Preparing for Christmas: Cocktail Party

Last night I had the cocktail party that I’ve been working on since I got the book, Mix Shake Stir, out of the library in November.  Apparently, I was working on the idea of the cocktail party (sharing fabulous holiday drinks with friends) more than the execution of the cocktail party.  The gleaming glassware, festive lights, roaring (but non-smelly gas fireplace) fire, cedar candles, George Winston playing Vince Guaraldi’s Linus & Lucy music wafting through the air, fancy clothes (beads, fur, wraps, fuzzy socks, Christmas bulb earrings, and goggles) were no match for my lack of actual immediate availability of drinks! 

You see, I have rules.

As my objective for the evening was to share my new found enthusiasm and information about different cocktails, my plan was to make one of each of the seven drinks in the offing and have the ladies pick straws.  There were no short straws, only straws in ten different colors (apparently straws are another thing I collect).  This way, each of us would be able to try each drink and then decide which she would like to have in a glass of her very own.  This part of the evening took a little longer than I had anticipated.  I really should have billed it as a cocktail event instead of party.

After the rough start, everyone was able to have a sip of these seven cocktails I decided to serve:

Venetian Spritz (glass:flute)

3.5 oz.Prosecco; 1.5 oz. Aperol; one Sugar Cube          

Ginger Tonic (glass: flute)

3 oz. Ginger-Lime Infused gin; fill with tonic water; sugared ginger garnish

Blue Smoke Martini: (glass: martini)

Splash of Scotch to line glass; 3 oz. of vodka; 2 bleu cheesed stuffed olives

Adonis: (glass: martini)

2 oz. Manzanilla sherry; 1 oz. Italian sweet vermouth, 2 dashes orange bitters; garnish with orange crescent

Pomegranate Gimlet (glass: rocks)

1 ¾ oz. gin; 1 oz. fresh lime juice; 1 oz. fresh pomegranate juice; ¾ oz. simple syrup; 1 lime wheel and pomegranate seeds for garnish

Guilty Kilt: (glass: rocks)

1 ½ oz. blended Scotch Whisky; 1 ½ oz. brewed English breakfast tea, chilled; ¾ oz. sweetened condensed milk

Pink Lady: (glass: flute)

2 oz. gin; 1 oz. grenadine; ¾ oz. fresh lemon juice; splash apricot brandy; splash applejack brandy; one large egg white

The overwhelming agreement of the evening was that the Venetian Spritz was not good.  Some said it tasted like beer – a taste I didn’t get, but didn’t like anyway.  My professional cocktail drinking friends, one of whom brought the Laphraoig, stuck with the Blue Smoke Martini (good choice).  There were a few Guilty Kilts passed out (I’m thinking the name was a big draw), an Adonis, and some quick Ginger-Tonics.  But the most popular cocktail of the evening was the Pomegranate Gimlet.  It is good.

Also, over the weekend, I was able to partake of a perfectly lovely drink: the Tom & Jerry. It’s small, warm, and has nutmeg floating on top of a creamy froth so it’s perfect for the holidays.  It’s quite a complicated recipe, but I think one that will help end my holiday cocktail experimentation for this season.  

[I assure you that my termination of the cocktail experimentation is solely due to the fact that I’ve met my objective, and should now move on, rather than being anyway related to today’s word of the day.]

After Christmas Eve, during which I plan to also offer the Tom and Jerry’s, and having the standard champagne toast on New Year’s Eve, I’ll return to sharing the nightly glass of transubstantiated wine with my husband.  No amount of fabulous cocktails could ever replace that simple comfort and joy.

Preparing for Christmas: Cleaning

This is a small, but not insignificant method of floor cleaning around here.  Think about that the next time "5 Second Rule" pops into your head at my house.

Leopards and Zebras and Giraffes. Oh My!

Inspired by my friend, Cheryl, and her efforts to showcase her wild side (in leopard print clothing, only), here is what I could dig out this morning:

Leopard Clothing

This is Lucy, our dress manikin. On an incredibly excellent day, or perhaps right after a bout of the flu, and with the best undergarments imaginable, I am the same size as Lucy.  Here, she models some of my collection of shirts (and a Snuggie which I couldn't resist including) of the leopard print variety.  I have some zebra print shirts as well.

Animal Print Accessories

I could not find my leopard print winter boots, but I added the farm boots, the pony hair and black leather ballet-toed flats (my favorite) and the Steve Madden pony hair wedges (not comfy). I made the hats on the bottom left and top right. The bottom left hat was made from an old coat my grandmother was throwing out - it's my favorite. The top right hats are my daughters. I snuck a dalmation head band in there as well as my giraffe purse and file folder.  And yes. We do have glass display heads in stock. Doesn't everyone? 

Animal Print Home Decor

 

It's one thing to buy an inexpensive trendy shirt; it's another thing to put your money where your attraction lies.  Our stair runner, which we had installed years ago, is a gorgeous wool, classic leopard print. Nothing is safe from my attraction to animal print as our zebra laundry bucket and plastic tote bags in the center show. Brown zebra gives what could otherwise be tacky that certain je ne sais quoi.

You may be happy to know that I have spared you from the visual onslaught of animal print jammies that I own.  Have I ever mentioned my pajama collection?  Oh well. That will be for another day.

What can I say?  I know what I like.  And when I like something, I want to surround myself with it. 

What's Wrong with a Public Option?

Yes, I know it's dead for now. But the important thing to understand is what the "public option" really means. This brief animation does a great job in explaining the problem in less than a minute. Its simple and clear message inspires me to do something more with my little animation experiments.

(via WeStandFIRM)

After Mine Own Heart

These women could be my new best friends.

Ladies United for the Preservation of the Endangered Cocktail (LUPEC):

[A] classic cocktail society dedicated to breeding, raising, and releasing nearly extinct drinks into the wild (a.k.a. Boston-area bars and restaurants.) Founded in February 2007 by Misty Kalkofen and nine fellow cocktail enthusiasts, LUPEC Boston is the city’s first and only female-oriented cocktail society. The ladies of LUPEC Boston meet once a month to sample delicious cocktail creations from a bygone era, and educate themselves about the important and nearly forgotten forebroads who sipped them. 

And did I mention they blog! (That’s where I got that bit from). How about the alter-egos? Did I mention those? I find this all quite interesting – and in my own backyard, no less.

From the Boston Globe’s article:

The women get together at least once a month to talk about how cocktails and spirits have played a role in history and feminism. Per LUPEC’s bylaws, these meetings/parties must have a theme; past topics include cocktails in classic cinema, first ladies and their cocktails, and the history of New Orleans.

“They run the gamut from geeking out about cocktails to women’s history,’’ Amann said.

Dina Rudick/Globe staff

You can find some other lovely pictures and recipes here.

Apparently, despite my proclamation to the contrary, I need to add St-Germain, a proprietary liqueur (as is Campari), to my list of spirits to explore.  It’s elderflower – that’s close to elderberry, right? Okay, so I still don't know a lot, but I do know that this Pear Martini seems like it might fulfill my desire to find the best holiday cocktails perfectly.

Now if they only had a cocktail party theme about the derivation of certain expressions, I’d definitely make the trip.  For now, I'm sticking with there's no place like home for the holidays. 

O' Christmas Song

Go tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and ev-er-y where.
Go tell it on the mountain,
That the Objectivist Round Up is here.

That last line takes a little getting used to, but it's worth it.
(Nice suggestion, Jenn)

This is how I imagine it sounding (but with the appropriate words):

A Sense of History or Legacy

An article in today’s Boston Globe puts the health care bill into its proper perspective, albeit inadvertently.

With the public option seemingly out of contention, President Obama is urging the Democrats to pass what they can for historic purposes.   There are no fewer than seven references to the historic importance of the passage of the bill by the politicians interviewed.

Senator Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois: “What remains is dramatic. We just don’t want to lose the opportunity, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.’’

“If Congress passes a health care bill, those who voted for it are going to be part of history,’’ said Senator Paul Kirk, Democrat of Massachusetts.

The historic significance? “The bill would require that nearly all Americans buy health insurance and would provide government subsidies to those who can’t afford it on their own.”  In short, an historic expansion of government control over health care.  

Rolling with the loss of the public option as a minor setback in the central plan, Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee reported Joe Biden’s wisdom in a closed-door meeting, “other major entitlement programs began as bare-bones programs but were gradually built up over time”.

“He said: ‘Look, be joyful, this is really great what we’re doing here, it’s so significant, it’s a moment in history, and we’ll build upon it in the future, as with Social Security and Medicare,’ ’’ Baucus said.

Leaders believe that once a compromise bill is written by a House-Senate conference committee, lawmakers will be more reluctant to vote against it because of the historic nature of the bill.

The bill is historic – in its expansion of governmental powers; but the dangling bait of history proponents of the bill are using to whip up the Senate is one personal legacy, not history.

If any of them actually were interested in history, they would each understand where such central planning has historically led.