Dinner on the lake
Really interesting piece.
The collapse of a Bangladesh clothing factory building has renewed worries about the ethics of the fashion industry. Host Michel Martin speaks with Pulitzer Prize winning fashion critic Robin Givhan about the real costs of cheap fashion.
Bar.
Awhile ago, we were asked about the bar setup in the background of one of the pictures.
Bar credenza - The credenza is actually an old record player that belonged to Jay’s grandparents. We gutted and retrofitted it with a new receiver and speakers and hooked it up to the wireless network via Apple’s Airport Express, so anyone can play music from their iphone or computer over the network and through a 60 year old record player.
Glassware - Williams-Sonoma’s Mad Men style sterling silver rimmed old fashioned glasses.
Ashtray - ceramic ashtray that belonged to Jay’s great-great-grandfather (decoration only - non smoking household)
Liquor favorites - Eagle Rare 10 year single barrel bourbon, Balvenie 14 year Caribbean Cask single malt scotch, Hendrick’s gin, Cruzan single barrel estate rum, Crystal Head vodka
Art - Frank Sinatra’s mugshot. Who else would you trust to watch over your bar?
Needed - pink carnation (or pink crustacean).
jacket - Brooks Brothers DB Milano linen/cotton, pants - BB Milano linen, shirt - BB OCBD, tie - Kent Wang grenadine, ps - KW, shoes - BB Peal & Co. Double Monk, belt - Coach, watch - Air King, wrist - Homer J. RED beads, sun - Persol 649, sun - Persol 649
Windy Friday.
jacket - Brooks Brothers DB Milano linen/cotton, pants - BB Milano chino, shirt - BB MTM, tie - The Tie Bar, ps - Kent Wang, shoes - BB Peal & Co., belt - Paul Stuart, watch - Air King, wrist - Homer J. RED beads, links - BB silver knots, sun - Persol 649, sun - Persol 649
THE DRINKER’S MANIFESTO
1. Drinking is fun.
2. Drinking is everything you do in a bar, including talking, going to the john, and overhearing the conversations of others.
3. Craft cocktails tend to take a long time to make. Mixology.
4. At a place that serves craft cocktails, a drinker may order a second drink before he has finished the first. Logistics.
5. Bars are not temples of mixology.
6. Drinkers aren’t supplicants.
7. Although when the bartender at the temple of mixology puts half your manhattan in a separate vessel and nestles that vessel in a bowl of crushed ice and places it next to your glass? That’s worthy of praise. Very cold cocktails always are.
8. However, sometimes you don’t want a craft cocktail, because sometimes it doesn’t taste better. Sometimes it’s raining and your flight is delayed and you’re 1,000 miles from home, and you just want the lady wearing the maroon vest behind the bar to pour some gin into a glass with some tonic, and you just want to drink it and smile and think of home.
9. There is no shame in ordering a double for two dollars more.
10. A drinker should be tended to. If a bartender serving a modest crowd does not ask if you want another drink upon your finishing your drink, then that bartender is a bad bartender.
11. It is not known who supplies the restroom graffiti, but their efforts are worthy of appreciation.
12. A bar may not always improve a mood. But it can make it worse.
13. A drink can improve a mood. Because it is made with alcohol, which is a drug.
14. Sometimes a bartender’s mustache is just a mustache. Usually not, but sometimes. Depends what kind of bar you’re in.
15. You can chuckle at the presence of house-made bitters — we all have. But know this: The house-made bitters are terrific. And they improve a drink.
16. And look, they’re not going to the trouble of making bitters because they don’t care how your drink tastes.
17. The best bartender conversations do not involve the discussion of spirits.
18. If you get even the slightest feeling that the bartender feels he is doing you a favor by mixing you a drink, you are in the wrong bar.
19. With a few exceptions, the best bartender is a smiling bartender. Because drinking is fun.
From Esquire’s June/July 2013 issue.
Afternoon light.
suit - Brooks Brothers Milano MTM, shirt - BB, tie - Jack Spade, ps - Kent Wang, shoes - Cole Haan, watch - Air King, links - T&Co, wrist - Homer J. RED beads, sun - Persol 649 (ns)
Monday morning eyes.
suit - Brooks Brothers Milano, shirt - BB, tie - Kent Wang grenadine, ps - KW linen, shoes - BB Peal & Co. Algonquin, belt - Coach, watch - Air King, links - T&Co, wrist - Homer J. RED brief - Jack Spade Mill Leather Davis (not shown), sun - Persol 649 (not shown)
New jacket needs some MOP buttons but other than that, ready for spring.
jacket - Brooks Brothers DB Milano linen/cotton, pants - BB Milano chino, shirt - BB MTM, tie - Kent Wang grenadine, ps - Beecroft & Bull, shoes - BB Peal & Co.Double Monk, belt - Coach, watch - Air King, wrist - Homer J. RED beads, links - T&Co, sun - Persol 649, pen - LAMY, sun - Persol 649 (ns)
