So the Ides of March are upon us again and I rolled out of bed thinking about Caesar. Not the drink but the man that was stabbed in the back, and other places, 2060 years ago today. I’m not sure how he would feel about being associated with such a boreal cocktail, but there you go.
Grilling is an integral part of the Diving & Chillin’ ethos. Wherever we travel, there needs to be a grill or at least people willing to sell us things from a grill. Roadside chicken in The Bahamas, dry rubbed smoked BBQ ribs in St-Martin, doritos crusted lionfish in Honduras, three ways shrimps in Mexico, yes, yes, yes and yes. Does not matter if it is true low and slow barbecue or fast and furious grilling. We don’t discriminate, good meat and heat just can’t be beat. Plus it pretty much equals civilization. Just like beer, shout out to Ninkasi.
I’ve never had any curiosity about Bacardi products. I don’t know if that comes from being turned off by the fluorescent breezer drinks at the grocery store, or the notion that anything produced in such leviathan-like proportions must of necessity be meh at best, and possibly even quite blah. However, after reading a history of the Bacardi family I grew a little intrigued, and I decided to educate myself by making cocktails keeping with Cuban drinkskultur. Please say hello to daiquiri, mojito and of course Cuba libre. For this experiment I chose Bacardi rums from opposite ends of the spectrum.
You might be surprised but at Diving & Chillin’ we read. Quite a lot in fact. Our members have extremely varied tastes and when we travel we usually have a mini library between us. From urban fantasy to french literature to history, something for everybody. So from the start I had planned to incorporate book reviews to this site.
As a historian, which I guess I am, I’m a little obsessed with primary sources. As you may know, history is the study of the past (no shit Sherlock), as far as it can be glimpsed through the written word. That’s why prehistory refers broadly to the period before writing was invented, the realm of archaeology, anthropology, paleontology.