With the gift of an Amazon gift card, I was able to purchase two books I had on my wish list:

Both are studies in cocktail construction/deconstruction, and just with a cursory glance I can see how I am going to have to convert most of the rest of the house into a cocktail research palace.

After all, I don’t really have a place to store my liquid nitrogen now, do I?  Or vats for macerating liqueurs, or fermenting bitters, or any of the other cool stuff promised by these books.

I may have to start slow, like using boiling water to make crystal clear ice cubes.  More work is required.