Bleak House

Two Dickens in one year!  Wow, that sounds waaay dirtier than it is.  It is something to put on your resume because those are lot of pages my friend. But it was cool, it was cool.  This was a special project with my friend Amy P. You see, Amy P. is much much smarter than me.  I'd like to think that I amuse her.  She keeps me around for joke purposes.  It's like having a talking monkey.  I throw my food at her in frustration occasionally but only when I'm having trouble finding the right word.

Bleak House is about some people involved in a lawsuit that is taking forever.  There are a bunch of characters.  Not all of them are involved in the lawsuit but a fair number of them do die. It's like a erudite Game of Thrones.  I must say, one dude spontaneously combusted...which is pretty awesome.  Most just get sick but never get better.  There are a couple of doctors in this book and I don't see these doctors doing anything.  They just seem to be like a nice roommate.  The doctors will sit and talk to you and get you a glass of wine while you suffer from pneumonia, oh and by the way good luck with that!  You're dead? That's sad!  

I suppose its not really fair to look at modern medicine and judge the olden times doctors. Two hundred years from now, people will think, why did they die of cancer?  Just put the nanobots in the body and it will all get eaten away! Duh. (In the future you can only die by getting beheaded). Apparently I envision the future as being some Terminator/Highlander mash-up.

Punch time!  This one is called Felicitation Punch which sounds very fancy and happy: 3 ounces rich simple syrup (think 1 cup sugar to 1/2 cup water ratio), 12 ounces fresh lemon juice, 4 ounces maraschino liqueur, 1 and 1/2 liters chilled club soda.ice (preferably in a large block), 6 ounces of Irish whiskey (David Wondrich uses this to mimic the taste of the olden times gin--a friend gave me some Navy strength gin which likely strong enough), zest strips of 4 lemons, 1 liter bottle of gin. In a punch bowl muddle the lemon zest with the whiskey, add the gin and let that stand for two hours. Add the maraschino liqueur, lemon juice and rich simple syrup until chilled, about two hours.  Just before serving add the club soda and the ice.  It should serve 18.  I would limit guests to one, otherwise your house will turn into Barf House.