Post #276036 by khan_tiki_mon on Tue, Jan 2, 2007 6:42 AM

For an interesting book with a historical insight I would recommend "Playboy's Host & Bar Book" by Thomas Mario. You need the original; I think the first printing might have been in 1955? Or maybe the copyright is for articles that appeared in Playboy from the '50s. There are over 800 drink recipes but it's way more than a recipe book. Offers a window into that time period. Has articles on glassware, stocking a bar, basic mixology, and then gets into party planning, ideas for themed parties (including an urban luau), and chapters on 'the code of conviviality' or a discourse on party manners for the host at home. When I was a young man I had fantasies of myself in a dinner jacket with ascot surrounded by a bevy of buxom and beautiful babes as the life of the party. What a hoot! Youth is wasted on the young. I would think you could find a copy at a used bookstore or on e-Bay.