The 16th of May (16/05) is Chartreuse Day! In the year 1605, the Chartreuse monks in Paris received a manuscript of an Elixir, soon to be known as "the Elixir of long Life." This minty liqueur had a distinctive in-your-face-neon-green color, forever named for the monastery. So the date of 16/05 gets associated with the liqueur and its color, and I get to wear this bright tie.
My personal interest in chartreuse comes from memories of analytical chemistry labs where we used the vibrant color of fluorescein as an indicator in some titrations for trace metals.
More recently, we've been listening to the Louise Penny novel "The Grey Wolf" in which the recipe for chartreuse liqueur plays a very important role for Inspector Gamache in the mysteries surrounding a potential catastrophe for the citizens of Montreal, Quebec.
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