Quartet Box
Four Goodness Sake
Quartet Box by Juno Yananose
The follow up puzzle to Juno’s clever Ixia Flower Box also utilizes the wood cutoffs from other productions that Juno hated to waste. He created little flowers on the Ixia box with them, and he created outright gears for the Quartet Box. The four gears, crafted from eight species of exotic wood, align perfectly on top of the box and turn all together as might be expected. But that will be the only aspect of this puzzle which will behave as expected. The remaining box, made from Burmese Teak, Jarrah, and Koto, will slowly start to move in the most unexpected and delightful ways. There’s really no other box quite like it, and it took years from inception to execution according to Juno, due to the need for a precision CNC router to ensure it would have the proper motion. Like his other boxes, Juno has added a few layers to this one, and there is even a sequential discovery element required for the finale, which is again, brilliant and satisfying. The Quartet Box was a top ten vote award winner at the 18th International Puzzle Design Competition and is arguably Juno’s best and most beautiful so far. We can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
This quartet of finely wrought gears will have your head spinning
The Australian gears were spinning when I paired a potion to toast the Quartet Box. I immediately thought of the classic four equal parts cocktail, the Last Word. It’s a cocktail that begs to be played with and modified – there are literally hundreds of variations out there. The original dates back to 1920’s at the Detroit Athletic Club, where a local bartender created and named it after a popular vaudeville comedian famous for his long show ending monologues. It was resurrected in 2005 when Seattle based bartender Murray Stenson put it on the menu, and it became an instant hit, all over again. I’ve created many variations on these pages in the past, and here’s one more, and it won’t be the last … word.
The Pavlova cocktail
The original calls for equal parts of gin, lime juice, green Chartreuse and Maraschino liqueur. It’s a sophisticated sipper and worth a try if you have not. For this Aussie variation I’ve taken a few of the flavors from the famous Australian dessert, the Pavlova, and mixed them into the glass. The Pavlova also has its roots back in the 1920’s, when it was created in honor of the famous Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, during her tour of Australia and New Zealand. The dessert is a light and delicious meringue cake topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit such as passionfruit, kiwi and berries. For the cocktail, I’ve exchanged the cherry liqueur for a passionfruit syrup, switched lime for lemon juice, switched to yellow Chartreuse, and finally added some egg white for the meringue. Shake one up if you’re down – under – or if you’re anywhere, actually, and want something delicious to drink. It’s the last word in Aussie cocktails. Cheers!
It looks good enough to eat!
The Pavlova
¾ oz gin
¾ oz lemon
¾ oz yellow Charteuse
¾ oz passionfruit syrup
½ oz egg white
Shake together without ice to froth then briefly with ice to chill. Double strain into a favorite glass and garnish with fresh fruit. Or Vegemite, I suppose.
A pair of Australian imports
For more about Juno Yananose:
For prior Last Word variations: