site.sight.cite
It is appropriate in this time of massive and confounding global upheaval to give thanks for the small things: for the Triplehom.coms of the web/world, where such vitally silly labors such as the task of compiling all of the triple homonyms findable in English are undertaken with care. The editors of this particular site show their love for precision by rejecting such pretenders as sordid/ sworded/sorted, noting pertinently, "To sword is not a verb."
We joke not, howe'er jovial we seem: It is the insistence on such principles which, though quixotic, may yet preserve civilization as the forces of ignorance and darkness close in about us like a swarm of gigantic, clumsy bees. It is for these souls and their obsessions that we give thanks, and humbly.
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Reference
A wise friend of ours gave us a wiser wedding-present: a well-preserved old copy of a turn-of-the-century (the old turn-of-the-century) "Treatise" concerning "Drinks of All Kinds and of All Periods, Interspersed with Sundry Anecdotes and Reminiscences," written by one Edward Spenser and titled The Flowing Bowl.
Here in the editorial pit, as we approach and then whiz by our daily deadlines (sometimes without pausing), we are often in need of the kind of fortification which has sustained every great human endeavor. And the fact of the matter is that your bartender's guides of the modern world lack a certain depth, and indeed breadth -- one needs resources. The ancient knowledge. Lore, if you will.
One can get by without it: there's always the dusty bottle in the desk drawer to stave off madness as the cold sun sinks behind another wasted day. But what of the evening when a small triumph should be celebrated -- when a teensy victory of the spirit is snatched from the jaws of an otherwise predictable defeat? What of the midnight arrival of an unexpected friend, delivered by the last bus from nowhere, throat parched from a dusty road? Believe me, that's when you want a chap like Edward Spenser on your bookshelf. You need a man who can tell you how to make a Saratoga Brace-up, a Brandy Daisy, a Pope's Posset, or a big bowl of Uncle Toby for the boys down in rewrite.
Saratoga Brace-up:
Large tumbler, tablespoon sifted sugar, twelve drops of Angostura bitters, twelve drops of lemon juice, six drops of lime juice, twelve drops of anisette, one fresh egg and a wine-glass of old brandy. Half fill the glass with crushed ice, shake thoroughly, strain into another large tumbler, and fill up with Seltzer or Appolinaris water
Posted by B T at November 22, 2001 12:05 AM