Pull Up the Bridge!! Oh and Ten on Tuesday

The epicenter of Connecticut's swine flu outbreak is here in River City... or so the First Selectman and School Board seem to think. Two kids in the middle school went to Mexico (I am assuming with some adult supervision) last week and now are sick. So they are closing school tomorrow so they can "disinfect the school". The poor kiddies in town are going to get a week of summer vacation between all the make up snow days and now this. Don't get me wrong - I hope those kids (and all kids in town) are safe and if sick get better soon but really....shutting down the entire school? Am I missing something or is the CDC not telling us mere mortals what the hell is going on? Shouldn't some common sense be exercised and not the Chicken Little mentality of the sky is falling? Can I get a day off of work because I drive by the homes of where kids who went to the infected school live? Whatever.... I will continue to wash my hands and cover my mouth if I sneeze and use some common sense which will hopefully get me safely through the storm.

Now to Ten On Tuesday - Ten Words People Would Use to Describe You. I am going to try to keep it to one word or a short phrase (thanks Carole for the idea). Please feel free to leave a comment if you agree, dont' agree or think I'm not taking this whole swine flu thing seriously enough - and you can back that up with some medical info...

1. loyal

2. friend

3. wife

4. daughter

5. good cook

6. great mixologist

7. funny

8. realist

9. mellow (that might be a stretch)

10. fun to be with

Ok - now go wash your hands!

So much to catch up on.......

Spring has finally hit & I think I had me a case of spring fever. I have barely read any of the blogs I follow, most unusual and haven't posted here for over a week - also unusual. But now that I have raked my garden in the 75 degree spring weather and am totally spent - I'll sit down here and catch you all up on my past week with the cocktail of the week as a bonus. Plus this will prevent me from starting to drink beer too early in the day since the third game of Red Sox - Yankees series is not on until 8 tonight - I want to try and stay awake. It has been an awesome series to be sure...

Ok - last weeks cocktail the French 75, should have come with a warning because really, it is that strong but also that damn good. I think I am going to have to apply a label to those kind of cocktails - I came up with this DTOH - Drink This Only at Home. These cocktails can get you into some serious trouble although you should NEVER drink and drive anyway. Before we finished the bottle of champagne with the French 75's, I managed to take the sunset shot above off our back patio. It's not too bad considering we had drank several of those French 75 things.

In other exciting news that you are breathlessly waiting for - I finished Training Buddy's quilt! Hubby & I met up with her, Training Buddy Husband & Princess yesterday at a local picnic spot for a picnic and Christmas gift giving. It was so timely, too. Yesterday was the hottest day since October so I am sure the quilt came in handy last night. Here's a couple pics, one with feet and the other an attempt at an artistic shot with a camera that isn't set to take artistic shots.

It took me a lot longer to quilt than I thought it would - it is all hand quilted - yikes!

Now - the cocktail of the week. I should start out saying I probably made it wrong so it might taste better if you follow the recipe. I got it from Ina Garten - The Barefoot Cantessa's new cookbook Back to Basics. I like Ina even thought she comes across a little snobby sometimes in her show from East Hampton and drives Hubby nuts. But for the most part I find her recipes easy to follow & they usually turn out good. I was intrigued to try this recipe because it was a famous cocktail that Gerald Murphy used to make. Now , who is Gerald Murphy you may be asking yourself. Well he and his wife Sara were well known in society in the 1920's & 30's for being the "it" couple in high society. I read what I thought was a great book about their life "Everybody Was So Young" and would highly recommend it. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a great friend and was said to have modeled characters in his book Tender is the Night from Sara & Gerald. Ernest Hemingway was another great friend and of course their grand daughter is a great friend of Ina's - but of course she is. So I like to have fun and drink glamorous drinks , even thought I am in Moodus and not the Hamptons, so thought I'd give this one, Juice of a Few Flowers a try. We didn't like it but I didn't follow the recipe exactly - it might have been better if I did that. But give it a try - don't use gin like we did at first ( because Ina said that's how Gerald used to make it) it is better with vodka.

1/2 c fresh squeezed oranges (2 oranges)

1/2c fresh squeezed pink grapefruit juice (1 grapefruit)

1/4 c fresh squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)

1/4 c fresh squeezed lime juice(2 limes)

1 c good vodka

Fill some martini glasses with ice water to chill the glasses. Or if you have a restaurant sized freezer in your cooking bar like Ina does - put your martini glasses in there to chill. Mix all of above ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake a good thirty seconds to get nice and cold. You can rim the glasses in extra fine sugar if you want (we didn't). Pour into the chilled martini glasses and hopefully enjoy more than we did. I think I used too much grapefruit juice which was a little sour, not enough OJ and too much gin (vodka for the second batch) in proportion to the juice. I think it is supposed to be more like a screwdriver than a martini. The theory of this drink is good and I mean the Murphy's were the shakers of their day so if they liked it I should probably give it another shot & just follow the recipe. All the reviews at foodnetwork.com are good so I think it was me.

So that's about it - I hear a glass of prosecco calling my name - just prosecco because opening the bottle, pouring the drink - how easy is that?

No Friday Fill Ins but it's Cocktail Time

Sorry for not posting for a week - so much to catch up on. First of all the Habib Kotie concert was amazing - better than I ever thought it could be, I must give a shout out to our friend in Florida - Yeast Infection, who introduced me to African music. Hope you read the blog - thanks, dude! Really, the music was great and if you ever get a chance to see Habib in concert - it is so worth it.

Then, Monday I was sick which sort of sucked. I am not sure if I had the flu or a little case of food poisoning - whatever it wasn't pretty but all is well now.

Then Wednesday I did my last training shift for my hospice training on the inpatient unit. I will be done with the entire 54 hour training this Saturday. I know that sounds like a lot of training hours, but considering the work I really don't mind.

Looks like they don't have the new Friday Fill In up yet so why don't you follow the link and fill it in for yourself when the new one is posted, they are fun to do. I may post again tomorrow but more likely, since it supposed to be 70 degrees out, I will be out on my back porch enjoying one of these - a French 75. I made a nice discovery this weekend, ok maybe not so nice for my liver but nice for the package store. After 22 years i can once again drink gin. See, back in high school, we used to raid our parents liquor cabinets ( don't tell my Mom) and we would pour shots of whatever was in their in a Ball canning jar "Grandma's Jelly Jar" we so cleverly called it. Then we'd drive down to Taco John's get a large Mountain Dew and mix whatever we had with the Mountain Dew. Is it a wonder I even have a liver? Anyhow - for some reason - all of our parents always had gin in the house but not one of them actually drank the stuff so it was easy to snag and then water down. One fine summer day I was hanging out with my friends Tim & Reba & we decided the gin might be tasty poured into a can of Diet 7-up instead. We got very drunk, Reba puked on the electric blanket in the back of Tim's Falcon (we called it the Flunkin), we thought she dead she was so drunk and I haven't been able to drink gin or Diet 7Up ever since - until last weekend. (Reba survived just fine - we sobered her up a little bit, took her home and I think she got in trouble and was very hung over but OK). So now that I am back in the gin saddle - so to speak - I'll be tipping my glass to this tomorrow night.

French 75 Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 oz Gin

- 2 oz Lemon Juice

- Champagne

- 2 tsp Superfine Sugar

- Garnish: Cherry

Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice except champagne. Strain into a champagne flute (or collins glass). Top with champagne. Garnish with cherry.

Friday Fill Ins and it's Cocktail Time

See - I promised I'd write something tonight. Really, after I cleaned up the kitchen from 3 weeks worth of ignoring it (ok - not quite three weeks) because of basketball, the Red Sox played this afternoon (and lost) I had nothing else to do. Or rather that I felt like doing and since gym nazi is already in bed- I better speed this up.

And...here we go!

1. Anonymous...no, just trying to stay undercover.

2. Vacation is a great thing.

3. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, it will always get better.

4. Daffodils and cocktails out on the patio are what I look forward to most about Spring.

5. Who needs therapy when you can buy quilting fabric, yarn or fancy booze.

6. Peeps MUST go into the Easter Basket!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Hubby making me a surprise martini, tomorrow my plans include cooking an early Easter dinner and Sunday, I want to sleep in and then enjoy Habib Koite concert at the Iron Horse!

And now - cocktail time!

PassionFruit Martini

This is the 3rd time I have tried to type this - I'm tired so without all the witty commentary I had before blogger became such a pain....

Mix in a martini shaker over ice
2 parts good vodka
1 part Passion Fruit Jenever

Shake vigorously and serve in a chilled martini glass - enjoy!!

This stuff is also awesome in champagne for a mimosa with an extra kick.

And Nico's Dad (who I think reads this blog ever so faithfully - go check out Habib's You Tube video - I think you'll love this music)

I've been a bad blogger

Seriously - where does the time go? I have not got home at night all week before 8. And the night I got home at 8 I had to watch the UCONN Women dominate the NCAA championship. So.... little time for blogging. I will catch up tonight - promise. In the meantime I can do the Ten on Tuesday - 10 food you hate - there is one specific food and one category of food. Specific - beets - hate them! Always have - don't know why but there you go. Category of food - Indian. hate may be too strong of a word - I find it hard to eat Indian food since my trip to India and the unfortunate mango Popsicle incident. That being said - I have to go into work early so will follow up on all of this AND a Friday cocktail recipe tonight!

Friday Fill- Ins and a new feature - It's Cocktail Time

Friday is here & I am excited because it means basketball all weekend! Hubby & I also enjoy a Friday night martini & I have decided I will share our favorites with you each Friday. This little goal will hopefully keep me honest with my blog postings as well.

And...here we go!

1. Angel or not, I will always have fun.

2. I try to be true to myself instead of any way you want me.

3. As my mother used to say, you're full of potential and can be anything you want to be.

4. I try to drink lots of water after I'm done working out or doing something strenuous.

5. Even in the most crowded of rooms I can usually see over the crowd because I'm 6 feet tall.

6. For me, no day is a day fraught with peril.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a ginger martini cocktail, tomorrow my plans include my last all day hospice volunteer training & dinner with Training Buddy & Princess and Sunday, I want to sleep in & watch the UCONN women win!

Ginger Martini

We used to only be able to get this fabulous ginger liquor in NYC but it is now available locally - YEA!! This martini is so easy and so damn good - go to the link of the web site to see their cool little video - cheers!

2 parts good vodka (we use Hanger One Buddha's Hand Citron vodka)

2 parts Domaine de Cantone

Shake in a martini shaker & pour straight up in a chilled martini glass- garnish with a lemon twist

The Other Nine on Wednesday

I must admit the NCAA is getting in the way of my blogging. I am trying to watch as many of the games as I can and as many as Hubby will sit through. he is not such a fan but is now a UCONN convert. This weekend will be the Final Four for both so life may be back to normal. Which will let me tackle my remaining 9 items on the my To Do Post..

1. Finish Training Buddy's quilt - almost done, really....
2. Start my mother-in-law's quilt for her Christmas gift.
3. Sort through boxes of Florida stuff because really, we have lived in CT for 8 years now.
4. Read all my back logged Hartford Courant's - why I must do that I don't know but that is just how I roll.
5. Hang up clothes because throwing them on the spare bed is not really proper storage.
6. Take a pic of our empty wood shed before Hubby's cleans it up and we start to fill it up again.
7. Rake out my garden - yuk...
8. Read more of the bazillion library books I feel compelled to check out.
9. Delete or watch the TiVo'd Oprah episodes I have - I think 2 weeks worth.