Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Muddling through

My life is not that exciting. If you’re thinking you already knew that and wondering what that has to do with anything, let me assure you that I’m setting the stage. Not for anything exciting – because, again, my life isn’t all that exciting – but to tell you how it is that on a Wednesday night as college students across red states and blue are on their fifth Jägerbomb, I got to pondering the meaning of the word “muddle”. Yes, muddle – a word that dictionary.com tells me means “to mix up in a confused or bungling manner” and that about.com more helpfully explains means “to combine ingredients, usually in the bottom of a mixing glass, by pressing them with a muddler before adding the majority of the liquid ingredients.” It’s the latter definition I’m after. Not because I’m an alcoholic, because (mostly) I’m not. (No offense to alcoholics – I don’t doubt that there’s always a cure for what ails you at the bottom of your eighth dirty martini.) That’s the definition I want because the recipe for a Thai Martini says to “muddle the cilantro and simple syrup in a glass”. I’d be happy to muddle whatever it takes to make a good martini, but it’s not enough to have cilantro and simple syrup and all the nonsense in the whole world when you don’t know what to do with it. Now of course I’m quite the expert on how to muddle. The word by the way is both a noun and a verb. While I’m not a big fan of multitasking in people (invariably we all do it badly), I do love a word that can do two things at once. Not only did I find out what it means to muddle, I also found out that Bacardi Mojito commercial I vaguely remember shows a bartender muddling mint leaves to make a drink while pretty young things are getting down to a song called – you guessed it – ‘The Muddle’. I love it – the rhythm is harder to get out of your head than even ‘Copacabana’. See for yourself! So what’s the point? I certainly haven’t made my Thai Martini, but at least I finally posted an entry on this blog after three long months. Boring, you say? Did you not read how all this started? My life is not that exciting. But I'm certainly not complaining.

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