1 oz Brandy
Combine in a mixing glass with ice.
Fill with apple cider or apple juice, shake, and strain into a chilled glass.
Float 1/2 oz dark rum on top
The Captain is in the house! Captain Morgan that is. The dark rum floating on the top added an interesting dark hue to the top of the drink, which faded as it faded down the glass.
The spiced rum provided a strong flavor, though it did not compete with the apple cider. If you use apple juice, it might make this too sweet, what with all the rum in this.
I was not a big fan of the brandy, but it was OK. I could almost do without it, but I understand why it is in there. It provides a clear noted base of alcohol that balances against the sweet tones of the rum. But in the end, not much could put this drink over the top into greatness. It was just OK, nothing special. Which os sort of sad, since I had high hopes for what sounded like a really cool drink.
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I promised that I would get back to working through Epicurus' 4-part remedy for happiness, and today I take a look at step 3.
What is good is easy to get
Some things are easy to get. Food and shelter primarily. Rich or poor, animal and human can all get these with relatively minimal effort. But if you try to obtain more in your life than you need, you fall into gluttony and over-indulgence. These will limit your chances at happiness and satisfaction in life, which in turn creates needless anxiety in your life.
This implies that the minimum amount of energy to satisfy your needs and urges is the maximum amount of interest you should have in satisfying those urges. If you over indulge in eating, you have spent too much energy trying to satisfy your urge for food, and will be unhappy for a variety of reasons, from poor health to being overweight. If you become greedy in accumulation of wealth, lusting after material things that are beyond what you actually need to survive, you limit your happiness by always wanting more, and perhaps suffering the consequences of overworking to pay for them, and possibly neglecting other parts of your life.
Epicurus felt that you only need to spend the least amount of energy on the minimum amount of things you actually need. A modern phrase most of us have heard is to remind yourself whether you want or need something. I think that is the essence of part 3. Obtain what you absolutely need in life: shelter and food to survive. To spend the least amount of energy on this, don't over indulge and get greedy beyond that, or you will impede your ultimate happiness by introducing uneccessary anxiety into your life.
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