June 24, 2013 Issue

Facing the joyless content (suicide, terminal dementia, amyloid plaques, tau tangles) of this week’s mordant issue – I need a drink. Oh to live in NYC and have access to the bar at Lafayette where, according to Amelia Lester’s wonderful “Tables For Two,” the “spectacular Asterix Elixir, made with herbes de Provence, gin, yellow chartreuse, and egg whites” is served. I’ll have one of those, please. Lacking such access, I’m going to mix myself a dark-and-dirty (four parts Lemon Hart rum, one part Coke), sit in my somewhat mosquito-proof, screened-in porch and imagine Amelia and me in that “light-filled dining room on a balmy summer’s evening” savoring those “velvety baby scallops.” Here's to you, Amelia - “pure pleasure,” indeed!