Wooooo!!!

I'm going to guess that I'm not the only one who feels like there isn't room for even the smallest addition to my schedule.  Am I right?  This is that time of year when you have to keep reminding yourself to embrace the things that are going on instead of letting them bog you down completely.  Monday, as previously reported, was Ri's holiday concert, and Tuesday was a delightful evening at home.  It was then that the it started to feel like... I really don't know what.  It was good, but it was busy, and not all entirely in my control, which can sometimes be a problem for me.

Wednesday was Ri's first indoor track meet.  The Kirchner family is new to this whole indoor track thing, and we had no idea what to expect other than Ri telling us that he was doing some relay thing, maybe a dash thing, but definitely NOT shotput.  We knew these events were long, so I packed up my knitting bag for the long haul and we decided that we would attack the evening's Drifunkmas beverage before we even headed for the Field House.  After letting the dogs out, we headed straight to 20 Main for The Dirty Shirley.

 The Dirty Shirley

1 shot cherry vodka
sprite
splash of grenadine

Although we both knew it was basically just a Shirley Temple made with booze, there's just something about the name that makes it even better.  It's kind of a good girl gone bad thing.  We both agreed that it was very good, but sweet.  Noticing a theme here?  We really aren't huge fans of sweet drinks.  Even our lovely mixologist Jess pointed out that it would be better if it was made with club soda instead of Sprite.  Even so, I would recommend this drink to someone who prefers a crispy, sweet beverage.

We drank those babies in less than 15 minutes and headed straight to Plattsburgh.  Did you know that indoor track meets have no spectator seating?  So much for the knitting.  We watched Ri compete in "the 55" after plugging our ears to avoid twitching uncontrollably when the starting gun went off, then try to use his just-in-the-preliminary-stages-of-manhood muscles to compete against the men-who-shave in the shotput, and finally run-like-somebody-is-trying-to-kill-you in the 4 x 160.  It was an experience, let me tell you.

That brings us to Thursday.  It was a long, enjoyable, tiring day.  I worked at LPES, scooted over to Mountain Lake Academy for a session, then back to LPES to change and wait for Mike to pick me up for the Whiteface Club managers' Christmas dinner at the Mirror Lake Inn.  Say what?  Yep.  If you know me, you realize the significance of the Mirror Lake Inn.  You see, YEARS ago Mike and I waited tables there together (we were not a couple at the time).  Eventually we made eyes at each other and that was that.  I eventually got promoted to dining room manager and Mike had to bow out because Ed said that it wouldn't be ok for us to be doing what we were doing and all that.  The opportunity to go back there and dine was irresistible.  Not knowing what the Drifunkmas drink would be for the night, I figured I'd see what the special was there.  I was not disappointed.

Eggnog Martini

Vanilla Vodka
Amaretto
Eggnog
Sprinkle of nutmeg

Unfortunately I have no measurements to offer you, as I did not make it myself, nor did I actually pay much attention when the bartender was making it.  I'm pretty certain that it was 1 1/2 oz. vanilla vodka, 1/2 oz amaretto and 3 oz. eggnog, but I really don't think there's any way you could mess this one up.  It's going to taste good no matter what.

It ended up being a fabulous evening filled with laughs, good stories, and the best food I've had in quite a while.

This is a picture of me being really classy with my dessert, which was peanut butter shortbread with chocolate ice cream and a drizzle of caramel and chocolate sauce.  It was a fabulous evening.  It was long though, and we didn't get home until 10:45.  Oof.


That leads us to tonight.  This evening was the Au Sable Valley Jazz Band's fundraiser concert from 7-9.  Just enough time for Mike and I to spend a few hours with the dogs (Ri was already at the Community Center) and figure out what to do about Drifunkmas.  We decided a trip to 20 was in order.

Upon arriving, I was somewhat perplexed about what the drink should be.  Exhausted from an active week, I really didn't feel like taxing my brain.  We had already decided that the drink needed to be a shot.  No messing around.  I began thinking about the many shots that I had poured during our two-month stint as the Saturday night bartenders at 20, and the most common shot, and one we had never tried, was a Lemon Drop.  I have had a lemon drop martini, but the shot at 20 was quite simple to pour.

20 Main's Lemon Drop
Shot of Svedka lemon vodka
lemon slice

It's done a little differently depending of who the bartender is.  We used to dip the lemon slice in sugar and place it on the rim of the shot glass.  Our friend Sherry, who has graced the back side of the bar for many, many years, rims the shot glass with sugar and places a regular lemon slice over the top.  I don't think it matters either way.

I have to say that this was damn good.  Perhaps it was the week catching up with me, but I had no problem throwing that thing back and biting into the lemon.  It was fantastic!  We had ordered a pizza from Mad River (a white pizza with onions and tomatoes, which pretty much rocked our world) and decided to enjoy it in one of the comfy booths at 20.  Tired, happy and full, we headed over to the concert.

Mom, Dad, Norma, Kam and Lance were all there, when who to my wondering eyes should appear?  My brother!  Ri was so psyched to have everyone there.  The kids did an amazing job playing two full sets of music.

One of the best parts of the concert was sitting behind my parents, watching their reactions to some of the songs from their past... Tuxedo Junction, Opus One....

So far, so good.  Tonight we head to Jason and Jenny Winch's new house to enjoy our first location sponsored Drifunkmas night.  We are definitely looking forward to it!