Vizzini once said, “You clearly subscribe to classic adages. The most famous of which is “make hay while the sun is shining,” but only slightly less well-known is this “once the cork is popped, enjoy that champagne””. I am sure it was something like that, though I sometimes misremember quotes as needed for the sake of the narrative, so you’ll have to take that statement with a grain of pepper. The point is, since, I had already cracked a bottle of bubbly, I figured we might as well go again with the sparkling wines. So, if it all feels familiar, there’s a reason. Won’t you join me now as we stand and make the Old Jamaican.
“You’ve got to enjoy things while you have them, son,” he said with a world-weary sigh, “nothing stays here forever, appreciating that change is coming makes us realize just how valuable our time is.” That’s the kind of thing I found myself saying as we sat in the sun this afternoon, examining the meaning of grief while both experiencing it for very different reasons. It’s not what I had planned, but life has a funny way of blindsiding you and no matter what else is on the schedule, sometimes you have to set those things aside and be a dad, a friend and an absorbent shoulder. So, even though it has nothing to do with any of that and I am gonna have to work to tie this all together, won’t you join me now as we stand and make the “classic” Seelbach.
We did brunch with the family today and since I’m always running my mouth about cocktails, I was put in charge of the bar program. It is a great honor, they said, to be able to provide the drinks. So, I grabbed a couple of bottles of Prosecco and cleared my station to make all the bubbly things. I hope you’ll join me now as we stand and make the classic Mimosa.
Every once and a while you stumble across something amazing. That is exactly what happened with today’s drink. After making the French 75 a while ago and then the Lone Ranger, I started researching other drinks that incorporated champagne or sparkling wine. This one seemed a little weird, but we had some cheap prosecco burning a hole in our pocket so we gave it a shot. Join me now as we stand and make the Old Cuban.
Don’t you hate it when you believe a thing to be true only to find again and again that you were wrong, have most likely been wrong your whole life and you have no one but yourself to blame? Yeah, me either. I have spent my whole life avoiding drinks topped with sparkling wines, but the more I make them the more I see that I was just buying into some hype. That I was hating on a whole class of drinks because I was told they weren’t any good, or not manly enough for a fella to drink. Well, they were wrong and I was wrong to listen and now that I know better, I am going to be better. So here we are, back with another sparkling wine cocktail, inspired by our success with the French 75 we decided to tempt fate, yet again, with a Southwestern riff on a champagne cocktail. So, join me as we stand and make the Lone Ranger.
When this all began, I thought it would be fun to make some drinks from home, since I wasn’t going out anymore. We had already been staying home, only going out for essential things and such, for about 6 weeks, I figured it would help to pass the time. Plus, I was getting low on our stash of “Is It Vinegar Yet?” fine wines and I was sort of enjoying writing my little shouts into the darkness. So, I started making a cocktail a day and sharing it with you. Part of it was to use up a bunch of alcohol that I had collected over the years, part of it was an excuse to be able to make jokes or social commentary in whatever we are calling “these uncertain times” this week. Part of it was to pass the time, learning new techniques, practicing things I had learned in classes, sharing the experience with the family. Mostly, it was to stay connected to the world. To reach out everyday and say something, to be heard, to hopefully entertain some folks and to feel that love coming back. Some times it has felt like a job, most days it has been one of the things I really look forward to, my little corner of happiness. The simplicity of the ritual. Laying out the tools and ingredients, mixing the drink, trying to capture a decent shot and then searching for the right words, typing them out on my phone’s keyboard. It has been a pleasure that I figured I would continue for a few weeks until the world seemed normal again. That was 75 cocktails ago and things are definitely not normal yet. I’m listening to Leonard Cohen today and reflecting on a lot of things, so if you came for the jokes, you might want to skip this one, it may get darker before the sun comes out. It may not, who knows? Honestly, this stuff is usually just sort of stream of consciousness and I may get all positive in the coming moments. Let’s find out together as we stand and make, the French 75.
