NBLB Weekend Survey #6: A Drink With Your Book, Sir?

Now that both of us are way past the legal drinking age, we can now gleefully admit to enjoying our favorite books with our favorite tipples. Some of our beloved book-and-drink pairings are definitely unassailable (e.g. A Room with a View and a glass of Tuscan red); some are painfully obvious (e.g. Ulysses and a dram of absinthe with a Xanax chaser), and some... well, you obviously weren't there when Meimei tried to convince The Happy Scribe that Chianti tastes best with fava beans, even without the liver of one's preferred frenemy.

Here are some of our favorite combinations, along with some helpful serving suggestions and kind warnings in case you find yourself in the middle of a Hunter S. Thompson monologue....

Meimei: A good sip of whisky can't be that hard to find.

10 –
BOOK: Any of Nick Joaquin’s work
DRINK: San Miguel Pale Pilsen - ice cold in a bucket and straight from the bottle, just the way Nick himself would've liked it
SERVING SUGGESTION: Beef tenderloin tips sautéed with tons of garlic, salpicao-style (save the exotic meat for the repeated viewings of Andrew Zimmern and Tony Bourdain instead)
NOTES: Joaquin was the closest thing the Philippines would get to their very own Hemingway – next to the post-war dandies who tried to rewrite the Western canon, he had an unmistakable swagger and a streak of originality – and his romanticism for Old Manila calls for something equally sophisticated, yet still meaty enough to keep the tunog kalye credibility.

9 –
BOOK: A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O’Connor
DRINK: Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Sour Mash
SERVING SUGGESTION: On the rocks, if you can’t handle drinking it straight up
NOTES: You would never expect good ol’ JD to be the kind of booze that goes with everything, but it does. It’s great in barbecue sauce, it puts the edge back in chocolate… and, in combination with the iron-knuckle-in-Red Velvet prose of O’Connor’s stories, it may even bring you one step closer to Jesus.

8 –
BOOK: Thousand Cranes, by Yasunari Kawabata
DRINK: Matcha or hojicha – no milk, lemon, or teabags
SERVING SUGGESTION: Try to see if the Japanese ceramics store near you will sell you a mug-size cup to serve the tea in; trust us, you’ll need it
NOTES: Thousand Cranes may be one of those books about cultural repression that will make you want to slap every single character in the face, but one vignette stands out: the discovery of a white tea cup with an unwashable lipstick stain, belonging to a character’s mistress. That one passage alone is enough to sum up the whole book: outwardly irredeemable, even in perfection.

7-
BOOK: Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar
DRINK: Single malt scotch
SERVING SUGGESTION: Plate up some Ritz crackers on the side; avoid all cigarettes and tobacco products while reading
NOTES: John Grisham and Po Bronson could only dream of serving up a work of fiction that comes anywhere near this real-life tale of leveraged buyouts and corporate backstabbing, made even more delicious when you consider that none of the players in the story would even think of serving up revenge, or anything else, on a Ritz cracker.

6 and 5 –
BOOKS: Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child, by Noel Riley Fitch; and Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell
DRINK: This year’s Beaujolais… or vermouth, if you’re feeling particularly frisky
SERVING SUGGESTION: Coq au vin – a la Julia Child, of course – and some crusty bread
NOTES: You will definitely want to read these simultaneously. The critics are justified in taking Julie Powell to task for her self-centeredness – seriously, love her, but she can be whiny enough to make Elizabeth Gilbert sound like Anne Frank – so you will need Fitch and her deliciously detailed passages from the scandalous life of the former Julia McWilliams. Who knew that the Amazonian TV chef we knew and loved was actually a former employee of the OSS… whose sensual and culinary awakenings collided with each other, upon her marriage to a sexy older man?

4 –
BOOK: Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri
DRINK: Mango lassi
SERVING SUGGESTION: Potato samosas and chutney
NOTES: Think Indian literature is too intimidating and rich for your palate? Start here with Jhumpa Lahiri’s little slices of subcontinental angst, served with tiny dashes of East Coast attitude.

3-
BOOK: Of Love and Shadows, by Isabel Allende
DRINK: Chilean red wine, of course
SERVING SUGGESTION: The book’s meal of choice is mondongo, the scent of which drives one character to proclaim that he can recognize it “from the bottom of the sea”… but if you’re not a big fan of tripe, a nice bowl of sancocho should do in a pinch.
NOTES: Despite the ominously romantic undertones of the title, there’s something comforting about Of Love and Shadows – especially when you read Allende’s descriptions of quiet family dinners and impromptu picnics, sandwiched between all the socio-political nastiness.

2 –
BOOK: High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby
DRINK: Bass Pale Ale
SERVING SUGGESTION: Order takeout and play all your records at top volume
NOTES: Reading this book will not only give you a better appreciation for pop music and relationships, but will cause massive snorting of any liquid up your nose. I also would recommend reading the book before watching the movie, lest you find yourself plagued by people who use the words “sonic death monkey” out of context.

1 –
BOOK: Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, by Dr. Seuss
DRINK: Asti Spumante – chilled all day and served liberally in fluted glasses
SERVING SUGGESTION: Molten chocolate cakes and a MythBusters marathon on HDTV.
NOTES: Tradition from la Hacienda de Meimei dictates that this book should be passed on from generation to generation (or at least sibling to sibling) upon completion of any degree or education program that requires marching down a crowded aisle in a tasseled hat. Then again, any grown-up occasion that calls for readings of Dr. Seuss will always be a good occasion for a little Asti, and vice versa… as long as you make sure that all children under the age of 18 have been put to bed, or at least sequestered in their rooms with YouTube and a Nintendo DS.


The Happy Scribe: Green Swizzles and Cosmos for everyone!


10 -
BOOK: The Forsyte Saga, by John Galsworthy
DRINK: A glass of tawny port
SERVING SUGGESTION: With a nice cigar, in your well-appointed study filled with leatherbound books
NOTES: You can't read the Saga in big gulps - like port wine, small sips are required, the warm flavor rolled around the tongue. Imagine Soames Forsyte with a similar glass in hand, simmering over his wife's rejection.


9 -
BOOK: Any Jeeves and Wooster story by P.G. Wodehouse
DRINK: A Green Swizzle

2oz rum
1oz (green) crème de menthe
Juice of 1 lime
1tsp fine sugar or sugar syrup
2oz soda water
2 dashes bitters
Crushed ice
Swizzle stick

Save the soda water for later. Pour all other ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Play some 1920s tin pan alley piano as you shake it up. Top it off with soda water in a Tom Collins glass. Don't forget the swizzle stick.

SERVING SUGGESTION: Make sure you have Jeeves' hangover elixir ready in the morning.

NOTES: "If I ever marry and have a son, Green Swizzle Wooster is the name that will go down in the register." -- Bertie

8 -
BOOK: A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth
DRINK: A cuppa hot Darjeeling tea, brewed strong from leaves (not of that sachet sacrilege) with honey
SERVING SUGGESTION: On a beautiful tray, with sliced lemon pieces and saffron garam masala cookies.
NOTES: This 1471-page novel about the caste/class struggles in newly independent India requires a lot of stamina, hence the caffeine and cookies pairing. You won't regret taking a few afternoons off to find out if Lata gets the right boy - the descriptions are beautiful, like that perfect sip of bittersweet tea.

7 -
BOOK: Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, by Hayden Herrera
DRINK: A shot of Tequila Rose
SERVING SUGGESTION: Have paints and a blank canvas nearby
NOTES: Anyone who has seen the movie starring a hirsute Salma Hayek will remember scenes of the painter/feminist chugging tequila like water. Yet the artist herself was a beautiful mixture of toughness and gorgeous femininity - a color warrior clad in flowers. Watch for the burn down your throat amidst the strawberry sweetness of this shot...much like viewing a Kahlo painting.

6-
BOOK: The Griffin and Sabine Trilogy, by Nick Bantock
DRINK: Parrot Bay Breeze (with a straw) - coconut rum with pineapple and cranberry juice
SERVING SUGGESTION: You need one hand free to open up the letters in these beautiful books.
NOTES: Otherworldly romance requires an escapist drink.

5 -
BOOK: A Year in Provence, by Peter Mayle
DRINK: Pastis
SERVING SUGGESTION: He does describe a fox stew. May I suggest some yummy cheese and pate instead?
NOTES: Mayle fulfills a long-cherished fantasy: to live and write in the South of France. This light yellow drink, usually served in a squat glass, evokes that cliched vision of France - old men idling with glasses of star anise liqueur sparkling in the late afternoon sun, waiting their turn at petanque.

4 -
BOOK: Sex and the City, by Candace Bushnell
DRINK: A Cosmopolitan
SERVING SUGGESTION: Wearing cute shoes, surrounded by your besties
NOTES: Obviously, this is a toast to the upcoming film release of New York's favorite fictional columnist. Fashion and girls' nights out were never the same after Carrie and company dominated our screens.

3-
BOOK: Brain Droppings, by George Carlin
DRINK: Just a plain ole cuppa black coffee
SERVING SUGGESTION: No frills, no Starbucks frou-froofiness
NOTES: Warning - you may want to stay away from other irritating human beings after this book.

2-
BOOK: Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery
DRINK: Currant wine
SERVING SUGGESTION: Don't mistake it for raspberry cordial.
NOTES: Even clean-cut Prince Edward Isle teens get drunk. Eyeloveet. One of the best coming-of-age stories ever.

1-
BOOK: Any of the Twisted series, by Jessica Zafra
DRINK: San Miguel Cerveza Negra

SERVING SUGGESTION: Dress up in your old alternative rock tribute t-shirt, wriggle into something flannel and forget about the Internet, ipods and SATC for a day or two. The earlier collections of Zafra's columns brings me back to my teen years. Her later works still keep me grounded. Good times. :)
NOTES: If you have any Pinoy rrrrock at hand, play it loud and proud.