And the botanical name, Taraxacum, is a fun and lightly sexy workout for the mouth.

Never had batter-dipped blossoms, but I have brewed beer with dandelion roots on many occasions. They or the identically flavored chicory roots, roasted, make a great hop-substitute in almost any type of stout or porter. (I guess I should’ve tried to work that into the essay, along with the bit about the ‘burbs.) There’s no doubt that brewing or making wine with herbs and other things can fundamentally alter the quality of the buzz. There’s way more to it than just the ethanol.

Dandelion transports aside, did he report on his introduction of rhubarb to Sweden?

How timely a coat of arms, given our return to the medieval. I have dibs on a vert conie sinister, on ermines (fireflies).

Hmmm …. burning a Jolly Roger could make a good riff for the inauguration celebrations!

I’ve never really been able to cope with the bitterness of the greens, and the diuretic effect was annoying – they aren’t called pissenlit for nothing – but we did make dandelion wine from the flowers one year. The bitter back taste was still there, but OK if you didn’t try drinking it with any sweet food.

Funny how different drinks make you different kind of drunk. I also made reall cassis from homegrown blackcurrants, and we drank it neat. It produced a very rich, fruity, heavy kind of intoxication, but tending to blue-blackness as the evening drew on.

I like the discursiveness of this post, moving from reflection on flags to the flower, and then the different associated memories, I think that’s the kind of thing blogging is so good for.