Love Arrow

Shot through the Heart

“Love is a misunderstanding between two fools.” —Oscar Wilde

I love a good holiday themed offering and seem to have an excess of heart shaped boxes, so here’s another Valentine’s Day post for my friends. This one comes from Japan, where Valentine’s Day is serious business meant for confessing love and sending gifts. According to Hiroyuki Oka, winning the heart is the ultimate goal. He created this cute puzzle box many years ago to test your aim and accuracy at sending an arrow of love straight to the heart.

“Love may not make the world go round, but I must admit that it makes the ride worthwhile.” —Sean Connery

Oka studied woodwork and trained as an apprentice at the Hakone Yosegi factory. He was a productive member of the Karakur Creation Group for many years, and produced this puzzle box during that time. His Karakuri designs were more typically in a traditional style with sliding panels – Love Arrow is one of the rare pieces he made that stepped outside the box, so to speak. He later moved on to run his own small business, OKA Craft, making classic and traditional himitsu-bako, the Japanese puzzle box. Love Arrow is beautifully crafted in colorful walnut, dogwood, rengas and beech wood and has a clever little trick that will “move your heart”.

“I told my wife a man is like wine, he gets better with age. She locked me in the cellar.” —Rodney Dangerfield

This year’s Valentine’s Day toast can be interpreted in many ways, so feel free to impose your own expectations, circumstances and desires on its meaning as you see fit. It comes from New Orleans bartender Kimberly Patton-Bragg, current beverage director at Palm and Pine where she is exploring agave and sugar cane based spirits to pair with their Mexican and Caribbean influenced fare. The drink features spicy rye whisky accented with Plantation’s intensely flavorful OFTD rum, is offset by lightly bitter Lillet Rouge, and is sweetened by Sorel, a decadent hibiscus and spice liqueur. It’s a recipe for love indeed and a sensational cocktail.

“Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.” —Benjamin Franklin

I chose a new Rye created by my friends at Cali Distillery, a small craft house based in California run by Marni and Howard Witkin. They have been producing some unique and exceptional spirits with a California spin over the past few years and this new rye is one of my favorites. It’s bold and spicy, bottled at a very high 95.5 proof, and contains 93% rye grain (a lot!) along with malted barley which rests in American and then French Oak barrels. They describe their rye this way: “Clear mountain streams flow down from the snowpack of the Sierras, through groves of California oaks and out into the rich farmland of the Central Valley. We tried to capture that California magic in our Three Rivers Rye Whiskey. The magic of water, wood and grain transforms into a rich, whiskey with citrus, molasses and dark honey notes.” I think I’m in love – cheers!

“The man who says his wife can’t take a joke forgets that she took him.” —Oscar Wilde

Knowing Glance by Kimberly Patton-Bragg

1 ¼ oz rye

¾ oz Plantation OFTD rum

¾ oz Lillet Rouge

¼ oz Sorel

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a favorite glass. Expressed lemon peel wrapped cherry garnish.

See more festive cocktail ideas:

Holiday Cocktails

and discover more from the KCG:

Karakuri Creation Group

Shot through the Heart

Burr Bot

SunDial