WELCOME TO An Entertainment Site for Scottish Country Dancers - Enjoy the curated selection of theme-related dances for celebrations and holidays, or find a dance associated with a special calendar day, or EVEN your own birthday!
Crème de Menthe Day
Sep 15
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"Mint and cake, what a delight,
Fresh and sweet, both day and night.
A swirl of frosting, crisp and bright,
A perfect duo, pure delight!"
A 32 bar reel with minty-fresh setting and swirling is bound to please. The most recognizable of flavours and scents, minty treats are often flavoured with crème de menthe, a bright green mint liqueur derived from the tiny Corsican mint plant. So distinctive is this liqueur, it figures in literature, music, and history! Agatha Christie's fastidious Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot, who favours liqueurs in general, has a particular fondness for crème de menthe in particular. The composer and pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff, although otherwise a teetotaler, found that a glass of crème de menthe steadied his nerves when playing his own technically demanding piano score - the twenty-fourth variation of his "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" and nicknamed it the "Crème de Menthe Variation." Used in cocktails and many desserts, mint pairs naturally with chocolate and appears in favourite candies such as: Kendal Mint Cake, Andes Mints, Junior Mints, York Peppermint Patties, and After Eight Mint Chocolate Thins. Kendal Mint Cake candy was even carried by Sir Edmund Hillary to mount Everest in 1953 and by Sir Ernest Shackleton on his Antarctic expedition of 1914-17! Delicious! 💚 💚 💚 🥮 🍃
Mintcake
Fond of mint and chocolate together? It's a perfect match.
Click here to listen below to the "Crème de Menthe" Variation, Op. 43, No 24, from The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Although the 18th variation is most well known, you can definitely hear why he might have needed a bit of creme de menthe to calm the nerves!
And for a recipe for Dark Chocolate Crème de Menthe Cupcakes with Buttercream Swirl, click the mint-laden cupcakes!
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
