is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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Is That A Turkey Under Your Table?
Is That A Turkey Under Your Table?
At SPEP this year one of the boys told an anecdote about the bottle of bourbon I had bought in Italy. I bought it because our hotel bar had only American whiskey (Jack Daniels) but no Bourbon whiskey. No. Jack Daniels is not bourbon, OK? Anyway, so there was a story about Wild Turkey, and how I had brought it out nightly so everyone could have some, but then the group director had gotten very nervous that the hotel would be upset that I had a bottle of bourbon, so the bottle was kept, in perpetuity, under the table.
This allowed for many fascinating conversational asides to be held under the table, while pouring and such occurred. Here are some of my favorites:
Drinker One: "Your degree is in Rhetoric. Does that mean you are a sophist?" Me: "Only if you have a superficial understanding of both rhetoric and philosophy. Do you want this bourbon or am I going to kick your ass instead?" Drinker One: �Do I have to choose?�
Drinker Two: "What do you think of Van Gogh?" Me: "I think he sees more light, or maybe a deeper dark, than most of us."
Drinker Three: "Can you explain to me what Levinas means by subjectivity?" Me: "Good lord! Have you not marked that it is late and we are under a table, kind sir?!" Drinker Three: �I�m serious.� Me: �Cool. I�ll meet you back at the table and we�ll DO IT.�
There are more. I collected them. Some of them don�t translate well. They are composed of in-jokes or innuendo or otherwise private things. Sometimes under a table you can see people�s underwear, and that is ALWAYS hilarious. Etc. Anyway, all these moments form a good set of memories. It�s interesting how some structural break in the flow of conversation as simple as ducking under the table for a minute or so affords a shift in human relations. Those under-table moments are like pieces removed from the ceaseless flow of time, contained in little pockets of conversational intimacy. You should try it some time.
Here�s a link to some Wild Turkeys in my backyard in Amherst, as well as an anecdote about bourbon from last year�s SPEP.
Tonight I made macaroons (traditional, coconut, with a touch of ground almonds) and then I made peppered peanut brittle. Both are very tasty. I love my kitchen thermometer. If you ever have failed to get your simple syrup to soft ball stage (iykwim) because you foolishly relied on one of those lame devices that are marketed as candy thermometers, buy this device. You can choose to have it read in Fahrenheit or Celcius, you can set its timer counting up or down, and you can set it to make an alarm noise when it reaches the temperature you preset into it. And it has a magnet on the back so it can live on the front of the refrigerator. It will never do you wrong.
11:27 p.m. - December 06, 2005
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