Here’s a nice article about cocktails, a fine, civilized tradition that is sadly going the way of home cooking.
If we don’t cultivate the demand for complex drinks – cocktails that require a commitment to acquiring certain tastes – we must prepare to relinquish gambling, prostitution, and perhaps even sex.
When we cast aside even our vices, how can we hope to preserve the very fiber of our society? Without morals, we are still a decadent and exuberant people. Without vices, we are troglogdytic hunches, scraping at the earth and mewling at the sky.
Growing up, my folks regularly had cocktails each evening when my Dad got home. Gin martinis, usually, though occasionally a Manhattan. They’ve migrated by and large to wine over the years, but I still have a fondness, myself, for a very dry (Tom Lehrer proportions) gin martini, with a twist.
Margie’s folks will also partake of mixed drinks, though they are more likely just to go for Scotch on the rocks. My brother-in-law provided me with a Mr. Boston’s at my bachelor party. Margie, carrying on with the theme, enjoys my making her a Scotch Old Fashioned after a particularly hard day, and her drink of choice at a bar is a Rusty Nail (both of which are mentioned in the article).
And, of course, there are the infamous Hill Thanksgiving Margaritas, though those are being threatened as a tradition by Mojitos.
In case it sounds like we do nothing but guzzle booze, these are more special occasion imbibements than regular occurances in our house. But it feels nice to know that we’re carrying on a long tradition, in moderation, and with pleasure.
(Hmmmm. One post on caffeine, another on booze. Maybe I do have a problem …)
I’ll drink to that!!