I was looking for something smooth. Something that goes down easy. So, it makes perfect sense that I chose a drink that shares it’s name with a knife, sexy heels, a Marvel villain famed for his use of the blade and a rebadged Hillman Imp. Of course, one of these things is not like the others, because no one has ever, in the history of the world called the Imp, or perhaps any Hillman automobile, “sharp”. So, while looking for something smooth, I chose the sharp drink. Sounds like something I would do, let’s see how it turned out. Won’t you please join me now, as we stand and make, The Stiletto.
Call it kismet. Sometimes, the drink sneaks up on you. Well, to be fair, often drinks will sneak up on you if you forget your moderation in your other suit, but in this case it was one that just showed up out of nowhere. Seriously, I had never heard of this drink, but there it was in a sponsored post. Please join me now, as we stand and make the classic Lion’s Tail.
I was going to take the evening off, not make a drink at all, not write about it, not even take any pictures of that drink I was not going to make. My wife and I are celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary, so I figured no one would mind if we took the night off. We enjoyed a lovely bottle of mead I picked up a couple of years ago that we never got around to opening. I was ready to curl up on the sofa with some soft music and a book to wait out the child falling asleep, but she had other plans. Soon I was back in the kitchen, using some new tools to fill some new glasses, cause that’s my job. So, please join me now, as we stand and make the Tiki Peat.
We all knew it was coming. Well, a couple of thousand of my closest friends did, anyway. I should be in Rome this weekend, laughing with friends, eating at Jamwich every other meal, setting new records in their escape rooms, grabbing drink at The Forge and generally having a great time. We couldn’t get together for our long weekend of foolishness and adventure this year, but we’ve still got our memories. So, in honor of the fun we’ve had and the fun yet to come, won’t you join me now as we stand and make The Racketeer.
Welcome to my report on the drink that I made today. This is the drink chosen for October 3rd. I made this drink, because today they ran a postponed horse race that was originally scheduled for May. If you want to make this drink, then join me as we stand and make The Preakness.
It’s rainy and yucky and full of ennui today with more of the same in the forecast, but that is no reason to not have a drink. It does make choosing a little more challenging. Part of me wants to go tropical or tiki, part of me wants to do something scotch heavy and autumnal and part of me wants to skip the whole thing and curl up with a good book. However, duty calls, so I am going for a riff on an old friend adapted for a dreary fall day. Won’t you please join me now as we stand and make, The Final Ward.
They say that good things come to those who wait. It’s not true, but they say it. I don’t think waiting is enough, you’ve got to get some work in there somewhere. So maybe the lesson is you’ve got to have patience. This is a drink two weeks in the making and it has tried my patience most days along the way. So, jump in the wayback machine and get started a couple of weeks ago to join me now as we stand and make the Elote Old-Fashioned.
Magic is wonderful. It can make us believe in possibilities, in a world that we have only glimpsed. A lot of the time, we know it is only a trick, that we are being fooled, but there is a certain pleasure in a little lighthearted deception. Oscar Wilde said that “The secret of life is to appreciate the pleasure of being terribly, terribly deceived,” and magic, when it is done well, fits that bill. It is a funny thing, just how much we enjoy having the wool pulled over our eyes, so to speak. All entertainment relies on the willing suspension of disbelief. That wonderful ability to set your rational mind to the side for a bit and believe that heroes can fly or that we could create harmony on a planetary level before heading out into the stars to boldly go where no one has gone before. Magic takes another deeper level of disbelief. We know someone is trying to fool us and we are watching carefully to see how they are going to trick us, how they are going to appear to do that which we know is impossible and they usually succeed. Through years of practice and the careful application of science they are able to fool us, often using very simple tools. So let’s take a look at deception and a couple of the original tools of the trade. Won’t you join me now as we stand and make, Smoke and Mirrors.
We are all chasing something. Maybe it is the right house or job or partner. Maybe it’s that perfect lyric, the hook that makes the song. Maybe it is finally getting the smoke ring just right in your brisket. There are lots of things worth chasing. Honestly, most of us are chasing lots of things at the same time. While we are working at the next big thing on the career path, we are also seeking out that rare tiki mug or a Corgi Batmobile, while reading Kierkegaard to broaden our understanding of leaps of faith, as we strive to be better partners, parents and children in a world where the rules keep changing so quickly that may have given up on trying to understand and just cling to symbols as some sort of anchor in the storm. There is a lot going on out there and it drives me to distraction some days, that is one of my coping mechanisms, finding something to focus on that helps me close out the things that keep me awake at night. Daily chases and long term quests help with that. Today’s drink is another step on a long term quest, a puzzle that has been in the back of my mind for a couple of years now. If there are those among you who also yearn for knowledge, who feel the call to discern that which is hidden, I ask that you join with me now, as we stand and make, The Traveling Banana.
I’ve made a lot of questionable decisions in my life. I’m not proud of a lot of them, but I’ve survived them so far. I am ashamed about a few, most of them I just view with a sort of bemused indifference and some; some I look at with a twinge of regret, tempered by nostalgia and even a bit of longing, if I am honest. We do lots of dumb stuff when we don’t know any better. Some would argue that the only way we ever learn better is by making dumb mistakes. I do believe that would should work hard to never make the same mistake twice, that we should learn from them, but I also understand that they are inevitable. As the sign by my office door says, “Let’s make better mistakes tomorrow.” So, with a backward glance at the mistakes of yesteryear, won’t you please join me as we stand and make, Coffee & Cigarettes.
