I am jumping the gun a little bit here because technically this recipe is supposed to be featured as part of the upcoming French Dinner Series. But I wanted to start the year lucky. 

Where to start. 

Last year was a wizbang year professionally that culminated in the illustrious reimagination of Merigold. Last year was a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck. My first boss (yes, the same first boss responsible for my inelegant introduction to scotch) taught me many important things, one of which was to always begin elegant dinners with a champagne cocktail. His go-to was the Kir Royale. And it quickly became mine. 

So when I launched an analytic program very near and dear to my heart last year, naturally, in the spirit of my libation-inclined first boss, I named it Kir Royale. As I said, it was a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck. 

Since that time, the Kir Royale has brought luck in several locations (yes, one of them was Vegas…). It became symbolic to me for luck. In honor of the Harry Potter-themed open-world videogame finally launching this week titled Hogwarts Legacy (and to accompany my complete primary computer rebuild in preparation for the aforementioned), I dubbed the Kir Royale ‘The Felix Felicis’.

Felix Felicis, in Harry Potter world, is the potion colloquially called Liquid Luck, and it brings some subsequent period of inescapable luck to all who drink it. Professor Slughorn gives Harry a small vile of Felix Felicis in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince which Harry then uses (as a placebo) to give Ron confidence during Quidditch trials. Now I just have to figure out how to create a kumquat-inspired dessert and parlay it into dirigible plums…

Okay, enough lore. More cocktails. 

Bottom line, the Kir Royale was initially, to me, a symbol of elegance. Now, it is a symbol of elegance and luck. And it brought me snake shoes in 2023. It’s special.