Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold

Hello Dear Readers, while sweeping the house this week the phrase “Revenge is a dish best served cold” popped in my head… and I have some questions.

I know, I know, I know. The phrase is a metaphor about revenge being more satisfying if you take the time to plan and savor it rather than react in the moment. But in the scenario I’m imagining, who is eating the revenge?

If it’s the target of the revenge, the dish is probably mash potatoes. Mash potatoes, like most starches, taste pretty bad cold.

If the person getting vengeance is doing the eating, it’s probably ice cream. Perhaps even an ice cream sundae. Mmm. Definitely best served cold.

Then I got curious about where the phrase even came from. The earliest the phrase as we know it appeared in print was in Eugène Sue’s 1841 work Mathilde: mémoires d’une jeune femme.1

“Et puis la vengeance se mange très-bien froide, comme on dit vulgairement.” or “And so vengeance is best eaten cold, as they vulgarly say.” Although variations of the phrase were seen in earlier works. The phrase “Reuenge is not good in cold bloud.” appeared in Don Quixote; the first part which was published in 1605 and the second part in 1615.

I’ll argue that the best revenge is an agreed upon one, like during a water gun fight on a hot day. In which case, revenge is indeed a dish best served cold.

A Few Obsessions From This Week

1. I came across Annie Atkins’s work and I’m blown away. She makes all the period type props for film, including Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budepest Hotel. I also quite like her prop-based manifesto.

2. I really like ’s post about Dreaming Bigger. I did the exercise with a friend and already one of the dreams I wrote on my list looks like it’s coming true.

Drawing Specs

All drawings were done in a 15 x 23 cm Venezia Book by Fabriano.

Drawing 1: Daniel Smith watercolors in Cobalt Teal Blue, Ultramarine, Naples Yellow, Hansa Yellow Deep, and Yellow Ochre. Faber Castell Polychromos pencils in 143, 156, and 157.

Drawing 2: Daniel Smith watercolors in Cobalt Teal Blue, Ultramarine, Burnt Umber, Pyrrol Scarlet. Sprinkles in Hansa Yellow Deep, Pthalo Green (Blue Shade), Pthalo Blue (Green Shade), Quinacridone Rose, Aussie Red Gold. Faber Castell Polychromos pencils in 121, 130, 143, 156, 157, 194, 283. Generals Charcoal White.

Drawing 3: The lines were made with a Sailor Fude 55° fountain pen using De Atramentis Document Ink in Urban Sienna. Daniel Smith watercolors in Pthalo Blue (Green Shade). Prismacolor Pencils in Neon Orange, Neon Yellow, Neon green, Electric Blue, Ultramarine, and Peacock Green.

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