My favorite food moment today wasn’t anything actually consumed. Don’t remember breakfast. Enjoyed leftover salad for lunch. Supper was leftover veggie burger (made a batch the other night and, not surprisingly, found I was the only one who liked them) on a leftover naan from yesterday’s lunch. Seems today was about leftovers.

Instead, let’s talk books. Since always, I’ve enjoyed reading pretty much everything. At a Girl Scout lock-in (age 12ish?), I remember reading the tag on my sleeping bag. I’ve turned kleenex boxes over to read labels. I like to read. True, some genres don’t excite me–no longer enjoy horror stories and most science fiction. And the paperback romances only worked when I was 16. But I enjoy great variety in my reading. Fiction and non. Food, physics (Brian Greene and Lisa Randall), history (usually food-related), business, biographies–it’s all good.

On the beverage front, am now reading Boozehound: On the Trail of the Rare, the Obscure, and the Overrated in Spirits by Jason Wilson. While not a big drinker, I find alcoholic beverages fascinating. Spirits are ingredients, each with its own flavor and nuance. There’s a lot to learn. Boozehound is well-written, amusing, and informative. It has me thinking about what flavors I like and what those flavors bring me back to.

As with food, the flavor of a drink is more than just what the taste buds experience. The pink squirrel–an old-school ladies drink (it’s shockingly pink, for heaven’s sake)–is a favorite cocktail. My mother-in-law first introduced me to it at a supper clubbish restaurant and I was immediately enamored. It was so pink and so sweet, but also well balanced. It’s creamy and has a bit of complexity thanks to creme de noyeaux–a sweet red liqueur made from apricot kernels. Amaretto is a fair substitute, but the drink will lack that certain something. Hunt it down if you want the real pink squirrel. It’s a delightful drink and I smile just picturing it in all its shockingly pink glory.

Pink Squirrel

• 1 part creme de noyeaux
• 1 part white creme de cacao
• 1  part cream (though I’ve been known to use fat-free half-and-half)

Stir ingredients together with ice; strain to drink.