Have you ever seen the images of Vic Bergeron sculpting in his studio? (Page 165, Potions of the Caribbean by Jeff Berry) The section of the book was on the Trader and his restaurants but I still think the picture was Picasso. They are doppelgangers. ALthough, Trader's style of ice-cubism was coolly received at the Louvre. Vic was a still a gifted innovator in his own right. And very funny. Cookery and drinkery were not words in my lexicon until finding this rum soaked gem in the lower levels of the public library.

Neil and I have a good friend named Travis. He is a resourceful and enthusiastically experimental home-based chef. A number of years ago he entered what I like to call his, "Jam and Jelly Phase." He would search the internet for tips and often as not roll down to the Los Angeles Central Library seeking non-digitized advice from a more preservation rich time period. I work across the street from the LAPL Central Branch but have been incubating my cocktail, rum and tiki obsession on a purchased diet of Beachbum, Wondrich, and NYC-based cocktail bar books. Flipping and reading had more or less downloaded the contents into my brain or given me an index on where to look up a drink or slice of history. I needed more.

The internet is good resource to start getting into home bar cocktails. Saveur Magazine had a summer trysts with the Bum & Rum back in 2010 - 2011. Wondrich contributions to Esquire are digitized. Various specialty magazines have great resources online. A few blogs. A few podcast. A few YouTube channels. A couple of Instagram accounts. Then there is the forbidden internet. I have a deep aversion to internet forums - I avoid them like the people offering personality tests on the streets in Hollywood. Still, internet links and searches are really going to be helpful for internet age resources. Need primary resources from the Tiki Gods of Post-War America? Those are out of print. Either pay or look up at the local library.

Text Conversation

Saturday

Travis: Visit the downtown library cookbook and cookery collection yet? It was formative in my jamming studies.

Brian: No, I look down from 33 and ponder about when I will remember to go at lunch.

Monday

Brian: So many cookbooks...

Travis: Largest West Coast collection they told me.