From the department of “it’s good to have friends in highball places”…

Twenty years ago, before there were a Babbo or an Eataly, you would have been hard-pressed to convince me that the world would see monographs devoted to the Italian traditions of aperitivo and spritz, enogastronomic phenomena that I discovered as a student in Italy and largely took for granted.

But, o, how the world has changed since then!

Two friends of mine and two wine-and-food writers whom I admire greatly, Marisa Huff and Talia Baiocchi, have recently and respectively published Aperitivo: The Cocktail Culture of Italy (Rizzoli) and Spritz: Italy’s Most Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail (Ten Speed).

Both of them are currently on tour in the U.S. promoting the books and I’m happy to report that Talia will be coming to Houston and Austin next week.

I previewed her Houston event (Wednesday, April 27) yesterday for the Houston Press and I’ll be attending as well. Houstonians, I hope to see you there!

And as far as the rest of you are concerned, I will join one of my favorite wine bloggers in wishing you bottoms up!