lemon juice and simple syrup in a mixing glass. Using a small cordial glass, rim the glass with a wedge of lemon and then carefully dip the outside of the glass in a plate of fine sugar. Strain the drink (with a fine strain) into the glass and add the lemon-peel spiral. Make sure to delicately lift your pinky as you drink. Simply lovely, dahling.
Now, I have my justifiable reasons -- don't we all? My feet have always had issues, just ask my sister. For years she kept track of my toenails, or lack thereof. After years of running, hiking, skiing, and spending time in large, clunky boots with low arches that don't prevent my toes from slamming into the front of those boots, I have bruised (and lost) many a toenail. Nowadays, my feet are cursed by plantar fasciitis. If you've never suffered from this ailment, may you pray to the feet gods that you never do. This tends to be one of those aging problems. Your arches sink over time, which is not a good thing if you didn't have high ones to start off with. That's where the Danskos and Birkenstocks come in to offer support to my sinking arches.
I also have bunions, which I learned more than ten years ago -- long before I had crested the hill. I was in Sun Valley trying on some new hiking boots (so I could crush a few more toenails), and a strapping young salesman looked down at my feet and said, "You know, you would be wise to go with a wider shoe because of your bunions." "My what??" I replied, horrified. In my mind, bunions went with little old ladies with blue hair, not an athletic mom like myself. It was at that same moment I realized that strapping young salesmen saw absolutely nothing in 40-year-old, bunion-laden women. It was a dark day, indeed.
A while back I read an interview in the New York Times Magazine with some famous woman. I was not aware of who she was, but I will never forget one little comment she made about women's fashion, specifically regarding shoes. She questioned the sanity of any woman who would wear concrete blocks on her feet in lieu of a cute pair of feminine flats. Although she didn't name the brand, I knew immediately that she was talking about my beloved Danskos. Now I recognize that they are neither ladylike nor sexy, but I have embraced my lack of style, and my feet are happier for it.
Now it might make sense to pass along a granola recipe with this post, but I'm going to do quite the opposite. As I sit typing in one of my many beloved sets of concrete blocks, I share a recipe for a very delicate and sophisticated drink, the Brandy Crusta. This drink has been around for more than a hundred and fifty years and beckons to be sipped in a cute floral party dress with accompanying dainty shoes. The BrandyCrusta was developed in the deep South, so you might have to use your imagination if you, too, having aging feet. I guarantee, however, that the taste is delicious, no matter what you're wearing.
Brandy Crusta
adapted from Dale DeGroff
1 1/2 ounce brandy
1/4 ounce maraschino liqueur
1/4 ounce Cointreau
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/4 ounce simple syrup
lemon-peel spiral
sugar to rim the glass
Combine the brandy, maraschino liqueur, Cointreau, lemon juice and simple syrup in a mixing glass. Using a small cordial glass, rim the glass with a wedge of lemon and then carefully dip the outside of the glass in a plate of fine sugar. Strain the drink (with a fine strain) into the glass and add the lemon-peel spiral. Make sure to delicately lift your pinky as you drink. Simply lovely, dahling.
Once again you have written on a topic that is dear to my heart(and feet). Just yesterday I was looking at a clothing catalog with Mom and I pointed out the type of shoe you are referring to as being perfectly ugly for me.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I had bunion surgery last Sept(9 weeks on crutches) but it makes me feel that much safer in my Naot "hobbits" shoes:)
I found these pictures highly amusing. And the story about your bunions. Sorry. And this is Shannon, not my 17-year old son. That would be creepy.
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