Chicago Style Dog

There's something about flying into Chicago that always makes me think of that Liz Phair song...I was flying into Chicago at night...and it puts me in a REALLY good mood. I successfully navigated my way out of the airport, broke a wheel on my suitcase (which was half empty so I could stash all my shopping goodies on the way back), and made it to the train station, on the train, un harrassed, and into the streets of Boystown where Katie was waiting at the top of the stairs!



We had a pretty quiet night one (I remembered my wallet) and were well rested for shopping on Saturday. After 4 hours of shops and 15 ill fitting pairs of shoes later I found:

THE BOOTS.

Beautiful, handmade, Italian leather knee high, three styles in one, perfect timeless toe and heel, and they didn't fit. Not only did they not fit, they DON'T MAKE THEM IN YOUR SIZE says the super "helpful" sales assistant (assistant bitch is more like it). So I am completely devastated and whining - I hate whiners - and I convince Katie (it didn't take long) that we should get a martini and drown our (ok MY) sorrows.

We find a great little Italian cafe and ask about the specials. $6 cosmos - in Chicago? Ok so what if they're pink! We'll take 2. And an appetizer so we can keep our wits about us. They went down so easy that we had to get another. But we responsibly stopped there.

On to showers and hair and makeup and fabulous clothes...

And dinner. Cucumber martini - with Gin - YUM! Let's make that 2.

And then to pharmacy. No, not THE pharmacy - we were fine, very fine. Had an excellent meal and went to a great little bar with the electric green cross you see on all the pharmacies in France. Great memories. And two more martinis.

Chicago - I give you a sensational 10 for your excellent martinis and even better company - love you Katie!

Nous Sommes Nombrueses

I LOVE my girlfriends. There is no one else on the planet that can so consistently provide what you need to hear, want to hear, don't want to hear all while showing that they still care about your feelings.

So a weekend with our darling, Katie, is just what the mixologist ordered. I had the pleasure of picking her up from the airport for an ON TIME flight and then we went to dinner. We could gloss over the fact that I forgot my wallet, but that would take some of the fun out of the story, so here it is. We pulled up in NoDa and found a parking space. Then we got out of the car, Katie is trying to figure out what she wants to change into for dinner, and I suddenly realize that I don't have my wallet. So we get back in the car, drive back to my house, pick up the wallet, Katie changes, and we leave for the restaurant, again.

We pull up and decide with Mandy that we are going to the Crepe Cellar - good call.

We sit at the bar because there are not any tables left. The bartender eventually acknowledges our presence, and takes our drink orders. Vodka martini for Mandy, extra dirty. Vodka martini for Katie, with a twist. Gin martini for me, no fruit, no olives. Thanks.

The cocktails were good, despite stemless glasses! Dinner was better, and the wine was pretty fine as well.

Saturday night we visited the Cajun Queen. (I know I skipped Friday but we didn't have any martinis that night...don't worry, we still drank!) We had to wait for a table for a few minutes, which was fine - we went to the bar! We ordered three martinis (same as before). What is the allure of the martini glass? And oh how does the taste of the martini change when you are drinking out of a wine glass...that's right, a wine glass. They ran out of martini glasses so we each had our martinis in a wine glass.

Enough said. Well, the service was mediocre, but the wine selection was good and the food was excellent. Now if we can just get Charlotte to kick it in gear with the stemware...The martinis we made at the house were much better, all 3 of them!

So if we count the number of martinis between the three of us for the whole 5 days...well, this girl won't sip and tell, alors - nous sommes nombrueses et quand meme les martinis!

Airport Martini

Have you ever missed a flight?

It sucks. At least the next flight out was only a few hours later, but I decided to go ahead and get dinner at the airport - IN CHARLOTTE, my home city, I am eating dinner at the airport. Sigh. What are you going to do?

So I ordered a Sapphire martini at the FOX News lounge and it was good. I ate dinner, still had an hour and a half to kill, so I ordered another.

Reading Oscar Wilde in an airport bar sipping a martini. Despite the circumstances, it wasn't half bad.

So if you have some time to kill at the Charlotte airport and you want to have a martini - go to Fox.

Yet

So I was saving that excellent title for a really poignant entry, but you can wait a long time for something and it doesn't come, so I am back to writing again and I am going to go ahead and use the good china so to speak (although saying "use the good glasses" would be apropos in this context) and I am using my good title on this blog.



While I clearly have not gone without a martini since my May entry, I haven't had many worth writing about. But there was one in particular that is worth commemorating. The God of Carnage. Kind of a nasty name for a very good martini. In June I finally went to New York City for the first time. For three hours. Compliments of some very friendly New Yorkers I was able to lay out a quick plan of what one can reasonably accomplish between 7:45 and 11:00 PM in New York on a Saturday night. We took the train from Philly, jumped on the metro and went up to Central Park. After a quick stroll and some obligatory photos, we strolled down 5th Avenue and looked in the shop windows. Fortunately for my wallet all these stores were closed, but I still saw some amazing things - shoes, handbags, dresses Oh My!

Proceeding down a side street we saw Radio City Music Hall. Wow. In real life. That was fantastic! Around the corner towards all the lights we entered suddenly into Times Square. BRIGHT! Loads of people. Exciting. Glad to do it once.

Onto the really fun part of the adventure - dinner. So we turn off on another side street and see a restaurant called Bond 45. I suppose most women like to imagine themselves at one point or another in their lives as the sex kitten Bond Girl type, and here was my chance (for those of you who know me it was a much more official Bond Girl feeling than my pink bikini with the belt...). So we walk in, white tablecloths and a huge spread of antipasto on buffet. Mmmmm. We sat down and this dark man with a foreign accent (sorry ladies, he wasn't the least bit handsome) takes our drink orders and brings the bread.

And then it arrives. The God of Carnage. Gin, Elderflower liqueur, and lemon juice. That was it. Garnished with a grapefruit wedge, this drank really delivered great flavor, smoothness, and finesse (and of course the atmosphere helped!). Dinner was spectacular, and not to be unmentioned - seafood risotto. And another God of Carnage.

Hands down 10, that's right: ten.

New Awakenings - Two for One

It has been a while since we've been together. So for the bit of catching up we have to do tonight, let's have a two for one special. And thanks, Robert, for calling me out on not having written in a while - it was inspiring.

At the risk of sounding like one of those ridiculous "best friend" Hallmark cards or a Barbara Streisand song, some people come into your life for a lifetime, others for a season. It is with one of those seasonal friends that I came to try the lavender orchid. I had absolutely no intentions of going out, in fact I was exercising (sort of) while walking around the pond, and suddenly there I was at the Wine Vault (I know, not a martini bar), at a tasting with a fantastic winemaker. It is a rare experience in my world to be able to taste a wine while the winemaker is present. And even more rare to taste 4. So 4 sips and a half bottle of wine later, Eric convinced me to go to Lava to visit Christa. The intention was to have a cucumber mojito - which she had been talking up for at least 4-5 weeks (I am slow to get out these days), and so when I finally found myself at the bar, of course they were out of cucumber puree and fresh mint. So what's a girl to do? Well, flip to the martini menu of course. But I didn't really even need to do that because Christa had already created this martini with me in mind.

For those of you Vodka drinkers, listen. The original martini was made with Gin. Like it or not, google it - it's true. (Wikipedia says: The martini is a cocktail made with gin and vermouth. Sometimes, vodka is substituted for gin, although this is properly called a vodka martini or vodkatini.) Ha. I digress. So Christa, knowing that ANY proper martini menu MUST include a Gin martini, even though most folks prefer vodka drinks, discovered a fantastic creation she has deemed the lavender orchid. Although I am partial to the kick you in the teeth kind of strong cocktails, this one is very subtle, or rather graceful is a better adjective. The shade is a dark sort of lavender, like a sky at sunset when the wind picks a fight with the clouds. So there you are at the bar with this deep gray purple concoction and the first sip is sweet! Ack. But then the gin sets in and all is well. She garnishes it with a couple of tangy sweet blackberries (two of the biggest I've seen) and they seem to absorb the gin and the sweetness of the Chambord, and almost dissolve in your mouth. Really, it was inspiring. I might actually order a flavored martini once in a while from now on. Well, that is if Christa advises it. It disappears too quickly but then the restaurant is closed, and as it is a Wednesday, I make a REALLY smart decision and go straight home.

So the next night it's off to sing a little jazz, but Mandy and I get sidetracked at Andrew Blairs. They were doing a FREE four course meal because they had a new chef, and we just had to oblige by dropping in to give our feedback (yes, I do realize how self-important that sounded). So at the bar we order a martini, she a vodka (or as we learned from Wikipedia a vodkatini) and myself a gin. And it was, truly, tasty. So for the appetizer - oysters on the half shell along with a divine seafood bisque - I enjoyed my martini before switching over to a bottle (shared) of dry red zin.

But this isn't a wine blog - I know my limits! So for the lavender orchid I bestow a very difficult to beat 9.8 and for the AB martini - a 7.

Bonnes reves mes amis!

Ri Ra raile baile

I probably spelled that completely incorrectly - Mandy you were right I should have written it down.

Wednesday evening - it had already been a really long day/week at work and I felt a Wednesday night martini would be just the thing to make the world right again. So I called Mandy who nobly said she was going to go to yoga, and then moments later declared drinking would be a lot more fun. We were both a little wishy washy over the whole thing - here I'd just gotten this great haircut, but didn't really know what I wanted to wear or where I wanted to go. Mandy said - do you mind if we go somewhere I can get a beer instead?

WHAT? Just when you think you know someone, but that makes her more adorable to the gentlemen, so go get 'em sister. In the words of a coworker - "you're like the perfect woman except you don't drink beer." Sorry folks, I'll never really understand.

So I decide it really isn't that critical to the blog if she gets a beer so long as one of us gets a martini - I'll volunteer. We decide on Ri Ra, a local Irish pub, and I go to pick Mandy up. As she gets in the car I realize we have settled on the same outfit - black turtleneck, dark jeans, black heels...sigh - there are some good things about being friends with someone so long, but it is always comical when we unintentionally dress the same. At least she had a colorful scarf!

Once at Ri Ra we are sitting commiserating about the world as we tend to do from time to time, and low and behold some guy comes over to bum a cigarette. Now mostly I am a nazi with my smokes and don't really let strangers have any, but I was feeling defeated so I gave him one. And wouldn't you know, this guy restored my faith in men (well, 2/3 of them at least). He said thank you, didn't try to sit down and get all in our conversation, and then he bought us each a drink! Very classy. Maybe I should give away cigarettes more often...Peter, did I mention he was Canadian?

The conversation kept drifting back to Ireland and how we should go there for a vacation, so I finally called Robert and he joined us for a little while. Now I have actually had a drink in an Irish bar with an Irishman. In America. Martinis get a 7.

A Salute to Change

After spending the weekend in DC and seeing firsthand the aftermath of the Barack Obama cult-like insanity in our nation's capitol, I am inspired to clarify the focus of my musings. Lately these snapshots of a martini quest have changed in direction somewhat, much like the future path of our country. So without being too political, I have decided to redefine the purpose of my prose. These notes have become more of a record of multiple types of cocktails in multiple cities; however the original journey has not been sidetracked. I will still press on towards that goal of the perfect martini (in Charlotte, nonetheless), and any other drinking on the side will continue to be included as I see fit.

Therefore, let us digress to a Capitol Hill style martini. Lola's - an excellent name for a bar, pastry shop, restaurant, boutique, or pet! Carrie, my dear friend from across the pond (not the pond in my neighborhood but the really big one known to many as the Atlantic) and I, exhausted from eating an excellent meal prepared by her lovely fiance, Matt, decided the best course of action to revive ourselves was to go for a cocktail at Lola's. Filled with the stylish Capitol Hill crowd, and a nice sprinkling of Marines, it was a great place for us to pass a few hours on a Friday night.

After finding two chairs - next to each other! - at the crowded bar, we ordered: Bombay Sapphire for me (no fruit, no olives) and a dirty vodka for her. The martini definitely received a solid 9. Not too much Vermouth, glass chilled, only a few razor thin ice chips floating at the surface. Tasty.

More and more of Carrie's friends begin to arrive and the absolute icing on the cake was Rob and Sean. These make you feel like sunshine mixed with a lazy afternoon - a little giddy and absolutely relaxed. Once we coaxed Sean's inner hip hop diva out into the night things got really fun. If I hadn't gotten that second martini I would recall for you some of the witty remarks!

There is a great fireplace outside as well. I imagine on a cloudless night you could see the stars between the rooftops. Gorgeous. Lots of little tables are clustered together and I ended up teaching French to Brian, Nick, and Sean - well Sean was determined to speak Spanish - but I think we managed to communicate!

Lola's and her martinis get a 9. I do love DC - go Redskins!

Seeing Double

2 trips to the Double Door Inn in the past 6 days - can we say, I like this bar (please do NOT begin singing Toby Keith now). This is decidedly my "new favorite old bar" or however we worked that out. Mandy has agreed to be my support system for my lounge singing debut; however I don't even have a song picked out yet.

Sproule, Tony Diamond and Jessica (we need to get her a nickname) have agreed to come out and support my debut as well, but for the price of free admission and cocktails all night...yeah that's going to happen! On Saturday night Mike, the attentive and personable bartender, said he'd put Ms. Smith on the list... and he did! I felt like a rock star when I arrived with my fan club waiting and my name actually on the list.

So when the great Bill Hanna took a break I stopped him and said, I want to be a singer and Mike told me I have to talk to you. He very politely blew me off and told me to take his class at CPCC but it's full this semester. Than he gave me an ear test - which of these two notes is lower - DA or DA (can YOU tell the difference?). But I passed the ear test and he told me if I picked a song and we practiced maybe I could sing. And then he went to mingle with his admiring fans.

A few drinks and a couple of sets later, he meandered back over to us, and Jim the drummer (whom Mandy had been chatting up for the past 20 minutes) tells Bill I want to sing, so he asks me what songs I know. None. I realize I don't know any songs all the way through. An exasperated Bill tells me to learn some songs - Do I know Ray Charles - Georgia? Yes, I actually do (sort of) and he agrees to let me sing during the 3rd (or was it 4th) set. And then 5 minutes later (I am very excited by the way) some guy named Amari gets up and sings Georgia. I mean, really sings Georgia. It was incredible and way better than I ever could have attempted.

So later (next break) Bill says, I think we already played your song. So now he feels bad for me and agrees to let me come to his office for 15 minutes next Tuesday and learn what Key I sing in and we can practice "Misty." Have I mentioned I don't even know this song...now I have homework, from a Bar!

So next Thursday maybe I'll see you at the Double Door (and I'll be a little misty...)

Only One Drink Away

Blues - who's got 'em? We all have the blues sometimes. Hell, BB King had the blues every day and I'd say it served him well.

Well, this was no BB Kings, but it was Ed's. Ed's Tavern that is. What is it about having a few drinks after work? I mean, you still spend most of the time talking about work, the occasional lipstick lesbian (or bitter ones), and yet you feel better about it all afterwards. Somehow, a little gin, or in the case of my fellow commiseraters some Guinness, well regardless of your poison, it smooths things out a bit.

Another bar with dark wood - not quite as dark as Sine, but Sproule picked it out and since he's Irish he has credibility with pubs. Our little server was fairly attentive, I suppose the gauges in his ears meant he could hear us better. But it all really started when we heard the CONTEST about the ladies of the 80's. And who better then a couple of guys ...older...than me to be ALL over this one. Play a song for a few minutes (T-dog "this one has to be Kim Carnes. No wait, this one is Kim Carnes!") and write down the name and artist.

Family guy side note - picture Peter as Kim Carnes.

So we listened as attentively as is possible for a threesome who is a few into the evening, and I thought we had done pretty well, what with my recognizing Madonna and Like a Prayer (because clearly no one else knows that song). Turns out there was a group more savvy than us since at the end we didn't win the 10 free beers in a bucket.

The point - there were martini's at Ed's and despite the fact they are around a 3 on the grand scale (hell they don't even have Bombay Sapphire!) and they (once again note the plural) were served in those ridiculous non stemmed glasses, the company was pleasurable and the songs were a bonus.

Remember, you're only one drink away.

Sine

Irish pubs. The idea is always fun, but the reality often leaves more to be desired. At least, since I haven't been to Ireland I'd like to think their pubs are actually a lot more fun. But this one wasn't bad. And since I ordered a martini (I know all the beer drinkers can groan in unison), I thought it should be included in the quest.

This is an unusual post since I wasn't with Mandy nor was I even in Charlotte. I went for a quick weekend in Richmond to visit my sister, her hubby, and my darling niece, Trinity. After a grueling day of getting our nails and eyebrows done, and a very quick jaunt into Target, we realized we were very hungry and needed to get a cocktail and an appetizer.

Rebecca isn't big on going to downtown Richmond. With me being a non mother and her being a mother, I have absolutely no idea what it is like to have a child you cannot give back on any day of the week, so why she doesn't go downtown very often is outside my capacity to comprehend. But I am being less than understanding so I didn't make a big fuss out of her not knowing exactly where we were headed when we got there.

Parking. It can be a challenge in any city. But for two women who are hungry and lacking any sense of direction in where they are and where they are going, parking became a major issue. More of a comedy of errors than anything else. Once downtown we realized we needed to eat before we even found a gallery to visit, and by the time we got there (4:00) and figured out where we wanted to eat, we realized the galleries would be closing once we'd eaten so we may as well skip them. Why are we downtown again? Oh yes, well now it is to eat instead of look at art. That's fine with me, we'll do it next time and we'll plan it a little better (I'll find the galleries and hours - and parking - and then I'll drive). Besides, I love to eat.

Europa - if you are in Richmond and you like food GO HERE. It is fantastic.

That is our final destination and after driving down Cary Street 4 times, we find it. And then we drive by twice more while we look for a place to park. I remembered seeing one up the street, but when we turned around to go back we didn't go up far enough so we missed it. And then we realized there had been a parking lot so we went back up to the lot, but there was no entry from our one way street position, so we went down again. But on the eighth try, we DID IT! We pulled into the parking space, adjusted to be inside the lines, and then got out of the car. We walk down to Europa and it starts to rain. No worries, we'll be inside momentarily. Except that when we try the door, it's locked. We cannot go in until 5:30. DAMNIT. But we are hungry. What are we going to do? We just spent 20 minutes and $6 on parking to not eat there? Oh no.

So there's this Irish pub, Sine, up the street (by the parking lot - hee hee), and we decide to go there and have a cocktail and an app. I decide if we are going to have a cocktail it needs to be a proper one, so I order a martini, and Rebecca orders a Guinness. Which is acceptable since we ARE in an Irish pub and she has no idea I am even writing a blog about martinis...this wasn't even going to be on my blog until I ordered it!

Sine is one of those very woody types of places, lots of wood. Tall booths (made of wood), large thick tables, great wooden mouldings around the ceiling, beams, wood floors, and of course, an impressive wooden bar.

We order our drinks and choose an appetizer (spinach and artichoke dip - generic but quite good). The server quickly reappears with our drinks and we fall in, smoking, sipping, generally enjoying the darkness and the raininess of the afternoon. I am smug with our versatility, our ability to plan all sorts of glamorous things and then adapt when they go differently than planned. After our drinks we did go to Europa and I had one of the best meals in my life.

The martini - 8. Sine - 7. But do stop in if you get lost on your way to a gallery.

Dancin, Dancin, Dancin!

Let me clear my throat
The girl with the scarf around her waist, the girl with the dress/shirt, the guys dancing in the corner until the beers kicked in, and of course, the Cody look alike in pink...what would we do at clubs if there weren't other people to laugh at?

Let me see that tootsie roll
Suite...or shall I say Sweet! Not nearly as cool as all the hype from what the girls said, but I had no preconceptions, so I enjoyed myself. What are you going to wear tonight? Too much fun. I had forgotten how great it was to get out there and shake it with the girls, to put on way too much eye makeup and wear a short skirt (over jeans) and really let it out. Have a few cocktails. So really, there were no martinis in this night, but there were gin and tonics and Jack and Cokes, and some beers. Mandy, Laura and Heather, out on the town, looking for only a little trouble. And we found only a little. Those guys on the sidelines thought the dancers were just as funny as we did, and we shared a few giggles over them! There were some really good ones, too. And there was someone over in the private booth section giving hugs to the ladies - was it Chris Rock? Too short I think, and I didn't ask my posse for confirmation, but I really think it could have been him. Isn't it funny how sitting at a private booth actually makes some other people think you might be important?

Piano Man
Two pianos, four pianists, a drummer and a sax/keyboard player. What a great place! They actually played piano man - I didn't think it would happen. It was fun though. I think we might have been the only people singing along, but fuck the rest of them. We had a ball. And then Mandy found some new gay friends. I am not sure that they knew they were gay, but we thought they were. Pink shirt...yes. You like my nail polish - definitely.

Pita Pit
And then we encountered everyone we met that night back at the pita pit. What a great idea. I love that place. Pita sauce almost as good as Showmars.

Ladies?
So when is our next night out on the town?