Stay in Love: Introducing Aperol
In his popular – albeit dubious and somewhat trite – 1980 novel Still Life with a Woodpecker, Tom Robbins prescribes the following three ways in which you can make Love Stay:
1. Tell love that you are going to the Junior’s Deli on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn to buy a cheesecake, and if love remains, you can eat half. He will stay.
2. Tell love you want a souvenir and get a lock of her hair. Burn hair in a yin / yang censer on three sides. Facing southwest. Have a quick talk about burning hair in convincingly exotic language. Remove the ash from the burnt hair and paint over the mustache on the face. Find love. Tell me you’re somebody new. He will stay.
3. Wake up love in the middle of the night. Say the world is on fire. Run to the bedroom window and climb out of it. Go back to bed casually and reassure love that everything will be okay. To fall asleep. There will be love in the morning. “
For those of you who are too far outside the three states of New York and / or are not particularly inclined to vaguely appropriate a set of spiritual “practices” or, uh, piss out the window, I would like to suggest a fourth – Hopefully more practical – a proposal to make love stay: bring love a delicious cocktail while it is in the shower, getting ready for the party. Stretch out your hand with a closed but sincere smile, as if you were handing her a bouquet of flowers. Tell them to take their time and when they are ready you will call a taxi to take you both to dinner. Love will remain.
If it’s the next morning and love is in a weekend hangover, then the tonic carefully added to their zone as they rinse away yesterday’s cigarette smell from their hair would be an act of pure poetry better than any sugary radio melody. … Love will think you are great and will stay (at least until the end of the weekend).
I have a cocktail that I think is perfect for this enchanting event. The Intro to Aperol is a great drink perfect to whet your appetite and revitalize your heart. It requires no syrup, no sugary drink, no side dish; only your good intentions and God’s honest shaking. Love will love it.
But of course, you know best what love is, so this is just a guess. If for some reason you can’t make a cocktail, don’t let that stop you from lavishing love with an alcoholic rune. A frosty tall jar or flute filled to the brim with champagne can be both magical and healing (and it’s a good reason to keep either one or both in the refrigerator).
Introduction to Aperol (Audrey Saunders, Pegu Club, 2006)
- 2 hearty servings of Angostura
- Ounces of lemon juice
- 2 ounces of aperol
- 1 ounce gin
- Optional: orange twist
Pour all ingredients into a shaker, then cover with ice when ready to shake. Close the shaker and shake vigorously – now is not the time for modesty – count down slowly for 15 seconds. Strain immediately into a chilled compartment and serve immediately.
A note to my fellow cocktail enthusiasts: You may have noticed that the specs for Intro to Aperol are a little out of the ordinary – instead of sticking to the more standard sour format of an ounce of lemon, ¾ modifier, and 2 ounces of alcohol, Aperol serves both as a modifier and as a spirit. The originality of this recipe is a testament to its pioneering and enduring creator, Audrey Saunders, owner of the widely renowned and deeply bored Pegu Club in New York (which sadly closed in 2020). The story goes that the talented and meticulous owner tested many variations of this idea before painstakingly arriving at its final sweet spot. I have never had the pleasure of visiting this iconic establishment, and if this drink is indicative of his other offerings, then my regrets are obviously justified.