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!