You get to know me

The most recent book that I have read and enjoyed (that's a crucial qualifier right there) was Njal's Saga, translated by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson.

My current favourite music album is Rollerskating by Bertine Zetlitz. It bears repeated listening, and that's all anyone can reasonably ask for.

Great Cocktails I Have Invented, Part III

This one is special:

Thoroughly Good
Into a handle of beer drop one shot of bourbon and one shot of scotch. Serves one.

Beyond Necessity

Whether it's pencil or ink-based entities that are getting out of hand, you can stop them multiplying beyond necessity with this handy tool. Every home should have one.

Great Cocktails I Have Invented, Part II

Today's great cocktail is in some sense still in the process of being invented, since it hasn't yet been through the crucial tasting stage. However, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that it will be great, so there's no harm in drumming up some pre-release interest.

The concept behind it is this: what would a glamourous star drink before heading out for a night of red-carpet bling-riddled chauffeur-driven booze-quaffing pill-popping fun? Clearly they're going to go for something more styley than a can of V. So I invented them (and you) a cocktail:

Starry Night
Two roasted coffee beans
Sparkling wine

Put the coffee beans in a champagne flute, then pour in the sparkling wine of your choice. Sip your way to a caffeine-charged night of excess.

Great Cocktails I Have Invented, Part I

I have decided to post here my great cocktail recipes. The latest, and the first to be posted, is a simple yet engaging twist on what is possibly the Best Cocktail Ever (by which I mean, of course, bourbon & coke).

Zero to Hero
1 shot of bourbon
Coke zero

Put two cubes of ice in a glass, add the bourbon and top up with coke zero. Easy as pie! As with regular bourbon & coke, the trick is to mix it strong; you don't want to be tasting that coke! At our house Jim Beam is the preferred bourbon, but you can use whatever you like.

I may even add a photo one day.

A Lachrymatory Ladkin

I recently acquired an English and Swedish Pocket-Dictionary published in 1902 (in Leipzig, of all places). Delightfully enough, I haven't found a single page that doesn't require at least a double-take, if not a full look-up, on the English side.

Bird flu for Easter

I sincerely hope that my dear readership is not inconvenienced by my posting twice in one year! It looks like 2007 could be the year of the blog for me. I'm fired with an unholy zeal for pointless wordiness.
Figure (1) is a picture of a freshly hatched chick to help get you all in the mood for a secular Easter.

A Year of Days

Good heavens. It's been (over) a year since I last "blogged". I really should knuckle down and try to finish that album.