Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Gin and tonic

...is summer. The antidote to humidity.

Ernest Hemingway taught me to drink pink gin. Islands in the Stream, yearsandyearsandyears ago. He puts a few drops of bitters into the ice-sweating glass on board his boat in the blue Gulf off of Cuba. (I hope that last phrase proves me American.)

So I did, too, then. And now, a terrace can be like a boat. I put some mint in, too.

These G&T pictures are shamelessly inspired by a beautiful post by jvdh...

I wonder if I can read Hemingway again. I was so besotted with him so long ago. At least a Moveable Feast (oysters, wine, Paris). Or The Garden of Eden (boiled eggs for breakfast, and how to order and eat them, the beach). For Whom the Bell Tolls (raw onion in pocket, peeled, sliced into sandwich under pine trees).

The man was the food writer before food writers.

5 comments:

  1. G&T -my drink, rather plainly -year round.

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  2. Yes to G&T and yes to Hemingway. Plus there's dos cervezas in "Hills Like White Elephants" and brandy in "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place." The man could eat and drink.

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  3. Frank...the thing with G&T's though, is I need to drink them outside. Even if it's hanging out of a window...

    Gigi, yes, he could...

    'The pretty dark girl was bringing a tray with a small bowl rounded with caviar, a half lemon, a spoon and two pieces of toast and the young waiter had a bucket with a bottle of the Bollinger and a tray with three glasses.

    "That will be good for David," the girl said. "Then we can go swimming before lunch." '

    The Garden of Eden.

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  4. Someday someone should write something on G&T as the ultimate colonial response to everything: drought, stock theft, infidelity, revolting peons, crumbling empires and summer.

    And I should confess I had mine without ice (no-one in a house of 6 had any!). So I prefer your photos - that's what I imagine myself drinking...

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  5. jvdh - maar my arme kind. Hoe leef jy dan in die vreemde sonder ys?

    Ja, good idea - and don't forget malaria.

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