Things I want to remember.

French Pearl

• 2 oz. gin
• 1/4 oz. absinthe
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 3/4 oz rock candy syrup (or simple syrup)
• 1 sprig mint

Muddle, shake, and double strain. [Pegu Club]

This American Life transition music

I’ve been attempting to pinpoint this song, off and on, for years now. It was used in multiple episodes of This American Life, usually playing out a moment of absurdity or embarrassment. The tune (especially those horns) would get stuck in my head for days on end and identifying it—largely in hopes of expunging it from my brain—became a minor obsession. In the age of Shazam such mysteries are easily solved, but unfortunately for me I could not remember a single specific episode in which it was used.

Google was no help. There are endless requests all over the Web to identify TALmusic but it almost always turns out to be one of a few usual suspects: DJ Shadow, Penguin Café Orchestra, Calexico, maybe a Donnie Darko track. Strangely, no one else seemed to be obsessing over this campy and slightly annoying orchestral earworm.

I tried listening to old episodes—at random, cranked up to 4×-speed—but quickly gave up, convinced I’d never hear it again. Thankfully, my pot-watching-avoidance strategy paid off earlier this month when I finally ran across it again during “Tough Room 2011” (an update of a 2008 episode).

Obsession over. In the end, it took SoundHound all of five seconds to identify it: “Afrikaan Beat” by Bert Kaempfert.

Green Glacier / Prospector

Green Glacier

• 2 oz. brandy or cognac
• 3/4 oz. green Chartreuse
• 1/4 oz. crème de cacao
• 2 dashes Angostura

Stir and strain. [Jamie Boudreau]

Prospector

• 1 1/2 oz. cognac
• 1/2 oz. green Chartreuse
• 1/2 oz. crème de cacao
• 1/2 oz. Cointreau

Stir and strain into ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Garnish with twist of lemon. [Jay Jones]

Mexican Train

• 2 oz. mezcal
• 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth (Dolin rouge)
• 1/4 oz. green Chartreuse
• 2 dashes molé bitters

Stir and strain. [Jacob Grier]

Smallest countries

1. Vatican City, 0.2 sq. mi.
2. Monaco, 0.7 sq. mi.
3. Nauru, 8.5 sq. mi.
4. Tuvalu, 9 sq. mi.
5. San Marino, 24 sq. mi.
6. Liechtenstein, 62 sq. mi.
7. Marshall Islands, 70 sq. mi.
8. Saint Kitts and Nevis, 104 sq. mi.
9. Seychelles, 107 sq. mi.
10. Maldives, 115 sq. mi.
11. Malta, 122 sq. mi.
12. Grenada, 133 sq. mi.
13. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 150 sq. mi.
14. Barbados, 166 sq. mi.
15. Antigua and Barbuda, 171 sq. mi.
16. Andorra, 180 sq. mi.
17. Palau, 191 sq. mi.

[About.com]

Loop Tonic

• 2 oz. Herradura blanco tequila
• 1 oz. dry vermouth
• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup
• 1/2 oz. green Chartreuse
• dash celery bitters

Shake and strain into a ice-filled glass. Garnish with celery stick. [Mayahuel]

Division Bell

• 1 oz. mezcal
• 3/4 oz. Aperol
• 3/4 oz. Maraska or maraschino
• 3/4 oz. lime juice

Shake and strain. [Mayahuel]

Bar / bear

Q: Hola, quería saber el significado de esta frase que escuche en la película The Big Lebowsky:

Sometimes you eat the bar, sometimes the bar eats you.

¿Que quiere decir exactamente bar en ese contexto? Gracias por vuestro interés

A: Creo que quieres decir bear, no bar. Bear significa oso, y el dicho quiere decir que algunos días vences los obstáculos en la vida y otros días te vencen a ti.

[WordReference]

Cura

• 1 oz. rye
• 1 oz. Aperol
• 1 oz. Amaro Ramazotti
• 3 barspoons Cointreau
• 1 dash Peychaud’s
• 1 dash orange bitters

We were obliged to stay and fight

Letter from Pfc. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., to his father, 29 May, 1945. [Letters of Note]