Here is mine:
Ten favorite things starting with the letter S:
The Sazerac. I've mentioned them before, and in my opinion it's a perfect cocktail:
- 2 oz rye whiskey (bourbon will do in an emergency)
- ½ oz bar syrup
- absinthe (you can use Absente or Herbsaint)
- 3 drops Peychaud's Bitters
- Twist of lemon peel
- Put a few drops of absinthe in a rocks glass and swirl to coat the glass.
- Mix the whiskey, syrup and bitters in a cocktail shaker over ice until chilled.
- Pour into rocks glass over two ice cubes. Rub rim of glass with lemon peel.
- Enjoy!
Sex: Well, duh. Seriously, I'm fascinated with it, all its complexity, joys and horrors. My love of all things sexy and sleazy is ironic, though, given that I'm also offended by the increasing pornification of our culture, and I'm fairly modest in my personal life.
Slot machine noise: That exciting, omnipresent noise inside every big casino. Every once in a while I'll hear something that reminds me of it—a cell phone ring, a video game—and I'll be instantly transported to that wonderful moment when you first walk into a casino.
Skillets. Big iron skillets. We have a nice collection of well-seasoned cast iron skillets, and I use them nearly every day. They feel great in your hand when you're cooking, and they have a great old look. Plus Wanda Jackson had a great song about beating her husband with one.
From My Big Iron Skillet:
There's gonna be some changes made
When you get home tonight
Cause I'm gonna to teach you wrong from rightWith my big iron skillet in my hand
Gonna show you how a little woman
Can whip a great big man
If you live through the fight
We're gonna have when you get home
You'll wake up, and find yourself alone
Sweet tea: Summertime in the south. I can only drink it when the temperature goes over 90.
Sunshine: I've always liked being outside, and I dig that near-blinding sunbaked feeling you get in places like Las Vegas, or the combination of sunshine and water in places like the Florida keys. I seem to crave it more as I get older.
Swamps: Why am I so attracted to a landscape that, frankly, scares the shit out of me? Snakes and alligators. Fever, bourbon and decay. Mmmm... I've been in mangrove swamps in Florida, and Cypress swamps in Louisiana. I like the cypress swamps better.
Shotguns: BOOYAH! There is not much in this world more fun and satisfying than shooting a big-ass 12 gauge shotgun. I own two of them, a Remington 870 tactical shotgun (think Ving Rhames in the Dawn of the Dead remake) and an antique Winchester Model 12.
Splatter movies: The wetter, the better. I want so much gore and grue flying off the screen you feel like you need a raincoat.
Summertime: And the living is easy. Catfish, barbecue, sweet tea, drinking on the back porch. Sleepy dogs.
9 comments:
I'm with you on the skillet-- I have a set of them that I bought about 15 years ago. They're now seasoned to perfection. And my mother gave me the skillet she used to cook us all wonderful breakfasts with on Sundays when I was a kid. And now I use it to cook my kids nice breakfasts on the weeekend.
I have never been able to drink sweetened tea. I drink a pitcher of iced tea every day of my life, but if there's sweetener in it, I can't drink it. Same with coffee-- black, no sweetener.
And I'm with you on the Sazerac. Sounds like you are a REAL absinthe drinker too!
swamps???? I mean I get the summer, tea, drink and sex but swamp?
Those are all great esses Bubs. I'd like to try that drink. You should slip some into Johnny Yen's iced tea and see what happens.
Yay, tea!
WT, yay indeed!
Dale, a sazerac iced tea? You're onto something there. I'll report back to you after Derby Day and let you know how it turns out.
Katy, I have no idea. I've always liked swamps. Pre-Katrina I actually thought of buying one of those "fishing camps" in southern LA as a weekend home in my retirement.
Alan, yes indeed. The bottle I have now is a Swiss absinthe, a Kubler. It's very good. I confess that I usually use the fake absinthe when I'm making sazeracs, though, I save my absinthe to drink straight.
Johnny, don't you love old sturdy items that get passed down? I'll be sure to have a pitcher of regular iced tea for you this summer, I'll save the sweet stuff for little kids and displaced southerners.
Bubs-
You're a stand-up guy!
I long ago gave up asking, when in the South, if they have unsweetened iced tea; not only is the answer "no," but they look at you as if you just asked them to cook up your dog. They can't imagine unsweetened tea.
When my family moved out of the city, to Streamwood, there was still swampy wetlands to play in around there. I loved playing among the cattails, looking for fish and crawdad.
When we visited relatives in Louisiana when I was a kid, we'd go fishing with them in swampy areas. I remember the huge catfish that they'd catch-- nearly three feet long. I understand they come even bigger.
They lived in the center of the state, near a town called Montgomery. It was near a state park. It's funny-- for all the times I went to Louisiana, I've never been to New Orleans. Did you see the article in the New York Times this week how people are starting to give up and move out as the crime ratchets up again and the services continue to deteriorate further? Can you imagine this kind of incompetence and neglect happen in any other industrialized country?
Johnny, no I can't imagine. It breaks my heart every time I see one of those stories. It's a damnable shame, and a stain on our nation.
I had three sazeracs just last Saturday. And then we went to see Sweeney Todd.
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