The Essentials

So it’s a bit late tonight for a full post about the trip to China, but I thought you’d enjoy this menu from a coffee shop we passed during our walks through Xi’an. They have all the important things you could possible ever want, plus some things you probably didn’t even know you needed. China has a lot of that. I bet you never even considered that you might want a stiff shot of whiskey or a gin & tonic instead of a having a cappucino in the middle of the day. Whiskey and ice cream is also a unique combination.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of those little signboards outside of gas stations. I love those things because of what I feel they reveal about our society. You have such limited space, so you have to make the most of it. One of the classics is along one of my old riding routes in NY. They had four lines of text on one of those boards where you insert the letters into slots. They advertised the following: “Milk // Eggs // Cigs // Lotto.” Who decided those were the four things that they needed to tell people they sold? That’s what I really want to know. I like to imagine that much more thought went into that than probably did. It’s the same with this coffee shop. Of course, they had more space to work with, but still, it’s an interesting cross section. “I’ll have one of each please.”

PS: a quick google search reveals no logical or sensible results for Nero Lungo.