Sidecar Cocktail Tease

I recently attended a chat by a professor who discussed the scripts that rule our lives. I reflected on a few of my own. One favorite script of mine is that alcohol is a way of displaying our wit, sophistication and taste. In my early twenties I knew writers drank scotch, so, by God, I was going to cultivate a taste for the stuff.

Tumblers, however, don't have the same glam cache as the martini glass. Years ago, when Esquire ran an article on the 20 drinks you had to know by heart, my husband and I discovered new favorites. For him a Negroni, for me, the Sidecar.

You will need:

Lemon
Sugar
Cointreau
Brandy

Slice the lemon in half, swirl it, cutside on the outside rim of your martini glass. Dip the glass in a saucer of sugar, twirling it to catch as much as possible.

Juice half the lemon. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, and stir until dissolved (superfine sugar is super for this). When dissolved add to the ice cubes in your cocktail shaker. Along with 1 1/2 ounces brandy and 3/4 ounce Cointreau. Shake like a mad woman (thinking: is it ready yet? Is it ready yet?)

Strain into your glass. I always add a few ice cubes, to cut the alcohol and keep it cool.

And I label it a tease, because you'll always want more.

Which cocktails are part of your script? Or, what do you order at the black jack table in Las Vegas? Do they make you feel lucky? My friend Margaret has a few words to say about that.