Squid Mixes: Chanticleer

A Chanticleer combines gin, lemon juice, raspberry syrup and egg whites.  I got my recipe from The New York Bartender's Guide.  The word chanticleer means rooster, often referring specifically to the rooster character in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.  The drink was invented at New York's Waldorf-Astoria to celebrate the 1910 opening of Edmond Rostand's play Chantecler.  

I have a new toy in my mixing arsenal: Fee Foam.  It's essentially a synthetic egg white substitute, handy since the real thing has a very limited shelf life, even in the fridge.  Plus, Fee Foam avoids allergic reactions, not to mention the current salmonella outbreak.  I learned about the stuff from our niece, of all people, who works in a restaurant.  Basically, you add 4-6 drops in lieu of an egg white before shaking.  From what I've seen so far, the foam is not as impressive as what you get with the real thing.  But the advantages are undeniable so I'm happy to play around with it.

Wife and child (over 21) agreed that the result tasted like melted sorbet - a bit on the sweet side but good.

My main association with the word chanticleer is the men's vocal group - the best in the world.  Enjoy:

Star Trek: Ferengi Love Songs

Episode: "Ferengi Love Songs"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 20

Original Air Date: April 21, 1997

via Memory Alpha

Quark is depressed.  His bar is closed due to a space vole infestation.  His enterprises are limited due to the revocation of his Ferengi business license.  Plus, his annoying brother Rom is getting married!  What's a guy to do?  At Rom's suggestion, he goes home to Mom on Ferenginar.  He really should have called ahead to let her know.  He stumbles upon his mother's own love affair... with the Grand Negus!

While it's ostensibly an episode about the two brothers, "Ferengi Love Songs" ultimately centers around the role of women in Ferengi society.  As established in "Family Business," the boys' mother Ishka is a financial genius.  Unfortunately, this fact has become a liability as Ferengi females are forbidden to be involved in business, one of many restrictions on their lives.  There's another problem now, though.  The Negus's memory is failing with age and Ishka's behind-the-scenes advice has become essential.

Meanwhile, in Rom's case, he wants Leeta to sign a pre-nup.  Understandably, she objects and it would seem the wedding is off.  Rom is relatively progressive as Ferengi males go but he has trust issues lingering from his first marriage.  He has to decide if he's willing to compromise in order to be with the woman he loves.

The story certainly has icky moments but to their credit, the writers lean into the discomfort rather than dancing around it.  These are important areas of growth for several essential characters.  

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Cecily Adams played the role of Ishka.  She is the second actor to play the part and this is her first of five appearances.  Adams was born in New York City, February 6, 1958.  She graduated from UC-Irvine.

Other television credits include Just Shoot Me!, Murphy Brown and Party of Five.  Adams was also a successful casting director, primarily for television.  Her highest profile job in that capacity was for That '70s Show.  

Adams passed away in 2004.  A non-smoker, she died of lung cancer.

Squid Eats: Palmer Lane Maple

Creemee is Vermont's term for soft serve ice cream.  Our state's twist (pun intended) on the concept is higher butterfat content and, of course, the most famous flavor is maple.  Palmer Lane Maple in Jericho is our local shop.

The Palmers started out as a retail store, with a wide assortment of products from the family's own maple operation: maple candy, maple sugar and, of course, loads of maple syrup, all grades.  Business really took off, though, when they started selling creemees during the warmer months.  They've won Seven Days's Daysie award for Best Creemee in Chittenden County the past four years in a row.  

Squid Mixes: Joaquin Simó's Sidecar

After making the raspberry limeade involved in last week's cocktail, my wife had a bit of left over simple syrup.  I have been charged with finding cocktail recipes to make use of it.  First up is Joaquin Simó's Sidecar from Robert Simonson's 3-Ingredient Cocktails.  Simó's variation combines cognac, dry curaçao, lemon juice and the crucial simple syrup.  

It's probable that my resulting drink didn't turn out quite like Simó's as he lists a specific cognac and a specific curaçao.  No doubt both are higher quality than I'm willing to shell out for.  But mine was still a nice sidecar, if perhaps not noticeably better than my own home recipe.  

We still have plenty of syrup left so stay tuned.

Squid Mixes: Raspberry Limeade Cocktail

I will admit upfront, my wife did the hard part for this one.  She made the raspberry limeade, following the Vanessa's Raz recipe in olive + gourmando: The Cookbook by Dyan Solomon, owner of olive + gourmando, one of our favorite Montreal restaurants.  My job was to find the best liquor pairing.

I chose gin over vodka or rum, the other suggestions I saw online.  In my experience, gin draws flavors together while vodka pushes them apart. And rum just adds more sweetness, undesirable in this case as the tartness of the two fruits needs to shine.

The drink was our picnic cocktail for the Vermont Symphony's America 250 performance in Shelburne, held at Shelburne Museum, facing west - ideal for a glorious sunset.

If you squint for this one, you might recognize Bernie Sanders, our Senior Senator and a leading light for progressive politics in the United States for a decade-plus.  Bernie was the narrator for "Vermont Is a State I Love," a speech by Calvin Coolidge, backed by Edward Elgar's Chanson de Matin.

Squid Eats: Donwoori

As I have written before, I adore Korean food.  Long ago, when I was living in Yokohama, there was a Korean barbecue place in my neighborhood.  I couldn't go as often as I would like because unlike most Japanese restaurants, I had no shot at reading the menu - all kanji (characters), no kana (syllabary).  No pictures on the menu or plastic models in the window.  I had to go with someone who knew what they were doing.  But it was always worth the wait - the sort of place where your clothes would smell like your dinner for the rest of the night, and that was a wonderful thing.

For whatever reason, Korean food hasn't caught on in the US the way Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian or Vietnamese food has.  But now there's a dedicated Korean restaurant in Winooski, Vermont and that is wonderful.

Donwoori has an extensive menu.  We ordered green bean fries and fried oysters to start.  For entrees, I got Korean fried chicken with hot Gochujang sauce.  My wife got stir-fry udon with bulgogi beef.  The kid got curry udon with chicken katsu.  All were satisfying.  It's the sort of place I can imagine ordering something different each visit and being happy.  Service was friendly and decor pleasantly modern.  

Overall, Donwoori is a wonderful addition to Vermont's food scene.  I certainly hope we'll be back.

Squid Perks: Raktajino

Raktajino is Klingon coffee, particularly popular on Star Trek's Deep Space Nine, both the station and the series.  The canon doesn't provide much guidance as to flavor beyond that it's Klingon-strong but, of course, there are numerous recipes online.  I adapted the one at AF's Amazing Food Blog, which incorporates cinnamon, cardamom and allspice.  For the "extra strong coffee," I used espresso and I mixed in the ground spices pre-brewing.  I did not use AF's recommended sugar as we don't really put sugar in coffee at home.

The result was quite pleasant.  The spices add dimension.  It doesn't have the wow flavor kick I was hoping for and I'm not sure what would bring that.  The optional black pepper in the recipe would certainly supply heat but honestly, I'm not a black pepper fan.  Some recipes add alcohol - AF suggests rum, cognac or coffee liqueur.  I doubt that would add much flavor.  I'd just want to go back to bed.

The most important question is whether we prefer raktajino to Captain Picard's beloved Earl Gray tea.  We're planning a Star Trek-themed brunch for Father's Day.  The Purple Penguin and I both prefer the rak.  My wife doesn't care.  So raktajino, it is.  Maybe we'll have a clever idea for making it stronger by Sunday...

Squid Mixes: Cosmonaut

A Cosmonaut, invented by Sasha Petraske, combines gin, lemon juice and raspberry preserves.  I got my recipe from 3-Ingredient Cocktails by Robert Simonson.  It was intended as a spoof on the Cosmopolitan.  As you can see, it's deeply pink so maybe also a nod to the Soviet communists?  Or is it a pun?  Cosmo-not?  Both?

The first flavor hit for me was jelly doughnut, undoubtedly from the raspberry jam.  Once my taste buds adjusted, though, the sweetness was less potent.  The lemon brings out the natural tartness of the berries.  

Squid Flicks: History Is Made at Night

Title: History Is Made at Night

Director: Frank Borzage

Original Release Date: March 27, 1937

My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Irene Vail (Jean Arthur) is desperate to leave her jealous and manipulative husband, the millionaire Bruce Vail (Colin Clive).  Bruce concocts a sordid scheme to frame his, to this point, faithful wife as an adulterer in order to prevent her from divorcing him.  All goes wrong when Paul Dumond (Charles Boyer), head waiter at the Chateau Bleu, rescues Irene and, naturally, the two of them fall in love.  It's quite a convoluted setup for a story that leads across the Atlantic and back again, reaching its climax when the ocean liner Irene and Paul are on hits an iceberg.  The ship is the Princess Irene, owned by Bruce Vail and named for his wife.

You take a step back and it's an absolutely ridiculous story.  Best not to think about it too hard.  Just enjoy the romp.

And it is fun.  Arthur and Boyer are both charming and Clive is great as the slimy villain.  Leo Carillo is delightful as Paul's sidekick, the chef Cesare.

From a filmmaking perspective, the most interesting part is the ship crashing into the iceberg.  I imagine the collision itself was accomplished with miniatures.  The most realistic element was the huge blocks of ice falling onto the deck - impressive by 1937 standards.

The basic romance - a terrible man usurped by a handsome charmer - is not entirely unlike the one in 1997's Titanic.  I have found no reference to a direct link between the two ship-meets-iceberg films but the similarity is intriguing, nonetheless.

Squid Mixes: Empress Aviation

I last posted about the Aviation cocktail about five years ago (see here).  I first posted about Empress Gin, dyed indigo with butterfly pea flower, about three years ago (see here).  When my wife recently requested an Aviation (a drink she's been ordering a lot at restaurants lately), I thought to put them together in order to enhance the purple color.  While Empress Gin has a recipe of their own on the company website, I chose to stick with the recipe in David Lebovitz's Drinking French in order to maintain flavor balance (and not cut out the creme de violette altogether).  

As I hope you can see in the photos, my latest attempt is definitely more purple than my 2021 effort.

2026

2021

However, they're still not as dark as the ones The Playwright made for us back in 2016.

2016

Sadly, he's not around anymore to ask but my guess is that he swapped the 2:1 proportion between the maraschino liqueur and the creme de violette in favor of the latter.  I may try that next time.  My wife has also suggested that his were more bitter which could bring greater flavor balance.

Squid Mixes: Bacardi Cocktail

Several years ago, I posted about a cocktail called the Bacardi Special which combined rum, gin, lime juice and grenadine.  At the time, I wondered what the drink would be like without the gin.  Well, of course, there is already a name for such a concoction, the slightly different Bacardi Cocktail.  I got my recipe from The Joy of Mixology by Gary Regan.

Regan's version is intensely sweet, maybe too much so.  Rum generally pairs well with sweet flavors as it is itself sugar-derived.  Gin might help to cut into the sweetness but then so would adjusting the proportions.  Less grenadine next time, I think.  I would still be interested to try the two side-by-side.  My post on the Special praised its balance.  I liked the Cocktail but I would say it's out of balance.

And now, since he obligingly posed for the photo, I should properly introduce the newest cat in our family.  He's been with us for six months now.  Everyone needs an alias here at The Squid.  His shall be Pretty Boy.  It's what I call him half the time anyway.

Squid Eats: Burlington Beer Company

As discussed previously, Vermont is beer heaven with the most breweries per capita of any US state.  Quality is high and the local competition fierce.  We, the consumers, only benefit.  Burlington Beer Company was established in 2014.  They run their taproom in a reclaimed industrial warehouse, not an unusual business model in itself in our area.  In addition to their restaurant, they also own a performance venue in back.  My wife and I went to a VSO Jukebox concert there this past weekend and combining with dinner seemed a natural choice.

The beer is good.  Around here, it had better be.  I favor ales and the Little Wizard IPA has long been my go-to at BBCO.  Now, however, that particular product is more widely available in retail stores so I'm more inclined to try something else when I'm on site.  I went with the Elaborate Metaphor, a pale ale, this time.  It was good but I still prefer the Wizard.  The EM is more melon-y while the LW is more citrus-y.  I will say, though, I still prefer the Wizard on tap to a can.  Some products make that transition better.

Right, food.  I chose the Crispy Chicken Sandwich.  Full disclosure, I'm often hesitant with chicken sandwiches.  Not infrequently, I find them disappointing.  They look better on the menu than they taste.  Even knowing this, I still take the risk from time to time.  And this one was a little bland.  I asked for hot sauce and that helped a lot.  There is a "Make it Hot!" option on the menu and I might try that next time.  Because there will definitely be a next time.  One disappointing chicken sandwich isn't enough to scare me away.  I know the risks going in.

The concert space was lovely - quite resonant.  And the VSO String Quartet is always good value.  I'd vote for better folding chairs but overall, it was a satisfying evening.

Squid Eats: Stone's Throw

Stone's Throw makes the best pizza in our immediate area: a beautiful crust and fresh ingredients.  To be honest, the crust is thinner than I would usually want but the flavor more than makes up for it.  Our closest location is pick-up only but the Richmond branch has table service, making it a perfect choice on a recent evening.

Our typical order is the Hunter: red sauce, pork belly, peppers, onions and rosemary.  I am not a rosemary fan so we swap it out for basil.  This visit, we decided we'd each get our own small pie.  My wife picked the Casablanca (top shelf in the photo): white sauce, chicken, lemon, harissa sauce, feta and parsley.  I got a sausage and onion (bottom shelf).  I did not try my wife's but she assured me I'd like it.  I don't know.  Lemon and feta on pizza?  Not sure that's for me.

Regardless, quality is top notch.  Still the best pizza in town, by a comfortable margin.

Squid Mixes: Yellow Submarine

Ever since I first tasted chartreuse, I've thought of the remarkable liqueur as psychedelia in liquid form.  So when considering a cocktail devoted to my favorite band, it seemed sensible to use it as one of the building blocks.  While there are a lot of yellow submarine cocktail recipes to be found online, there is no universal agreement as to ingredients.  So, I figured I could do as I pleased with my own interpretation.

The Yellow Submarine 

1 oz. white tequila

.75 oz. yellow chartreuse

.75 oz. honey amaretto

.25 oz. lime juice

I deliberately chose four ingredients to go with the Fab Four but until the kid (age 21+) asked, I hadn't given any thought to which corresponded to which band member.  I think I've got it now.

The chartreuse is Paul McCartney, the dazzler.

The amaretto is George Harrison, the mellow soul.

The lime juice is Ringo Starr who always adds a kick, especially when paired with an almond flavor.

The tequila is John Lennon.  In my first attempt, I used vodka.  My wife suggested a salty note so I swapped in the tequila.  Salty note: definitely John.

The end result is very tasty and very yellow.

Squid Cooks: Taco Kit

When my wife said she was thinking of a taco kit for dinner one night, I got surprisingly excited.  I grew up with taco kits, indeed one of the first dishes I learned to make myself back in my latchkey kid days.  My wife asked me if I wanted to be the one to cook it.  We both know she's the better cook so I rarely get that suggestion.  I jumped at it.

First, let me make clear, I'm actually pretty confident about making real tacos.  I've even posted about taco rice bowls before which are similar.  The only significant differences with a kit are the ready-made shells and seasoning.  And as you can see below, I don't actually believe in hard shells so I crumbled mine over the top.  Left entirely to my own choices, I'd pick soft flour tortillas.  I added onion, avocado and tomatoes for toppings.

And the end result was just fine - the taste of adolescence.  Certainly easy, too.  I'd do it again.

Squid Eats: Place Bell

The kid and I made a trip up to Montreal to watch the Montreal Victoire take on the Seattle Torrent in a Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) game.  It's a good thing I double-checked location before leaving the house because I totally thought the game was at the Bell Centre, home stadium to the NHL's Canadiens.  In fact, it was at the similarly named Place Bell in Laval, a large suburb to the north of the city.  After weathering the horrors of Montreal rush hour traffic and sorting out parking, we finally settled into our seats after missing most of the first period.  Fortunately, we didn't miss any goals.

If you love hockey and you don't know about the PWHL, you're missing out.  If you live in or near a city with a team - Montreal, Boston, New York, Ottawa, Toronto, St. Paul, Vancouver or Seattle - you should definitely go to a game.  Here in the States (or basically anywhere other than Canada), you can watch for free on YouTube.  Game tickets are a fraction of the cost of the NHL equivalent.  

The hockey's great and the energy is electric.  The arena was packed, even on a random Thursday.  The crowd was young, overwhelmingly female and noticeably queer-friendly.  Loads of girls' youth hockey teams came in jerseys.  They sing along with the piped in music, even after it stops.  And since women and girls are encouraged to sing in a way that men and boys are not, the singing sounds a lot better than it does at, for instance, Liverpool soccer games.  Professional DJs entertain during intermissions.  

If a new hockey league is going to succeed anywhere, it's going to thrive in Montreal, to be sure.  All of the cities in the league are undeniably hockey-crazy.  No Phoenix.  No Florida or Texas.  All northern cities with genuine passion.  Keep it that way.  I think keeping at least half of the teams in Canada would be a solid plan moving forward.

Food is standard stadium fare.  We got two hot dogs each.  I got beer - an American IPA - in a can.  It's Canada so the the servers were very friendly indeed.

Right, the game.  Montreal handled this one easily, 4-1.  The first star of the game was Laura Stacey with an assist and two goals, including an empty-netter to seal the win.  Stacey is a three-time Olympic medal winner with the Canadian national team.

Star Trek: The Ascent

Episode: "The Ascent"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 9

Original Air Date: November 25, 1996

via Memory Alpha

With sheer delight, Odo arrests Quark who has been summoned to appear before a Federation grand jury.  The constable assumes the responsibility of escorting the bartender to Inferna Prime.  All goes awry and the two of them end up stranded on an uninhabited world - no communications, no replicator and practically no rations.  Meanwhile, Nog is back from Starfleet Academy.  He and his old buddy Jake become terrible roommates.

It's The Odd Couple times two.  

The writing staff had been wanting a story to dig into the Odo-Quark relationship, partly because of the thick tension between the two characters but also because of the undeniable skill of the two actors and the chemistry between them.  The initial inspiration for "The Ascent" was Samuel Beckett's classic minimalist play Waiting for Godot but they couldn't figure out how to make it work in a DS9 context.  Who would the two of them be waiting for?  Sisko?  Sure, but why?  Honestly, I don't think Beckett quite suits the obvious antagonism between Odo and Quark.  Neil Simon, on the other hand...

One of the first complaints Quark makes about Odo during their journey is the way he smacks his lips when he eats.  It's been a while but I'm fairly certain that's straight out of the Odd Couple script.  The Felix-Oscar vibe is more pronounced between Nog and Jake.  What's funny is that before Nog went off to the Academy, one would have expected Jake to be the neat freak and Nog the slob but with maturity, they've flipped roles.

Anyway, it's good fun.  Juxtaposing the comedy with the seriousness of a survival narrative is a little odd but it works in the end.

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Robin Morselli plays a Bajoran officer in "The Ascent."  She was born in Bodega Bay, California, March 21, 1955.  She graduated from Western Illinois University, then started but never finished law school.  

Morselli appeared in 69 DS9 episodes, 77 Trek episodes in total - all of them uncredited.  She also appeared in The Nanny and the Clint Eastwood film In the Line of Fire - again, always uncredited.  Never forget, folks, all of those actors in the background without any lines have names and careers, too.

Morselli met her husband on the set of DS9: Mike Reilly, a camera operator.

Star Trek: Let He Who Is Without Sin

Episode: "Let He Who Is Without Sin"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 7

Original Air Date: November 11, 1996

via Explaining Errors in Star Trek Wiki

Dax, Worf, Leeta, Bashir and Quark are off to Risa for a vacation.  Actually, it was supposed to be a romantic getaway for the newly involved Dax and Worf but the others tagged along for their own reasons.  Worf gets distracted by a radical fundamentalist group who take exception to Risa's decadence.  It seems he'd rather spend his time with them than with Dax.  

Dax.  Terry Ferrell.  One of the most statuesque women on 1990s television.  Oh, and she's smart and witty, too.  And she's in love with you.  Seriously?  You'd rather hang with the political wackos?

So I've finally come to a DS9 episode I don't like very much.  It's too bad because the idea had potential.  The writers wanted a show about sex but then the network made them tone it down.  Even so, there was plenty of space for something meaningful here.  Worf and Dax have different expectations of each other and of their new relationship.  That's a real world problem.  Frankly, a lot of couples don't survive it or they're miserable for years or both.  Without question, it's an issue worthy of narrative attention.  

But the writers couldn't make the pivot once they couldn't have the full-on sleaze fest they wanted.  My guess is they all had plenty of experience with lusting after scantily clad women but not so much successfully working through difficult relationship issues.  Yup, I'm being judgmental and catty.  So be it.  And Worf's childhood trauma tale about a soccer game to explain it all away?  What a load of garbage!

And the Leeta-Bashir story is downright vomit-inducing.  They're that cute college couple who can't keep their hands off each other and desperately need the rest of the world to know it.  There is one good long-term benefit from that thread: Leeta proclaims her love for Rom.  The Rom story just keeps getting better.

Mind you, I'm not exactly complaining about the beautiful women.  Beyond Farrell and Chase Masterson (Leeta), the screen is graced by Zora DeHorter and Blair Volk (Quark's Risian companions) and former Miss America, Vanessa Williams.

The episode title comes from the Book of John, chapter 8, verse 7: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Williams played the role of Arandis, a former lover of Curzon Dax and the current chief facilitator of the Temtibi Lagoon on Risa.  Williams was born in The Bronx, March 18, 1963.  She went to Syracuse for college.

Vanessa Williams rose to fame when she was crowned Miss America 1984, the first African-American to win the competition.  Sadly, she had to resign when Penthouse published unauthorized nudes.  Let's be clear: other people took advantage of her fame and she suffered the consequences.  In 2016, Williams received a public apology for the scandal at that year's Miss America pageant.

Back in the '80s, Williams certainly made the best of the situation, turning to the music and acting industries, finding great success in both.  Overall, she has released nine studio albums, one live album and four compilations.  She's had four top ten singles including a #1: "Save the Best for Last."  Her Broadway acting credits include Kiss of the Spider Woman, Into the Woods and The Trip to Bountiful.  Television work includes principal roles on both Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.  Films include Soul Food, My Brother and Eraser.  Awards include seven NAACP Image Awards, four Satellite Awards, 11 Grammy nominations, 3 Emmy nominations and a Tony nomination.

As if that weren't enough, she has also published two books: You Have No Idea, a memoir co-authored with her mother, Helen Williams, and a children's book entitled Bubble Kisses.

Star Trek: Trials and Tribble-ations

Episode: "Trials and Tribble-ations"

Series: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Season 5, Episode 6

Original Air Date: November 4, 1996

via Wikipedia

Our heroes go back in time to Kirk's Enterprise in order to prevent an attempted assassination on old James T.  Captain Sisko, Dax, Bashir and O'Brien all don the old uniforms and wander about a set we all know and love.  Meanwhile, Odo and Worf hang out at a space station bar to learn what they can about the scheme.

For the nostalgia nerds - and I proudly count myself as one - there is no more satisfying episode than "Trials and Tribbile-ations."  Using Zemekis-style special effects, the DS9 characters were edited seamlessly into the action from TOS's classic "The Trouble with Tribbles."  Kirk's and Spock's first appearance is a genuine wow moment for audience and characters alike.  O'Brien being interrogated with Scotty and the others after a bar brawl is serious fun as are the revelations from Dax regarding a sexual past with Doctor McCoy.  Overall, the story's awfully goofy - even compared to the original.  But the bells and whistles more than make up for any narrative shortcomings.  

Without a doubt, it's one of DS9's best.

LEGO

One of the gift sets included with our Enterprise-D order was a Hot Chocolate Stand...

The completed set

Obviously, there are Star Trek possibilities here...

Alaskan Will Riker takes Deanna Troi for a ski date on the holodeck.  The Child offered an explanation for the mis-colored hands: yellow gloves.

Worf is invited and, of course, he shows up in full uniform.

Poor Wesley is upset he wasn't invited, too.

Acting Notes

DS9 appearance via Memory Alpha 

Charlie Brill played the role of Arne Darvin - a Klingon spy disguised as a human - in both the TOS and DS9 eras.  Darvin is, in fact, the catalyst for sending Sisko and friends back in time to begin with.  Brill was born in Brooklyn, January 13, 1938.  In an astonishing coincidence, he and his wife Mitzi McCall happened to be dining in the same restaurant as show runner Ira Steven Behr and a couple of writers when the latter group were discussing the casting of the episode.

Original series appearance via Memory Alpha

In addition to being married, Brill and McCall were a long-running comedy team, appearing on such programs as The Ed Sullivan Show and Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In.  They were on Sullivan the same night the Beatles made their world-altering debut in 1964.  The two were also on the long-running crime drama series Silk Stalkings.  In all, they were married for 64 years until her death in 2024.

Brill's films include The Beast of Budapest, Blackbeard's Ghost and The Amazing Dobermans.

Star Trek: Sacred Ground

Episode: "Sacred Ground"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 3, Episode 7

Original Air Date: October 30, 1996

via Memory Alpha

Granted shore leave on the Nechani homeworld, a few of the crew indulge in a guided tour of religious sites.  Curious Kes wanders into a cavern where she gets too close to what sure looks like a glowing sacred shrine.  It zaps her.  She is dying.  She and Neelix are beamed directly to sick bay on Voyager.  While the Doctor searches for medical solutions, Janeway and Company press the Nechani for answers.  The Nechani are plenty friendly and apologetic but unfortunately, they don't know how to help Kes either.  Perhaps the monks can help...

"Sacred Ground" starts off on the wrong foot for me.  Sadly, this sort of thing happens in the real world all the time: well-meaning but stupid travelers wander somewhere they're not supposed to, experience terrible mishap, then demand the locals fix it.  Let's not mince words, either.  It's typically white travelers treating the non-white world as their playground, shocked when they have to pay the price for ignoring very sensible warnings from the locals.  At best, it's obnoxious.  At worst, it's colonialist.  As such, I have little sympathy for the Voyager crew in their initial reaction to the predicament.  Sorry, but Kes should have known better.  Her stupidity or, more kindly, naïveté is not the Nechani's fault.

Fortunately, I felt better by the time the real point of the story became clear.  "Sacred Ground" is all about getting over yourself and accepting the fact that not all understanding comes from rational thought.  The episode gets mixed reviews, some saying it's among Voyager's worst.  Others are more charitable.  Despite my early annoyance, I'm inclined towards the latter.

At first, Janeway is all confidence and swagger: no problem, I'll knock out whatever silly tasks they have for me right after I finish my ninth cup of coffee.  But when doing that doesn't get her what she wants, she has to reconsider her own approach.  She must accept that science can't solve everything.  The answer she seeks is in the spiritual world.  She must take a leap of faith.

Yes, there's ultimately a scientific answer but that's not the deeper message here.  I'll admit to being science-first myself but we all know there are plenty of questions in the universe that have yet to be answered by empirical evidence and never will be.  Furthermore, humility often offers a path forward which the arrogant never find.

One more thing: frequent visitors may have noticed that I am always on the look out for connections between Star Trek and Star Wars.  Janeway's initial encounter with her guide was quite similar to Luke's introduction to Yoda, even involving fussing over a light fixture.  Of course, the trope of mistaking a sage - or even God - for an annoying commoner predates both franchises by thousands of years.  Grimm's fairy tales, for instance, offer numerous examples.  

Worth noting, Janeway's default attitude towards someone she did not at first consider worthy of her time did little to endear me to the story in its early stages.

LEGO

Our family Christmas present this year was LEGO's new USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D set along with the free accompanying Shuttlecraft set.  The big set is 3600 pieces and it took us several days.  In total, the two sets include ten NextGen characters - eleven if you count Data's cat, Spot.

Riker's trombone marks the first time the instrument has been included in any LEGO set.

The Enterprise-D crew

Data and Spot

The completed project

Ensign Ro and her shuttlecraft

An away mission to a planet with giant birds

Acting Notes

via Memory Alpha

Becky Ann Baker played the role of Janeway's guide.  Baker was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky, February 17, 1953.  She graduated from Western Kentucky University.

For the more fortunate of my generation at least, Becky Ann Baker is probably best remembered as Jean Weir, mother to Lindsay and Sam, on Freaks and Geeks.  I say fortunate because despite only running for 18 episodes, F&G is considered by quite a lot of us to be one of the best shows in the history of television.  Seriously, do yourself a favor and go watch it now.  Imagine John Hughes movies, only better.  In the United States, it's available on several streaming services, including kanopy which you may be able to access for free through your local library.  Binge it all.  You'll thank me later.

Fortunately, several of the people involved, including producer Judd Apatow and actors Linda Cardellini, James Franco, Seth Rogan and Jason Segel went on to great success after the show was cancelled.  Getting back to Baker...

After F&G, Baker had a recurring role on Girls (also produced by Apatow) which earned her an Emmy nomination.  Guest appearances include L.A. Law, Frasier and Sex and the City.  Films include In & Out, Nights in Rodanthe and Hope Springs.