When my siblings and I were very young, on Saturday nights, my parents would go out to cocktail clubs. I had no idea what that meant--it was very adult, shrouded in mystery, felt important--but to me, this was the height of glamour: my handsome father in a sharp dark suit and silk tie; my beautiful mother in a champagne-colored cocktail dress, heels, earrings, and Chanel No 5. They went out late, smiling and laughing, and came back long after the babysitter had put us to bed--so I never really found out what happened there. But to this day I think of cocktails as the province of adults, as beautiful as they ever were, living a sophisticated life far from the world of children.