Several years ago, the singer Shirley Bassey recorded a song called “History Repeating”. Her voice is deep, smokey, and mysterious. (You may remember her from the soundtrack of the James Bond movie “Goldfinger,” released in 1964.) The lyrics to “History Repeating” mention that the vast majority of what we hear, feel, and experience has been felt by countless people throughout the course of history. In other words, if we take the time to notice, life itself is history repeating.
When I was a kid, I would wake up early and go along with my dad to a local restaurant for coffee. Well, to be accurate, he and the rest of the guys had coffee, I drank hot chocolate. Several adjoining tables of gentlemen would solve the world’s problems in about an hour while the waitress constantly refilled their steaming cups.
One day, I said to my dad, “Why don’t I get refills like you do?”. It was then that he explained to me that the price of hot chocolate was for one cup, but because coffee was comparatively cheap, it afforded unlimited refills.
Over the next several weeks, I tried to get myself to like coffee. I added milk and sugar, until there was more sweetened milk in the mug than coffee. It ultimately took several failed attempts to make the bitter liquid drinkable by my standards. (To say the least, I succeeded tremendously.)
Fast forward thirty years.
My 7 year old has been joining my dad and I at our local restaurant on Friday mornings before school. As he sipped his hot chocolate this past week, the waitress walked by and refilled our coffee cups. “Dad,” he said, “why don’t I get refills?” before I could answer, my dad responded, “I remember that question.” It’s all just history repeating.
This would be a great time to think about your own historic moments over a cup of Sumatra Mandheling. (Pronounced MAHN-deh-ling.) In a dark roast, it’s deep and rich with aromas of dark chocolate. Learn more at mistergcoffee.com.
Better yet, make your own history! Take a couple tablespoons of coffee and pepper, press onto a couple New York strip steaks and cook in a frying pan over medium high heat. When the steaks are done to your likeness, put them on a plate and cover with foil. Pour half a cup of white wine into the pan and bring to a simmer. Scrape the little pieces off the bottom if the pan. Add two tablespoons of butter and half a cup of heavy cream and bring to a simmer once more, tasting for salt. Spoon over the plated steaks and serve with your favorite sides. History on a plate, and history worth repeating.
(“History Repeating” can be found on the Propellerheads album ‘Decksanddrumsandrockandroll’)
