Silver Berry and Wedding Vows

On May 8th, North Carolina voted and added a marriage amendment to the Constitution. The marriage amendment was passed to protect North Carolina families. To save them from the homosexuals, I guess. Honestly, I’m not really sure. North Carolina already had a law on the books that prevented gay marriages from being recognized by the state. I’ve been too angry, upset, regretful, and rueful to write about it well.

I was shocked by the majority of North Carolinians. I was grateful to  the metro area where I lived that voted against. I had too many words. I had too few. What I finally realized is that North Carolina did not strip away my marriage. It stripped away another opportunity for me to have my marriage recognized. I am no less married today than I was 8 days ago.

Silver Berry

I got this recipe from The Bartender’s Guide published by Parragon, which can be purchased here.

1 oz Raspberry Vodka

1 oz Creme de Cassis

1 oz Triple Sec

Shake all over ice. Pour into a martini glass.

Evaluation

When I first started working with this drink, I thought something was off. So I reduced the creme de cassis, that didn’t work. I reduced the triple sec, that didn’t work. I added more creme de cassis to make it fruitier that didn’t work. I dropped both the creme de cassis and the triple sec to make it stronger, that didn’t work. Every variation I tried on this drink kept coming up short to this one, which is when I realized this drink was how I felt about marriage.

The ingredients blend beautifully and surprisingly. Any attempt to make it more or better often harms and not helps the drink. If you look at the ingredients themselves, the drink seems really sweet, but they come out softer and harmonious than expected. Like a marriage, the drink is strong but not overbearing. It is not the strength of the drink that one tastes, but the sweet, the light, the balanced. It looks beautiful, but attainable, simple in its wonder. You don’t want too many. One is perfect. If we can all have marriages as perfect as this drink, balanced, sweet, strong, and beautiful, we would all be so lucky.

Cost

Raspberry Vodka: $15 per 750 mL bottle

Creme de Casis: $10 per 750 mL bottle of Vodka

Triple Sec: $3.50 per 750 mL bottle

Total Cost: $18.50

Cost per drink:

Raspberry vodka: $0.60

Creme de Cassis:  $o.40

Triple Sec: $0.14

Total cost per drink: $1.14

Until next time, may your marriage be as perfect as this drink, and, as always, happy and safe drinking.

Red Wine Glasses

So, one of my friends sent this to me about a year ago. Rather than blogging about  it, I’ve just kept it as a note to write about.

Aren’t these wine glasses weird?

Here’s an article about them. I’m not sure what I think about them. But I feel confident that I wouldn’t want to drink out of them. Especially since they are $429.

Which me luck as I finish finals on May 4, and, as always, happy and safe drinking.

Whiskey you’re the devil . . .

Hey, whiskey you’re the devil You’re leading me astray
O’er hills and mountains into Amerikay
Your sweeter, stronger, decenter, You’re spunkier than tea,
Ah, whiskey you’re me darlin’, drunk or so-ber

I found this link while perusing NPR’s Facebook page a few years ago. One of the singers of the Clancy brothers passed away in 2009. I know that Liam Clancy’s death was overshadowed by Michael Jackson‘s. I had never heard of The Clancy Brothers and still haven’t listened to any of their other music.

My family is a bunch of whiskey drinkers, at least on my dad’s side. My dad rarely drinks, but my siblings and I have all turned out to enjoy a cocktail or two. Anything more than that is a dirty rumor and a lie if I’ve ever heard one. Being a whiskey drinker and coming from the small city of Manhattan, KS, I fell it love with Manhattan at an early age. I don’t remember trying it, but I do remember making them in my apartment that I shared with Becca and Ally. I’ve been drinking Manhattans for at least 6 years. When it comes to alcohol, I’m a bad influence on people, and I goaded people into trying this drink that I had “discovered” at 21. Casey H. and I would suck the liquor out of the shaker making sure we got every last drop out.

Anyway, today was my first of 3 finals, and begins week 1 of 2. I needed a good laugh, and if last semester is any sign, I’ll be drinking Manhattans again to get me through. Probably with my classmate Giles.

As always, happy and safe drinking.

The Boulevardier

Welcome to finals countdown. I can’t believe I’m almost a fourth of the way done with graduate and law school. It seems like only yesterday I was writing my application, frantically freaking, and praying for an acceptance letter. Two semesters (almost) down, only six to go. Recently I’ve been feeling more and more like this is the profession that I was destined for. I feel supported by my classmates and professors. My intellectual curiosity remains unsatiated. Legal librarianship is not for everyone, but the profession is certainly for me.

On that note, I drink more often during finals that I do any other time of the year. It is not uncommon for me to have a single drink every night during finals, which is not what I do during the rest of the year. It’s a weird thing about finals. I think it’s because my brain turns to mush while I’m studying. So, I thought I would try a Boulevardier. It’s a variation on a Manhattan, and if you’ve followed my blog since the beginning, you know how I love my Manhattans in all incarnations.

The Boulevardier

1 1/2 oz. bourbon
1 oz. Campari
1 oz. sweet vermouth

Add all ingredients to a shaker over ice. Pour into a martini glass.

Evaluation

So, unsurprisingly, I am addicted to Imbibe‘s website. Imbibe is Vogue for cocktails. It’s a Bible for the liquor world. Imbibe’s website often challenges me to extend my tastes. When I found the recipe for the Boulevardier on Imbibe’s website I was super excited.

As I have mentioned before, Campari is an incredibly difficult liqueur for me to use to make drinks. I feel the same way about Campari that straight men feel about women. It’s frustrating, complicated, and obnoxious. When you strike out, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth. However, when it works, like in a Campari Cosmpolitan, it is a beautiful thing to behold. The Boulevardier is a strike out drink.

It’s too bad, too, because it held so much promise. It was a variation on a Manhattan. It was herbal and had bourbon and vermouth. It was not afraid of a strong flavor profile. The drink looks beautiful, as well. Ultimately, the drink fell flat.

Imbibe has a good history of the drink. It’s very clearly a 1920s drink. It’s very clearly European. It’s just too much. There’s too much going on in the drink. The drink with all of its promise is like buying tickets to a heavyweight championship boxing match and watching a brawl of all competitors to the title. It can be fun, but you miss the beauty of the punches and the simplicity of a stand-up fight. It’s just too much. I won’t drink it again, and, as sometimes I am wont to do, I wanted to warn you away. However, if you want to try it, here’s how much it costs:

Cost:

Cost to purchase:

Campari: $35 for a 750 mL bottle

Sweet Vermouth: $8 for a 750 mL bottle

Bourbon (I’m currently drinking Jim Bean): $15 for a 750 mL bottle

Total Cost: $58 if you have no ingredients.

Cost per drink:

Campari: $1.40

Sweet Vermouth: $0.32

Jim Bean Bourbon: $0.90

Total Cost per Drink: $2.62

Personally, I can think of a better way to spend $2.62. There’s a $2.00 movie theater around the corner from my current apartment, or a $1.00 sushi restaurant around the corner from my new apartment. But, that’s the cost and the recipe if you want to see how our tastes match up.

Until next time, happy and safe drinking.

Raleigh Iced Tea

So, Kansas City has the Kansas City Ice Water. New York has the Manhattan, The Long Island Iced Tea, The Staten Island Iced Tea,  the Bronx. New Orleans has the Sazerac. I was hoping Raleigh would have something. At the time I thought it was unfortunate that we didn’t. Then I came up with this gem.

Raleigh Iced Tea

1.5 oz. Honey Whiskey
0.75 oz Lemon (Squeeze half a lemon)
Top with Sun Brewed Peach Iced Tea

Combine in a tall glass over ice.

Evaluation

I think it’s great. The drink captures the spirit of Raleigh really well. There’s the sun brewed tea with lemon. It’s sweetened with honey whiskey.  Whiskey is big Southern drink. However, the drink looks forward by using a recent liquor. The drink is really easy to make, but you have to think about doing it in advance. The drink requires you to sun brew peach tea which takes a minimum of  four hours.

I love the Raleigh Iced Tea. However, I made it up, so I might be biased. Try it yourself and leave comments below.

Cost

$4 for a 20 teabag box of peach tea.

$25 for 750 mL bottle of Honey Whiskey

$0.50 for the lemon.

Total Cost: $29.50.

As always, happy and safe drinking.

1 in 4.

*Note. This post was originally written in February of 2011, after almost 4 months of unemployment, with no hope for employment, and while waiting to hear back from graduate school and law school. Minor edits from original post. 

The American Psychiatric Association is revising the DSM, and because of that, there are a lot of reexaminations of various mental illness in the media. Yesterday, on This American Life, they reaired the story of when homosexuality was removed from the DSM in 1973. With that, it talked about how external definitions help the individual define themselves. By having homosexuality removed from the DSM, it helped an entire social group redefine themselves.

But, what about those of us who have that definition, and it’s not a mistake. I fall out of the qualifications of mental disease because of my homosexuality, but reenter the status of the mentally ill, because I suffer from depression. Not seasonal depression, not situational depression, and fortunately, not chronic depression. I’m not bipolar. I don’t have manic episodes. I suffer from Good old fashioned “Melancholy” as defined by the 19th century scientific community.

Normally, I’m fine. But, when I’m going through a depressive episode, it’s difficult to talk about, or at first, even notice.When I think about my depression, I think about the devastating effects that it’s had on me. Where I have counted pills in the bathroom on a bathroom floor, so I don’t take them. I think of when I was so afraid of leaving my apartment, I would vomit if I left for an extended period. Completely debilitating. I’m not like this anymore, but, when I go through a depressive period, I think about where I’ve been, not where I’m going, and where I could wind up again. That’s terrifying.

Suffering from mental illness is alienating. I rarely talk to people about it, because, often, I’ve had well-meaning people tell me they understand. And I’m rarely convinced they do. Once, when I was going to the doctor’s office getting a refill on my anti-depressant, my NP asked me how I was doing. I responded, “I have my good days and my bad days.”

She responded back, “We all have bad days.”

I had to explain, “My bad days are when I think about killing myself.” The language of mental illness is completely different then the language of normality. We don’t want to talk about it. We don’t want others to define us as “Crazy” but we know they could and may. We need to work it out with people who love us, but we need to be free of judgment and assumptions. It is entirely probable that you have no idea what I’m going through. There’s this voice in my head sometimes that I can’t control that focuses on my failures and refuses to acknowledge my successes. That is the same voice that assumes people rarely like me and just put up with me.

When I’m fine, I’m still thinking about my mental health, and how what I’m doing affects my mental health. Whether or not it’s good for me psychologically and how I’m going to feel about it the next day. Because it can become a catalyst for a depressive episode.

This is how I think about my mental disorder. As people write articles about mental disorders, make policy decisions, debate about the nature of depression, remember they affect real people. People with depression are 1 in 4.

Orange-cello & Lime-cello

There’s not much to say about Orange-cello and Lime-cello in terms making of them.

See the homemade Limoncello recipe. Substitute 4 large oranges for the 6 lemons. Substitute about 9 limes for 6 lemons. Beyond that, everything else is exactly the same.

Honestly, the reason that I did this, is because it’s just fun to have more than 1 time of “cello.”

For limecello, Michael and I have used it as a replacement for lime juice in a gin and tonic.

For orangecello, we used the orange juice as a replacement for orange juice in a mimosa to kick it up.

I haven’t seen many recipes for “limecello” or “orangecello,” so recipes are just difficult to find. I haven’t had much time to work with them. They might also go under different names.

If you find anything for limecello or orangecello, let me know by leaving comments below.

Until next time, happy and safe drinking.

Graduate School

This was my “About Me” on my facebook after undergrad before law school and graduate school:

“After applying to grad school, I have decided I REALLY should have spent my undergraduate career running marathons for Chechnian puppies while volunteering with Pakistani orphans who sewed Afghans for Bosnian refugees who only used fair-trade wool from the Peruvian women’s collective I started one summer in my spare time while preserving the Brazilian Rain Forest and attempting to stave off over-fishing of the Ecuadorian coast line. Despite knowing people who have gotten into graduate school and supposedly did not do this, I think they’re lying to me.”

Between undergrad and law school, I did not do this, but I know why I should have.

White Wine Spritzer

In A History of the World in Six Glasses, Tom Standage discusses how the Greeks that drinking wine without mixing water was barbaric. They added at least equal parts of wine and water. With many drinks, though, the ratio was more like 2 parts water to 1 part win in varying concentration typically not exceeding 4 parts water to 1 part wine.

When drinking a white wine spritzer you can really feel like you’re updating an old classic. As in ancestors old, not grandparents old.

White Wine Spritzer

3 oz. White Wine

3 oz. Club Soda

Add both to a wine glass over ice.

Evaluation

White wine spritzers are kind of fun. They’re a nice alternative to wine, and gives you an excuse to put ice cubes in your wine.  I don’t know if I would ever order one. I feel the same way about Spritzers that I do about Irish coffee. Like once every few years, I think it’s a good idea and I order one. It’s great at that moment. Then it doesn’t cross my mind to order another one for years. The picture is from Rachel Ray, and adds slices of lemon and lime. I don’t think there’s anything particularly interesting about a white wine spritzer by itself. It is interesting how close it is to Argentian Sangria. It is nice, because it is cheap.

Cost

White Wine: $3 per 750 mL bottle (if you have a Trader Joe’s nearby)

Club Soda: $1 per 16 oz bottle.

Total cost: $4.

As always, happy and safe drinking

Campari Cosmopolitan

So, we’re two days into law school (as of January 10^th), and I’m already exhausted. I leave campus around 4 or so, and I want to go to sleep before I get on my 30 minute bus ride home.  I hope I’m not getting sick. While on break, it was really great seeing everyone, returning emails, and talking and hanging out with old friends. School has returned and, bye-bye life, hello law school. I feel like there’s not enough time in the day, and now there are resumes and job interviews and mock trial competitions and pro bono projects and maintaining the same pace and picking up the pace to do better. When Ayn Rand wrote about Atlas shrugging and the entire world collapsing, she must have known someone who was in law school.

So, that is what I’m doing on this side of the internet. I hope 2012 is less exhausting for you than for me, but as I wrote, one of my goals for 2012 is to update my blog once a week, so here I go.

Like many people, January is a month where I need variety. It gets colder and gray. Time runs in slow motion and everyone anxiously anticipates spring. After New Year’s, there is not another holiday to even think about before Valentine’s Day. We’ll get to that Holiday in a later post. There are no vacations in sight, no holidays, and no reprieves. It’s just work, and drudgery. Growing up in Kansas, January’s most interesting color was the exhaust stained gray of ice on my car’s tailpipe.

In January, I need to escape my rut of the previous year and try something new. I’ve never gone sky-diving or vacationing in January, although I should probably consider make that an annual habit after law school. This year, since I’m in school and I haven’t seen anywhere interesting to jump out of a plane in North Carolina, I’m changing flavors.

The Campari Cosmopolitan

1.5 oz. Unflavored Vodka

1.5 oz. Cranberry Juice

0.75 oz. Campari

Mix all ingredients over ice in a martini shaker. Strain into a martini glass.

Evaluation

I thought I hated Campari. I bought it to try the Negroni and Americano of James Bond fame, and I thought both drinks were disgusting. Campari is an Italian liqueur, and that shows. Americans (or at least this American) have lost their taste for the aromatic and bitter. Drinks that maximize those flavors tend to do poorly on an American palette. In a Negroni or an Americano, Campari shows up as the annoying know it all houseguest who dominates the conversation all night, and the host can’t wait for him to leave.

That is not the Campari Cosmopolitan. The Campari Cosmopolitan tastes of the Cosmopolitan of summer but adds the herbs to make it a distinct winter drink. Campari used in the Campari Cosmopolitan is the uninvited houseguest, who makes the right comment at the right time to enhance the conversation and move it forward. He’s a guest to get to know and invite back. Here, Campari changes the Cosmopolitan into a more complicated and adult drink that leaves the mouth with herbs of Italy but minimizes its dominance. The flavors are of dried, rather than fresh, herbs, but the herbs give one hope for the upcoming spring. Rather than creating agony over the length of winter yet to end, Campari brings knowledge that spring is on the horizon, but we have to be patient. Until spring, our patience can be rewarded with the fruits of last year’s harvest.

Cost:

1 750 mL bottle of Campari: $30

1 750 mL bottle of Vodka: $15

1 64 oz bottle of Cranberry Juice: $4

Total Cost: $49.

However, that bottle of Campari will stay around for a while. Enjoy, and, as always, happy and safe drinking.