Bartending with @daisy17 and @cocktailspirit at FLICFest, snow day lounging with Moxie, making chicken soup, reading the paper, and watching episodes of 24, a visit to Terroir to see @colintuska and @beerguy1, delectable butterscotch pudding from Puddin' (which paired nicely with a Rob Roy), writing about fried chicken, dog play dates (ack! what have I become!?) with Frazzle, Mochi and Ninja, cozy dinner party with Carrie and @AlcoholOracle, delicious lamb and white bean stew.
Photo courtesy of The Dizzy Fizz
This is another gin cocktail that I've served to many guests much to their delight. The only trick here is to have a few key, somewhat nonstandard ingredients on hand — namely maraschino liqueur and crème de violette (or crème Yvette) — but once you've got them you're good to go. Happy Friday! PS — @daisy17 and I are bartending tonight (yes, our second bartending gig) at FLICFest. Come laugh at us!
Aviation
2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. maraschino liqueur
1/4 oz. crème de violette or crème Yvette
Add all ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.
This morning, I was up and out the door at 7:15, walked with Moxie for an hour, got ready for work, put dinner in the slow cooker (tuscan white bean, kale and sausage soup; just realized I forgot the bay leaf), put Moxie's breakfast in a Kong to distract her when I left, slipped out unnoticed (hallelujah!) after leaving it in her bowl, and somehow managed to get to work earlier than I generally do. It's amazing how much longer the morning feels without 45 minutes of snooze button. That said, I may fall over at some point today.
For those of you who haven't yet figured it out through Facebook or Twitter, I've adopted a dog! Formerly known as Ashley (because she had a sister named Mary-Kate, who I also hope got re-named), I've renamed her Moxie. I adopted her through the folks at Badass Brooklyn Foster Dogs. I highly recommend them if you're at all interested in adopting. They rescue dogs from shelters, mostly in the South, and place them in a network of foster homes throughout the city before helping to find them homes. They've been great at holding my hand, and connecting me with resources I need as I figure this all out. Moxie is sweet and friendly, but has a bit of separation anxiety (as do I given that I had to leave her and go to work today). Thankfully, the wonderful folks who fostered her through the past five weeks or so put in a great deal of work and had helpful suggestions on how to help her (us) work through it. They also did the hard work of housebreaking her (thank you!!!). She seems to know how to sit, but we're going to work on solidifying sit, come, and down as our first obedience priorities in addition to the separation anxiety stuff.
I never expected to be a purse dog kind of gal, but I feel like Moxie is a big dog in a little body — she has been comfortable meeting dogs of many sizes as well as people. She even had her first dinner party the other night — she was incredibly well-behaved. Her size will also allow me to cart her around the city with me, not to mention she is ok for flying, so she will get to hang out with the other family dogs at some point — get ready, Lucy, Teddy, and Ivy Brian!!
I also want to thank Rachel and Jimmy, who are both relatively recent small dog owners, for all of their suggestions and encouragement. Moxie is looking forward to meeting you, Mochi, Ninja, Barley and Hops! And, by suggestion of @RonDiggity and inspired by @Bayduh, she has her own Twitter feed at @MoxieMutt. Yes, I have become the scary purse dog lady who carries dog treats in her pocket and has a Twitter feed for her dog. And I've only had her since Saturday. Watch out. That said, since I've never owned a small dog before, I'm still treating her more like a big dog than I should, except that she is allowed on the couch. I haven't taken her out in a bag yet, but I'm sure that'll come soon.
It's Friday. You (we) deserve a cocktail. I am going to try to post about a cocktail every Friday, so that you can be inspired to order or make something new each week. One of my favorite go-to cocktails is the Negroni, and several friends I've introduced to them are now hooked (I'm looking at you, Lauren & Kim). You can serve a Negroni either straight up or on the rocks, but either way it's an elegant, albeit potent, way to kick off your weekend. You can play with the ratios or the ingredients a bit, but here's the basic recipe.
Negroni
Equal parts:
Gin
Campari
Sweet Vermouth
Stir with ice and strain into either a cocktail glass or a rocks glass with fresh ice. Garnish with an orange twist.
I took an advanced knife skills class this weekend at The Brooklyn Kitchen. A few of the people to whom I mentioned it thought I was saying "life skills." As far as I'm concerned, they're one and the same. I've now fine-tuned my ability to break down a chicken and learned to fillet a fish — life skills, indeed. Plus I have a cool new boning knife. Here's their demo for the chicken — learn it, save yourself some cash and make some chicken stock.
I was going to wait to post my Thailand photos until they were all neatly labeled and tagged. Then I realized this was not going to happen for several months, if ever. So, ladies and gents, here are all of my Thailand pictures, only moderately edited and barely tagged, for your enjoyment. The Buddha pictured above is "my" birthday Buddha — I was born on a Saturday — from Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai.
I know it's sort of a cop out, but I am falling back to resolutions from prior years. They're still incredibly relevant and I think it's worth a re-commitment on my part.
These resolutions will always serve me well.
(courtesy of Gaping Void)
I am doing my best to start out 2012 with a clean slate. When I set aside time for it, the purging of belongings isn't hard. It's the other stuff that's not so easy. Leaving unneccessary emotional baggage behind is a truly difficult task, but I'm trying, and luckily I have a strong support network to help. Here's to letting go . . .
My family got this for me for Chanukah this year, knowing my general opinion about mornings. But I certainly don’t feel that way today. Every year on my birthday I am first and foremost thankful to be alive and healthy, and even more thankful to have amazing friends and family on the journey alongside me. Another year older, and although sometimes I feel like I’m still waiting for the wisdom to fully kick in, I’m certainly enjoying the ride.
