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Esquire has a great list of the 75 skills that every man should master. And among those 75 things are several food and drink-related skills. Here's how I made out.

#7 on the list is "Cook meat somewhere other than the grill." This is the easiest one for me because I haven't cooked anything on a grill since I worked in restaurants years ago (and I don't bbq). #17 is "Make one drink, in large batches, very well." Does iced tea count? If it's booze, I'll have to work on this one. #32 is something I've never had a problem with, "Describe a glass of wine in one sentence without using the words nutty, fruity, oakey, finish, or kick." I usually just say something like "this Cabernet is really, really good!"

How did you do?

I don't know if I could ever be a bartender. I like the idea of being one, but it seems to me it's like the ultimate pop quiz in a very intense situation. People come in off the street and ask you for a Tequila Sunrise or a Negroni or A Slow Comfortable Screw Up Against The Wall, and you immediately have to know how to do them. Sure, you can stop and look in a book (I did that when I was a sorta-bartender at a restaurant), but a real bartender has to know how to make these drinks immediately, especially if it's a Friday or Saturday night. Though I guess it's like any other skill, you learn through practice.

Esquire has the four obscure drinks that every bartender should know how to make. I've heard of (but never had) The Aviation Cocktail, but I've never heard of the other three.

David Wondrich, the drinks guy at Esquire, wrote one of the best cocktails books in the past quarter century, Esquire Drinks, and he says that if you want a proper Manhattan, you have to skip the cherries and add more Vermouth. After the jump, his recipe.

Julia Child was not only one of my favorite chefs, but she was one of my favorite people. She just seemed like she'd be a kick to hang out with and talk to, and that fact that she knew how to cook was a bonus.

Esquire has a regular feature in their magazine, "What I've Learned," and Julia Child gave her answers in 2000 (she passed away in 2004). She gives several bits of wisdom, not just about food but about life in general. Some of my favorites.

"Fat gives things flavor."

On driving: "Actually, I find I'm not quite as alert as I used to be, and it would be awful to kill somebody."

"Always remember. If you're alone in the kitchen and you drop the lamb, you can always just pick it up. Who's going to know?"

I was at Border's the other day, getting my usual chai, when a woman came to the counter. I would say she was in her early to mid 50s, and when she got to the counter the guy asked her what she wanted. The woman scanned the menu, looked around the counter and said, "what's an espresso?"

This surprised me, because I thought everyone - well, at least everyone who drinks coffee, goes to coffee shops and had passed the age of 50 - would know what an espresso is. I thought of this while reading this Esquire column by director Barry Sonnenfeld. While directing the new ABC comedy Notes From The Underbelly, he decided to test several cappuccino makers on the crew, and he publishes the results.