30 Days of Beverages - Day 30 - A Sweet, Sweet Ending!

Today is it - the big day - the last hurrah - the end of the line. *cue "Bittersweet Symphony" by the Verve* I halfway expected my friends to stage an intervention today, so I was nervous when the weeone and I walked into Max's Wine Dive for brunch with Sherri and Zoe....I figured if there was a large group of my friends and family, I would turn quickly and make a run for it. I'd leave the weeone to fend for herself. After all, it wouldn't be her they were trying to toss into rehab. "They tried to make me go to rehab and I said 'No, no, no!" If I start to act like Amy Winehouse, I hope all of my friends DO have me locked up!

Anyway, as fitting a tribute as you could find for an end to 30 Days of Beverages would be brunch at a wine bar, right? Right.

The weeone and I met Sherri and Zoe there after church (Will was tied up with his fantasy football draft - you know how urgent that is - but he finished in time to join us for the tail end of brunch). The girls had Sprite and colored and played games as Sherri and I ooooh'd and awe'd over the freshly squeezed orange juice that was sharing space with our champagne! =)

Yep, a mimosa....does anything say "Brunch" quite as well? It's kind of a perfect last drink for these 30 days. It's a toastable cocktail, a fun cocktail or a pedicure kind of cocktail. By the way, the next time the Texas legislature introduces bills - which is in 2011 - I think a law should be passed requiring spas and nail salons to offer mimosas to anyone receiving a pedicure. They just make the world a brighter and happier place.

The mimosas were tasty, the company fantastic, and the food amazing. I would have taken a photo of my omelet of applewood smoked bacon, prosciutto and gruyere if I hadn't devoured it so quickly, but I did manage to get a shot of the weeone's french toast (from the Junior Max's $4 Menu they have for brunch only). YUM!

So, thanks for joining me for 30 Days of [Blank]. It was an adventure, that's for sure! I'm glad it's over and sad it's over. But never fear, I have other crazy ideas lurking in the wings - waiting to show their face and take flight. But for now, I'll just go back to showing you what I ate for dinner and how cute the weeone is getting each and every day!

30 Days of Beverages - Day 29 - Beer Buster!

What can I say...I've lost my sizzle, I've lost my umph, it's been getting harder and harder to come up with a drink that I want to make each day. So, when I saw something as simple as the "Beer Buster", I figured why not!?!?!

Well, here's why not...it's not really that great. It's a spicy beer, so if you're in the market for a spicy-ish beer - have at it!

Beer Buster

1 1/2 oz Vodka

12 oz beer

Tabasco

Pour chilled vodka into a tall glass, add the beer and 2 shakes of Tobasco sauce. Mix. Serves 1.

So, are you inspired by that? Nah, me neither.

30 Days of Beverages - Days 28 - College Flashback

Do you remember in college how there would be a scramble on Friday or Saturday night to order a keg, pick up a keg, ice down a keg, and then float a keg? Those were great days. You collected what you could to cover the $65 it was going to cost because that was a LOT of money to us then.

A week or so ago I got an evite from my friends, Bobby and Rhiannon, for a Happy Hour / Swim Party / Keg Party for tonight. It was such a great idea since this was the first week of school. Everyone needed to blow off some steam by 5pm today. So we headed over there tonight to hang out with good friends, have a beer / wine / cocktail, melt in the heat a bit, have some yummy food and just generally have fun.

So, the drink of the day....

Yep, a keg. But this wasn't the keg of my college days - it wasn't Milwaukee's Best or Lone Star - it was Dos Equis (XX). A keg of good beer. Oh what a night. The kids swam and played until they were exhausted. The parents milled, mixed, mingled and cocktailed until they were delirious and a great time was had by all.

Thanks Bobby and Rhi!

I interrupt these 30 days....to talk about Twitter.

Do you tweet? or twit? or whatever? I was completely intimidated by twitter. It was so odd. What was the point of updating people of what I was doing every moment of the day? Then, I found that people say some pretty darn funny and entertaining things on twitter. And people say some pretty darn dumb and still funny things on twitter. So I decided to give it a whirl.

What have I found? It's entertaining. When I have a moment or some down time I check and see what the world is up to. I might find Caroline is standing on her head at the beach or that Ree is making Strawberry Jam or that Jennifer is stressing out over her schedule. Sometimes they have a great deal they've found that they share or a link to an interesting article or the like. You can even post a photo! Sometimes....it's a waste of time. But sometimes....it's pure genius.

And so, I tweet...or twit...or whatever.

You can follow A Girl in the South on twitter - or you can read the twitter updates over there -----> in the sidebar. Choice, it's what's good about America. Let's keep it that way. =)

30 Days of Beverages - Days 26 and 27 - The Best Laid Plans

Yep, I got behind. I made the drink, but was exhausted last night and couldn't find the strength to tap keys long enough to string a coherent sentence together for you. We'll call it first-week-of-school-itis. It's a newly diagnosed disorder that consists of symptoms such as extreme fatigue, muddled thoughts, inability to lift your arms at the end of the day and the overwhelming need to run away. Did I WANT school to start? =) You always want what you don't have....true, true, so true.

For yesterday's drink I stayed on my theme of Russia. Perhaps the delightful thoughts of frozen tundra and how nice it would be to be cold right now have lured me there these past few days or maybe I just got stuck in one section of a cocktail recipe book. I'll never tell.

The Moscow Mule was my cocktail yesterday and this one was a WINNER! I really liked it. It's fizzy, a little fruity, and lot vodka-y (again, me and the making up of words!). This is a great one for a hot day.

The Moscow Mule

2 oz vodka

2 oz freshly squeezed lime juice

8 oz ginger ale

Mix and serve over ice. Serves 1.

Today's drink was a bit of a boondoggle. I was given the idea of making a B-52. I've never had one and it seemed like a good idea...pretty layers of booze that all make up one nice little drink.

Oh, the best laid plans.

Turns out, my Irish Cream had not been refrigerated after opening. Did you know that you had to refrigerate it? I didn't, so I had a bottle of curdled Irish Cream. Ick. Thanks Staci for not letting me drink it. =)

B-52

3/4 oz Kahlua

1/2 oz Bailey's Irish Cream

1 oz Grand Marnier

Pour the Kahlua into a glass. Add the Bailey's by pour over the back of a spoon so the liquid hits the side of the glass and gently layers onto the Kahlua. Repeat the same process with the Grand Marnier. Serves 1.

30 Days of Beverages - Day 25 - Russian Literature

Pushkin, Tolstoy, Lermentov were all great writers. Yeah....I don't know anything about Russian literature. Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm more of a chick lit kind of gal. Give me some Jennifer Weiner or Patricia Cornwell - Oh - or a good James Patterson novel, but I'm going to say "nyet" to the Russian literature scene. At least, I think that's what I'm going to say since I don't have a cyrillic keyboard to type it right. Heavens....this suddenly became complicated!

Today is the 25th drink we've shared together. Shouldn't you have bought me dinner by now??? =) Sorry, it's the vodka talking.

So, quite a few of my friends know about my 30 days of [blank] and have chimed in along the way - either begging for an invite to happy hour or just showing up! Others have commented on drinks or suggested drinks that I try. Others are planning an intervention and rehab... Today is a day when a friend made a suggestion.

I work with this guy who, although I've known him for a few years, I really didn't get to know until the company did a little "re-orging" at the end of last year. Javier and I are now part of the same District and our territories back up to one another so we share some accounts. We've discovered over the past several months that we share several interests as well. We both love football - of course, he's twisted and cheers for the hometown Texans while I'm grounded in reality and good family history and cheer for the Pittsburgh Steelers! We both have daughters who hung the moon. We both also enjoy a good drink (or two!) on occasion.

So, today when I was chatting about work, life and weekends with Javier, he suggested a White Russian as today's drink. I have not ever tried a White Russian....vodka and cream never sounded like a great combination....but people seem to like it, so what the heck - why not!

I have to say that it was different than I expected. It was better than I expected too. I might have made mine a bit stronger than intended, but it was still tasty. I can see now why people like these! It seemed like a perfect drink for a rainy day....a White Russian in hand while you're wrapped up in a blanket on the couch with a good book.....aha...now today's blog title is making sense to you, isn't it?

Next rainy day...find a good book and blanket and give it a try! Thanks Javier...good idea.

White Russian

2 oz vodka (you can use vanilla if you prefer)

1 oz Kahlua or other coffee liqueur

1/2 - 1 oz light cream

Mix the vodka and Kahlua over ice then fill with cream and serve. Serves 1.

30 Days of Beverages - Day 24- The "Back to School" Edition

Yep, today was the big day....the first day of school. The weeone's got this first day routine down pat now. Up and dressed early, fed herself breakfast and was ready to be there early since I was helping to walk new Kindergartners to class. She even posed for a photo by the same tree she's posed by each year. She's cool. She's big. She's in 2nd grade. It was pretty amazing how there were no nerves, no sadness, no need to even kiss me goodbye (although she understood MY need for a kiss goodbye and kindly obliged me). I really realized how far she's come as I watched little 5 year olds cry, cling and worry all the way to their new classrooms.

I'm glad we're at this point. I'm glad she's feeling secure and independent and sure of her place in this building called school. It's a good thing.

In honor of her first day of school, I made a dinner that I loved. =) Is that mean? teeheehee...she liked it though so that should count. But, she did get to play this evening with her friend, Little Mama. Little Mama is Staci's middle child and only girl. She doesn't start school until Wednesday, but could appreciate the excitement of the "first day of school". She stayed to eat dinner with us and was delighted when I revealed that the drink of the day was a treat for THEM!!!

Shirley Temple

for the kid in everyone!

6 oz Ginger Ale ( you can sub Sprite if you'd like )

1 1/2 teaspoons Grenadine

2 cherries

You know what to do, right? =)

I think this is my favorite part of the night....the determined look on their faces as they were digging cherries out of their glasses and the utter delight when they finally succeeded. Cherries....they're one of the great things in life, at least when you're 6 and 7 like these two!

For those of you who are wondering, dinner was Grilled Flat Iron Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce, Seasoned Red Potatoes and Creamed Spinach with Asiago. I'll share it all with you when these 30 days are up....I promise!!!