Weekly Roundup: The Dark Hemingway Edition

What do you do with a bunch of rum and grapefruit juice, anyway? If you're my pal Chris from Canada, you Google around until you accidentally stumble on Hemingway's favorite cocktail. But since Chris isn't the kind of guy to follow someone else's recipe blindly, you mix it up a bit. This is The Dark Hemingway:

• dark rum ( gosling black seal )

• real grapefruit juice ( not from concentrate )

• fresh lime juice

• lots of ice

• dash of dark maple syrup

Stir well, or shake....garnish with a slice of lime. After three of these, "with maybe too much rum", Chris found that he'd fallen asleep and missed the end of the movie he was watching. I'd call that a success.

Saturday night is just a few hours away, so stir up a Dark Hemingway while we cover this week's contributions.

Brother Bark considered the purchase of a Focus ST and inquired as to the desirability, real or imagined, of mid-sized sedans.

For R&T, I tested the Dunlop Direzza "Star Spec" under race conditions, got a bunch of mouth-breathing Lewis Hamilton fans upset, and drove 1,700 miles at slightly below the speed limit in an old mid-engined two-seater.

At TTAC, I pondered the ridiculousness of Uber Select and detailed a most illogical purchase experience that swung from frugal hatchback to old-man sedan.

Last but certainly not least, I collaborated with Peter Dawson and the new Mazda MX-5 Miata for an article on California's Route 33 in Zoom-Zoom Magazine. This isn't a car review; Zoom-Zoom is Mazda's house publication. Rather, it's 2500 words on the unique sights and experiences available on this old-school "road to nowhere". I don't think I'd want to make a career out of travel writing like this, but it was a great opportunity to spend two enjoyable day behind the wheel of my favorite small roadster ever. Also, the folks who hired me to do the job seemed very anxious that I emphasize the danger of being all alone on Route 33. "Like a brand-new Miata is going to break down," I said. I suppose I could have crashed it. Left out of the story: the hilarity of them giving me an automatic transmission Miata because they weren't sure if I could drive a stick.

That's all for this week. Enjoy your drinks, ladies and gentlemen!