0:03 who are you and where are you going what do you [Music] want hello and welcome to jigger's place I'm your host Kevin bmel and we are here every other Thursday afternoon 5:00 P p.m. Pacific time to have a cocktail and talk about all of the things that I I
0:38 don't discuss on my other three shows what I call the things that make life worth living relationships great books ideas um the the the the the parts of our lives that are not part of our professional lives so uh if you if you saw any of my shows over the last week or so uh today I'm going to be talking about a great book um it's called ivanho it's one of the Great Adventure Tales of of all time written by one of the greatest uh novelists of all time Sir
1:15 Walter Scott and in honor of of Ivan ho CH chap GPT and I created a cocktail called The ivanho Elixir so Ivan ho is set in the 12th century medieval times and elixir you know evokes that that time in history and uh and so here's here's what's in the uh The ivanho Elixir first of all there is uh single malt scotch whiskey so I'm GNA be using my all-time favorite obon it's a
1:51 14-year-old uh Scotch whiskey um from the West Highlands there's just a a little story behind this um in my first first professional Endeavor when I had my real estate company I was given an assignment to go up and and and uh review some property in the Seattle area I'd never been to Seattle before I flew in on a Sunday and by the time I got to my hotel the sun was already going down and as is often the case in Seattle it was a fairly cold damp night and so I checked in my hotel and decided I would go out and treat
2:26 myself for dinner especially since my client had uh excoriated me uh just just a few weeks before for you know eating food bought from the grocery store and that he says when you travel for us you treat yourself right so I went to this fantastic restaurant and they had a flight of single malt scotch whiskey so if you can imagine I'm in this uh restaurant two or three blocks from the water in Seattle on a a cold damp Sunday evening I'm sitting at this long bar they had these these great chairs that
3:03 swiveled they were tall and they they almost wrapped you up so no one could see you um but you could see what was happening behind it was it was an eating bar and they brought me a flight of these four whiskies a 10 12 14 and 16y old single malt whiskey and that was the first time I had OB on and fell in love with it have loved it ever since so uh Scotch whiskey for the sort of smoky robust base uh bened which is a lur uh that's that's sort of reminiscent of medieval times although Benedictine was not made until the 1500s
3:38 but you know still Benedictine Benedictine monks and all that kind of stuff uh dve ver Mo going to be using martini and Rossy um that's just to to add some some elegance and complexity uh a lemon juice if you got the recipe um in my email it says fresh lemon juice I found this at Trader Joe's yesterday this is 100% Sicilian lemon juice organic not from concentrate so I thought this sounded pretty good so I fig I'll I'll give this a try it's always fun to try new stuff that's to
4:15 brighten the other flavors and then there's going to be a couple dashes of angoo bitters you know again this is it adds depth a little bit of spice and then as garnish um I'm going to torch a sprig of uh Rosemary this is reminiscent of the English forests okay so I've got my shaker with the ice in it already we're going to start out with 2 oz of um of of whiskey where's there it is okay want to make sure I'm pouring the right
4:54 amount okay so gonna have to be getting another bottle of Oban soon okay and then we're GNA I'm going to put in a half ounce each of um of the Benedictine and then the vermouth and for those of you watched the show before you know I'm not one of
5:30 those fancy bartenders that fling stuff around and all of that like in cocktail uh oh oops it was supposed to be a full full ounce of Benedictine put another half ounce in it's always easier to add more than it is to correct for having added too much okay and then a uh a half half ounce of lemon juice just going to shake this up a little bit
6:07 okay and then couple of dashes of angoo bitters I decided to just use the classic angostura bitters this time you know sometimes I use my bitterman's Bitters and uh but this time I figured we'd go with the angura okay and we're going to cap this off and we're going to shake it until it's well chilled I always mention this it's not just a matter of shaking it for a couple of seconds to mix them it's chilling and and not just to chill them down it's also to let some of the ice melt to uh
6:44 open up the various flavors that's all part of it you can see it's already getting nice and chilly on the outside of the Shaker usually you know 20 to 30 seconds is uh is is is probably about right in this case Scotch is is heavier than something like vodka or a gin so I might do it just a little bit little bit more although it's freezing my hands okay well the whole thing is is
7:20 frosting now all right so all right um I'm just going to use kind of a goblet um and and strain this [Music] in all right and now I've got my my torch oops so let's go ahead and pull that off that on there going to go ahead and uh torch the uh
8:01 [Music] Rosemary this isn't exactly a torch it would be better if I had a real torch but oh yeah but it smells so good okay and put this in for the garnish and let's give it a taste let's see how chat CHT did this time very nice very nice lots of great flavors okay I will see you on the other
8:58 side e ah so here we are on on the
9:35 sofa it's it's Thursday afternoon evening if you're on the East Coast heading into the end of the week nice time to relax I've got my fireplace going on over here it's not a wood burning fireplace because the chimney in my house is is has been too damaged from earthquakes but it's a it's an electric fire it does give off heat and and I have one of my favorite things in all the world I don't love it as much as I love my daughter but um books and and in this case um this this is ivanho this is
10:11 my copy of ivanho um it's part of the um eastn uh press uh collection of uh great books and uh I'm sorry yeah East press um if you can see this they're beautifully Illustrated um this is a picture of Sir Walter Scott the author um and you can see the books are beautiful leather covers uh you know the gold uh the gold uh um edging um a uh the um ribbon that's used for a u if
10:50 you can keep your place and let me find one of the illustrations because I'm pretty sure yeah here we go so this is okay so here's here's one of the it's beautifully Illustrated that happens to be one of the characters Rebecca um and uh and you can see the just the just the print is well you may not be able to see it it's maybe too small the print is beautiful it really evokes uh you know the time period here's another illustration of an Archer just very you know very simple
11:26 but but but elegant drawings so um I I I don't know about you but uh you know it's one thing to read a paperback or things like that it's a whole another thing to sit and and read a just a beautifully uh put together book and in this case ivanho was written um um over 200 years ago so uh well it was published anyway in 1819 I'm not exactly sure when Sir Walter Scott uh wrote it but um
12:02 so another bit of cocktail so as I mentioned the the book is set in medieval England 12th century and if you're familiar with the tales of Robin Hood so Ivan ho uh is connected to that and in fact Robin of lockley I.E Robin Hood is one of the characters in the book um so
12:37 is uh King Richard um and Prince John and indeed like the story of Robin Hood the plot really revolves around Prince John's attemp attempted usurpation of the crown while King Richard is away in the holy land fighting the Crusades now the the um Title Character Wilfred of ivanho is a Saxon Knight and if you recall the story of King Richard and Robin Hood King Richard is a Norman and
13:14 and uh the the story happens roughly a hundred years after the Norman conquest of England when there was still a great deal of animosity between the Normans and the Saxons um that that too is part of of ivanho as it is part of the The Legend of Robin Hood so Robin Hood was a Norman nobleman but he uh took to banditry basically in order to protect uh Saxon peasants who
13:52 were being uh prayed upon um and and treated manifestly unjustly by Prince John so hang on one second let me just move that over there we go uh and and so um uh lost my train of thought for a minute I'll take another sip while while we're doing this so in in the case of ivanho Wilfred of ivanho is a Saxon Knight but much to his father sh shagrin
14:31 he decides to follow Richard and fight the Crusades and so as a result uh wilfred's father disinherits him and and essentially treats him as if he's dead and the this the the story of ivanho begins when ivanho has returned from the holy land and is seeking to reconcile with his father and it first of all is just a romping
15:06 good adventure story um so if if if you like stories in the vein of Robert Lewis Stevenson uh Mark Twain uh um uh Jack London um uh and um uh the one who wrote the Jung Rudyard Kipling so if you like adventure stories in that vein I think you will you will really enjoy ivanho it's got Knights it's got ladies it's
15:41 got jousting all all that kind of stuff and by the way there's a wonderful movie that was made about Ivan Hill I believe in the 1940s or 50s and and it it's it's actually a a pretty faithful uh filming of of of the book and I I recommend that as well uh so so on that level ivanho is is just a wonderful book what's interesting though is underneath the great story that will just suck you in and and have you
16:16 turning pages are some issues that Sir Walter Scott I think wanted to bring to his readers to get them thinking about that to put them on their radar uh without you know poking them in the face in essence as is so common today and and and and it's really it's really those uh social that those sort of social comments they're not really
16:51 comments it's it's the inner weaving of of of social ideas into this wonderful story that I think uh puts ivanho A Cut Above a lot of other adventure stories so um over the last two weekends I've read reread um Treasure Island and kidnapped both by Robert Lewis Stevenson they are wonderful books I I read them first as a boy um and I think this is the first time I I've read them as an adult uh they absolutely hold up they you know I basically can't can't
17:30 put them down um and for all of that though they're they're they're just adventure stories so there's no depth to them and and that's fine by the way I I enjoy reading books just for the sake of being engulfed in the stories and and and and Kipling I mean Stephenson absolutely does that uh what's what's amazing about Sir Walter Scott is uh he is is able to weave into them some food for thought and so um I just want to mention some of
18:08 the characters so I've already mentioned Wilfred of ivanho the Saxon Knight who's is essentially the aonomus uh character in the book there's King Richard the lionart who was who uh you know was King of England at the time Norman King Prince John his brother who tries to usurp the crown there's lady Rowena who is uh uh uh Ivan Ho's love interest and uh one of the reasons he returns is because he wants to um uh reunite with
18:44 Lady Rowena and and marry her um there's also uh two other characters that are that are very that are very interesting especially to me as as as a Jew so there's Rebecca who is a young Jewish woman and her father Isaac of York who who is is a successful Jew Jewish Merchant as was common um in in England uh and he was also he also lent money that was a a common profession among Jews in
19:21 England and then there's uh Brian De gilber who is a Templar knight uh who has also um followed uh Richard um there's a Cedric the Saxon um that's Ivan Ho's father he's he's the one who uh has disowned Ivan ho and has his own journey to take through the book and then there's uh Robin of lockley Robin Hood right the famous uh nobleman turned Outlaw uh and then there's uh Matthew
19:58 debras who is a Norman Knight um and he's allied with Prince John um and you can see a little bit of The Echoes of of the Robin Hood story um I'm I'm I'm going up on the name of the Norman Knight who uh Prince John uh chooses to try and assassinate uh Richard when he finds out that King Richard is is is back in in England although in disguise um and then there's a couple of others Reginald front debou and um waldemir uh
20:36 fitzers um these are these are also um allies of Prince John very brutal awful uh human beings and and so all of these characters come together in the in the telling of the tale of first the return of ivanho and then the return of King Richard and how uh the um uh attempted usurpation by Prince John is is resolved now the the the social issues that the
21:12 book addresses which are again what what what what I think really makes this this book a cut apart first of all um it talks about the Norman Saxon conflict um but I would say in a more sophisticated way than Robin Hood does so Robin Hood is very much the tale of Robin Hood is very much you know robbed from the rich to give to the poor kind of thing and that and that's that's fine uh ivanho is really dealing with the conflict because
21:47 there were Saxon Knights there was a Saxon nobility that was that was essentially conquered by the Normans and and yet they never wanted to acknowledge that the Normans reigned Supreme in England and so this was an ongoing social conflict in English society um and and as you might imagine there were politics power struggles all of these things involved in in the
22:23 disputes between the Normans and the Saxons now um you you part of um if you remember from the Robin Hood story um Robin Hood essentially rebukes King John for I'm sorry not King John uh King Richard for uh leaving his kingdom to go fight the Crusades and and and essentially allowing the conflict between Saxons and Normans to flare up because P Prince John was uh
22:59 so harsh with the Saxons even the Saxon nobility uh and and and so that that the issue of uh conflict between groups in society uh is is one of the issues woven throughout the book another is anti-Semitism so English society even through the time of uh when Sir Richard Sir Walter Scott was alive
23:34 uh still had an anti-semitic cast to it and and in fact there were times when England was virulently anti-semitic and and and the medieval period was such a time and yet the way that Jews navigated in society were were able to gain success and how they looked at their duties as subjects to in the case of ivanho King Richard um while staying true to to their faith and their
24:10 identity again it's it's it's it's quite a fascinating aspect of of the book and for his part ivanho is in love with Lady Rowena uh and and and and yet Rebecca the Jewish the Jewish female Jew uh falls in love with ivanho and and yet because of the religious divide ivanho was of course a Christian um you know she's not really able to do
24:46 anything about the fact that she's fallen in love with this man who is not one of her co-religionist religionists so the I don't want to call it religious conflict in this in in this sense but um it it's it's you know how does one live in a society that that has uh multiple religious denominations um and yet stay true to one's Faith so there's the anti-Semitism
25:21 on the one hand that that one sees especially on the part of Prince John and his allies there is the tolerance exhibited by ivanho and there's uh Isaac of York sort of caught in the middle somewhat while being concerned about what's happening with his daughter uh trying to be what he would what he considers to be a loyal English subject on the one hand and yet staying true to his people
25:57 all of these conflicts are are dealt with in in in the story and I think all of us deal with conflicts um Society is not tailored for how we want to live our lives and and we have to navigate these things uh sometimes on a daily basis and and this is by the way one of the reasons why I think it's so important to read literature uh not just non-fiction history is great I love history of course uh but um you know I was talking
26:34 to a friend of mine I'm not going to say his name I don't want to um put him down but but he he he he says I don't I don't read uh fiction and and and I think that's a mistake we we learn a lot about how to deal with personal subjects interpersonal relationships through Reading fiction quality fiction like ivanho um that that that demonstrates to us how these kinds of conflicts can be dealt with and and how how we can relate
27:11 to people how we can speak to people how we what happens if we treat people one way or another so again all of this is woven into the story of ivanho uh another aspect is the issue of chivalry and feudalism so feudalism was was essentially what amounts to a cast system you had surfs who were essentially slaves because when land was sold any surfs that were on that land were sold with it you had the the
27:47 nobility the you know dukes and duchesses and the counts and the countesses and the Earls and the Lords and all that kind of stuff and then you had the uh the the king um and so this sort of stratified Society uh is is dealt with at a time when uh slavery was uh prevalent throughout the world but England in particular was at the Forefront of coming to the conclusion that especially uh the form
28:23 of chatt slavery um that that was present in the United States was abhorent and so in in in in dealing with the issues of the Surfs and the nobility Etc I think this was a way for Sir Walter Scott to comment on this the status of different um uh levels of people different classes of people at the time and and and expose the kinds of
28:58 injustices that were going on the kinds of abhorent practices that were going on and and get people thinking about those issues in a way that because they were not directly connected to the issues of the day gave them some space to perhaps reflect on how they viewed them maybe changed their minds and then applied them to their current lives cheers
29:34 I'm not sure there's a better smell than Rosemary by the way and then finally Ivan ho you know even though it's set in medieval uh England ivanho deals with the role of women in society so again you know ivanho was published in 1819 not long after that the uh movement for women to gain uh the the franchise the vote in England started as it did in America um post uh
30:11 Civil War and Sir Walter Scott was examining was was was investigating these issues in a context again that allowed I think his readers the space to think about them without necessarily having to confront the reality of the society in which they lived but which gave them some space to think about them uh to think about these issues to see the the power of of women the
30:49 nobility of women the influence of women on not just household domestic events but but on political events because ivanho is an and is first and foremost an adventure tale set against the political realities of the usurpation of the crown and the conflict between Norman and Saxon and so uh Rebecca in particular is an absolutely pivotal character in in the story uh and
31:24 she exercises tremendous influ influence on not just on her Father which wouldn't wouldn't necessarily be so remarkable um because contrary to the the stereotypical picture um women have always throughout Jewish history women have always exerted an enormous amount of influence starting with um the the judge Deborah that we read about uh in in in the prophets in in the Hebrew Bible uh but she also has an impact on
32:00 Ivan ho himself uh and and you know the idea that a a a young woman from a religious cast that is generally looked down upon by English society uh having influence on a member of the nobility you know quite a a novel thing and and the idea that that that Jews filled and a female Jew at that filled an important and worthwhile role in
32:35 society even in 1819 was was not necessarily a particularly widely held idea in England and so uh you know the book can be read on a number of levels and and uh and and by the way this is also I think one one of the reasons why the movie is still is is such a a wonderful movie because the movie does not shy away from uh
33:10 um embracing these societal issues that are part of just the overall that that are woven that that word I like that word woven into the overall story um in in a way again that that that isn't you know pushing them into our faces in in an aggressive way but presenting them that so that it it they're they're hard to ignore and yet addressing them is part of the
33:45 Delight of of being engaged in the story so another bit of cocktail so I'm I'm I'm I I recommend to you ivanho especially on a cold winter night uh with a a lovely cocktail or or a hot totty or even just a uh a cup of of of tea and uh something that can Delight
34:24 you while providing you for for you know weeks to come uh food food for thought I I can't think of a a better uh a better thing that a book can do and hopefully it will introduce you to literature especially my great one of my great loves is 19th century literature whether it's Jane Austin Charles Dickens Thomas Hardy um uh JK
35:01 Chesterton uh so many uh wonderful uh novelists in the 19th century who's who are who are able to combine masterful storytelling with with the the raising of social ideas uh Dickens is is is is brilliant at it uh um you know whether it's Oliver or uh A Tale of Two Cities uh Jane
35:36 Austin too uh who who who raises uh so many ideas about the inter inter interaction between men and women uh George Elliott who that's actually a pseudonym George Elliott is is a woman um and I don't remember her her real name now that I mention it um uh Mill of the floss and and and Daniel dond um Daniel D is a wonderful book now uh it is the case that the pace of 19th
36:12 century literature is slow especially in the beginning oftentimes there's quite a bit of exposition that you have to sort of work yourself through so that you will be um familiar enough with the setting and the people for the story to unfold in a meaningful way um now all the authors I've mentioned up up till now have been English authors but there's American Authors Henry James there is uh Russian authors right now um I'm
36:47 I'm I'm listening to the audio book of Dos chf's the brothers Karam oov late late 19th century as I recall so so the the you know it's not just 19th century English English literature that's so wonderful uh there're they're you know across across the board um although I I I do have to admit when when it comes down to it the English novelists of the 1800s really capture my attention I'm I'm close to finishing the bostonians by Henry James lovely book um very well
37:26 written engag aing has all the qualities that I've mentioned in ivanho but but somehow he you know Henry James he's he's not quite Charles Dickens he's not quite Jane Austin um I I I will confess Jane Austin is probably my favorite author authoress um of of the 19th century um I've read everything um available that she's written including her juvenalia um cannot uh recommend her more highly um
38:02 her best known books um uh Sense and Sensibility and uh Pride and Prejudice are not my favorites my favorite is North anger Abby um which I'm I'm I'm not sure why that is it's just somehow that was the one that particularly captivated me so uh uh I I I can encourage you enough to engage in uh to to read uh 19th century literature now
38:37 uh I love to sit and read a book es especially a beautiful book like like Ivan ho uh or like this you know copy of ivanho um with the brothers karamazov I found a wonderful app called liox and it's absolutely free fre and it's audio books of great books so you by the way you can find ivanho on LibriVox I I I uh found it there I checked that out before before the show
39:12 I'll I'll put the name of this in the show notes but I you know you can download the app and you can every morning um when I'm you know getting ready for work shaving and all that kind of stuff I I've been listening to uh to the brothers k oov um and one of the know one of the interesting things about LibriVox at least uh the one that I'm listening to is rather than having one reader for the whole book they H so far there's been three and it's it's it's it's interesting to hear different
39:47 narrators give kind of their take on on how the book should be read so that that's kind of fun as well but you know audio books are are a wonderful thing they're especially when we're talking about 19th century literature since none of it is under copyright anymore you can find them essentially for free and uh and and and and listen to them while you're driving the car like while you're getting ready in the morning or whatever um and you know I'm not sure we ever get tired of having stories read to us so uh
40:23 uh you know do yourself a a favor and um maybe get yourself a an Audi book app and have some of the great books that that have ever been written read to you by people who clearly love and care about uh these these these these books that have um Enchanted and informed people for you know going on two centuries now so that's my message for you another
41:05 tip so good so good I have to admit I like I love Savory cocktails more than I like sweet ones so so I really appreciate you joining me this afternoon this evening I have some some uh folks watching live thank you so much for joining me live I hope you had a chance to make a cocktail and enjoy it with me this is my last show for this week and so I will wish you a Oh but before I do that if you have any thoughts
41:41 comments always you know please share them in social media all the links will be in the show notes after the episode posts on uh on our YouTube channel love to hear your thoughts if it's something you don't want to share publicly my email address will be there as well you can always email me and uh and and if if if I have sparked an interest on your part to read uh a novel from the 19th century I
42:16 can't tell you how much I would love to hear about that uh because that that was really the reason why I I did uh this this afternoon this evening show so I thank you very much for joining me wish you a wonderful evening wonderful rest of the week and weekend looking forward to seeing you next week and signing off as I always do to my dear Marie uh you know this is a particular because I always felt very chivalrous towards her Marie was a a bell of of the
42:52 South and and I I would would it have been a different time I would have been very proud to Dawn my armor and grasp my Lance and have fought anyone to sustain her honor so Marie darling you are my are and ever will be my bell courage at all times my friends