how did anyone ever get any work done back in the fifties and sixties? back in the days when everyone had three martinis for lunch?
i have no idea. having had a three martini lunch today.
i should clarify. they weren’t martinis. it’s wine week in new york. which means that several good restaurants bring in wine vendors and importers, different ones every day, and as you eat your lunch people walk around with bottles of this or that and freely pour.
i’m not sure how it works financially, as both times i’ve participated, i’ve been taken out to lunch by a vendor. which only happens to me rarely, as i’m a lowly clark. or clerk, i guess, since i’m in america.
but now and then, every couple of years, i luck into a boondoggle. which happened today.
it was long, and drawn out, but very enjoyable. we were at the manhattan ocean club, which has great fish elegantly and simply prepared. i had three perfect oysters from three different locales as an appetizer. each very different, from a different place, and each very salty and ocean-y and wonderful. if you’ve never had good oysters, give it a try sometime.
my entree was diver scallops in brown butter–very simple but each one perfectly cooked and tender as all hell. and dessert, which i didn’t order but was put in front of me anyway, was a chocolate peanut tart thing which was delicious but not at all what my idea of a complementary dessert would have been. i would have had sorbet or something. but i didn’t want to be rude, so i ate it.
but the main attraction was the wine. lots of wine. i tried to moderate my consumption by getting just a splash of this and a dibble of that, but i was overwhelmed by the sheer volume. and one of the wines was a 1996 vintage dom perignon champagne, and we got that poured a lot, because the guy who we had lunch with was a big wheel who knew the owner and all.
it was a great lunch, with good company and scintillating conversation. and i held my own, and stayed within bounds of propriety at what was, after all, still a business lunch.
but how do people do this everyday, and still get anything done? i couldn’t do it. i guess i don’t have the big picture. i guess for a lot of people, this is their business. wining and dining clients every day for long alcoholic lunches and all.
like i said, nice every two years or so.
but not everyday.
i’m a worker bee. i’m an old fashioned guy. life wise, not drink wise.
i can’t help it. that ain’t work for me. work is getting things done, with tangible accomplishments. which, for our host, was, i’m sure, what happened. mission accomplished for him. he’s a great guy.
sometimes i’m really glad i’m an administrative assistant, flying under the radar. today is one of those days. i don’t miss wining and dining clients. at. all.