Decadent December



Yale Cocktail

December, the last month of the year.  Here by the rosemary bush we greeted December - Hell Yeah -- I mean Hell Yale (the name of the drink)!  Gin, vermouth, blue curacao & a dash of bitters.  Appropriately bittersweet as we close out the year and the journey.

And the final drink of the month was Zipper Head.  Truthfully, I can't even remember what it was - must have zipped my head good!

Throughout this year we've had some amazing drinks, and some duds, met a few nice folks, and some duds, but through it all we had some laughs and that was what we were after to help us through this year of grief. 

This year's journey is over and now it is time to push forward through another year.  Will it be easier?  I can't say for sure because I've come to realize through all this that grief never dies, it just becomes more manageable.  There is truth to the saying, "life goes on" - a year later I'm still here and the world still spins, so I'm confident we'll get through this year too.  How many ups and downs remains to be seen, but we sure will try to enjoy it while we can.  As for me, I miss my husband deeply and have to thank him for helping me to become stronger over the years and strong enough to handle all of this.  I will always love him and be grateful for our time together.

So, goodbye readers - thanks for tuning in, don't drink and drive and have a great life.

Nearing the End - November

All my followers ~ (ha, ha) I bet you've wondered where I've been.  Here, there & everywhere.  November was a busy month. The two drinks we traveled high and low for were:  White Heat - gin, triple sec, dry vermouth & pineapple juice and XYZ: rum, triple sec & lemon juice.  My computer was on the fritz and the pictures were lost. 

Sorry for this short & boring blurb. I'll try to do better for the swan song of December as we close out the year.

Optimistic October



ULANDA



Good Grief - October already!  Why, you might ask, is this month's blog entitled Optimistic October.  Well, went to a meetup group get together and was "optimistic" that a fair time might finally be had and it was unexpectedly good in fact.  Really enjoyed the people and had our first Oct. drink - the Ulanda @ Buffalo Wild Wings on Eastwood.  Not sure why the drink is called the Ulanda- ingredients are: I can't remember and Pernod.  For those unfamiliar with Pernod - it's licorice tasting so since the establishment did not have Pernod, we substituted Sambuca. It was quite a good sipping drink.  ULANDA - kinda sounds like a victory call!  ULANDA - finally got through a night without crying!  ULANDA - life really does go on!  ULANDA - You landa on your feet ... eventually!


Vampire


Next stop - Halloween....Dressed as Vampires (our costumes were really pretty good for homemade), we set out into the eerie Halloween night.  Having Hurricane Sandy pass through made the night all the more perfect! Of course, we had already chosen our "V" drink, appropriately named "Vampire" and ended up at Wild Wings mingling with the ghouls, the goblins and the just plain weird that only surface during the wee hours of such a night. The Vampire drink: vodka, raspberry liqueur & cranberry juice just didn't cut it without the added eyeball that I just happened to have with me!  Now that made the drink good and spooky.  So we only have two months left (4 drinks) for this blogging adventure and we are beginning to consider what next year's challenge might be!  Have any suggestions?

Sassy September





Mateo & Sex on the Beach

  

Ah, September - well this will be short & sweet as my computer hasn't been working since the last post and I've got tons of follow up to do.  We hadn't planned it, but our first drink for the month was had in Italy.  We took a wonderful tour of Umbria & Tuscany and here is Mateo with Sex on the Beach in both hands overlooking the Tuscan hillside just outside San Giamango.  While far from the beach, this was most definitely a molte benne place to be.



So, back home again, thinking of Mateo & our hunky tour bus driver Pietro, we chose our 2nd Sept. drink: Tie Me to the Bedpost.  A little cougar mentality goes a long way - like from italy to the USA!  Unfortunately, my camera was still on movie mode when I took pictures of this drink - citrus vodka, coconut rum, melon liquer & sour mix - so I can't get the picture to post.  But so what when you've got these guys to look at! 

So, here's a replacement picture - Pietro - I hope you're not too disappointed - we weren't (tee, hee).



Pietro - Italian Stallion



Abnormal August

Abnormal August - you wonder??? Well, we had a Q drink for the first drink of August and damn - the book's selection was not so good - drink wise or laughter wise.  So, what did we do?  Well, all you devoted followers of the Not So Merry Widows (what are you, 6?) we improvised - a little abnormal, but then so are we!  Ha. 

Qcumber Gimlet

If you recall, I blogged back in May that we went to Cameo 1900 and they had some drinks we really wanted to try, but stuck to the task at hand.  So, back we went with Ann's visiting daughter in tow, and taking poetic license we ordered a Qcumber Gimlet (get it?  Q drink?).  Healthy, refreshing and well worth the deceit!!! Try it, I bet you'll like it. 

Am I blue?  No, I'm Rhett Butler and frankly my dear, I don't give a damn  - that I'm the color blue.

Rhett Butler


Rhett Butler was the man of the evening and a good man is hard to find.  We found Rhett @ the Browncoat Pub & Theater.  Only $5 for a man in blue - Southern Comfort, curacao, lime juice & lemonade (they didn't have lemon juice so we improvised) and it was good.  Three drinks in the picture again 'cause we were joined by our good pal and had not trouble convincing her to have a taste of the south!  This was our first trip to the Browncoat and we saw a 2 hour comedy show for $10 - not bad.  Overall we enjoyed the show, all but one skit which was kind of abnormal - we'll leave at that, but the kids were all pretty talented and funny.  Surely we were the oldest in the small crowd, but the staff was very accommodating to us oldies but goodies.  We'll definitely visit them again.

Just July



"O" Martini



One very, very, very (and I do mean "very") hot & humid Wilmington afternoon, we headed downtown to Elijah's to have the first of our July drinks on the riverfront.  With the Henrietta rolling past, we manned (or should I say, womanned) up and ordered our libation of the day, "O" Martini - vodka (of course), coconut rum & banana liqueur.  "O" MG - it was so hot outside that we literally stuck to our chairs & when we finished & rose - "O"MG, we were drenched.  Actually hoping that no one would notice, we scurried out with our wet behinds making a mad dash to the car.  "O" Martini was oh so good as was the ambiance of the riverfront, but the sweltering heat gave us no desire to go into our reason for being there and yet - again - not a funny name. Finding "funny" is becoming quite challenging. 

Simply put - the next drink "Pink Floyd" STUNK - so much so that it didn't even warrant a picture (a frozen concoction of vodka, sloe gin & fresh pineapple).  Having decided to take to the beach & celebrate what would have been my 20th wedding anniversary, we chose the Blockade Runner.  While the outside ambiance is lovely and the guitarist/singer was quite enjoyable, as Pink Floyd's song, Run Like Hell says - "run, run, run, run, run all day and run all night".  So, here's the reason for this CC (crappy critique) - the outside bar was being serviced (using that term loosely) by 2 female bartenders (using loosely again) and they had a staggering one customer upon our arrival.  For an extraordinarily unacceptable time, we were totally ignored - no, "be right with you", no phony smile - nothing.  As usual, we handed over our recipe eliciting nary a shred of interest from the other side of the bar.  As we were already ticked off, we merely waited but had to correct her during preparation.  She was drowning it with juice & ice - omitting the fresh pineapple and did she even add the liquor?  Oh, it gets worse - the colorless slush was dumped into a Styrofoam cup ( so esthetically pleasing, right?) and being informed that they ran out of regular straws (really, a resort hotel has no straws?) she stuck 3 small stirrers in each up, plopped it on the bar - no napkins.  And for this - guess what they charged - $16.00.  When we asked if this price was a mistake, they shoved the menu in our face and plain as day - frozen drinks $16.  It must cost them a pretty penny to run the blender and use that much ice that they have to pass it on to the customer.  But, if that drink had been fantastic, we would have sucked it up as well as the $16.00.  But no - it was flat & tasteless, ugly and thoroughly disappointing.  We tried to find a manager to lodge a complaint but there was none to be had.  Stay away - stay far, far away unless you stick stick with a beer - how could they possibly ruin that?  Well, I guess you're bound to encounter a dud once in a while so we'll chalk it up to just that and move on to August!  Stay cool and remember, drink in moderation.

Too Soon June



Melon Martini

 I can hardly believe that half the year is behind us!  June came too soon but we were on it like peanut butter on a cracker.  Ann was supposed to be away for most of the month so we decided to attend our very first Cape Fear Singles Meetup Group at the Bluewater Grill.  I know, we already went there, but every Sunday they have a band, you're out on the deck enjoying the fresh air, so we decided to kill 2 birds with one stone.  It was a beautiful day, the band was good albeit LOUD (hmm, guess that's showing our age!) and the drink was quite nice - Melon Martini with vodka, melon liquer, dash of lime juice with a cherry in the bottom!  Delish - I recommend it for Christmas - it's so festive looking.  Actually, when we gave the recipe to the bartender she commented that it might be against NC law to add that much vodka  - 3 1/2 oz.  Really?  What's a little law breaking amongst widows?!  Did Ann make a mistake in transcribing the ingredients (on purpose?).  No, the book clearly states 3 1/2 oz. of vodka, but we had to abide by the "possible law" of 1 1/2 but I expect one could get a serious buzz off the misprint - tee, hee.  Guess we'll have to try it and see!


Nervous Breakdown

 Ann had a little mishap a few days into her vacation (not to worry, she's safe & sound), but was back home in a week and out we went for a Nervous Breakdown.  Not the 19th Nervous Breakdown that Mick Jagger & Keith Richards of the Stones fame penned & performed in 1965 - we're not spoiled and we do appreciate life's gifts.  The drink consisted of Vodka (surprise), raspberry liquer with a splash of cranberry juice & a lime.  We stopped in at the Towne Tap & Grille right before heading to see "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" which we absolutely adored.  The bar was empty but that meant we had all the attention of our young Aussie bartender! Again, we appreicate life's gifts :).  One of the lines in the movie aptly describes our ups & downs and that is, "Everything will be alright in the end and if it is not alright, it is not the end"!!!!  So as C.S. Lewis cited, "Onward and Upward! To Narnia and the North!"  Until next time - live well, love much and laugh often.  AND, drink - in moderation, except at home when you have Nervous Breakdown with 3 1/2 oz. of vodka!