Who's the elfiest of them all? Advil Calendar, Week Two, Day One: The Dirty Snowflake

Before we get down to the second week of our drinks calendar for the silly season, a few updates:

1. Although I am not suicidal enough to keep up with my own cocktail calendar on a daily basis, we did sample the Master of the Hounds cocktail the night of December first, and it was nice, but I think I prefer Tuaca at its simplest: 1 jigger Tuaca + juice of half a lemon, on the rocks.
2. We also gave Tuaca Whiskey Punch (equal parts Tuaca, Jack Daniels, cranberry juice, and fresh OJ) a whirl, and I will attest it's excellent company for spending the day in the kitchen cooking (breaking news: a capon is not a duck!).
3. Tuaca Whiskey Punch had NOTHING TO DO with me stripping my pants off in the kitchen with guests in the next room. NOTHING.
4. I've decided to go Drink-A-Day with this thing, rather than posting a week at a time. So tune in to Your Neighborhood Librarian every day of Advent for a new rumination on seasonal intoxication. 

Now, on with our show.

DECEMBER EIGHT
Let's quit messing around. If you're going to get down to major holiday drinking and you want to go ahead and get all seasonal about it, there's nothing more appropriate for a quiet weeknight of crafting, cookie baking, and tree trimming than this demi-sweet, minty, milky asskicker. Set Pandora to Franz Ferdinand and mix up the:

Dirty Snowflake
Start with a full glass of ice, then add:
1 part vodka
1 part Kahlua
1/2 part peppermint schnapps
Fill remainder with half and half.
Shake or stir real good, garnish with fresh ground nutmeg.
Get happily hammered while you trim that tree.

This recipe is from a kid named Steven Scott, of the band Irving (I think he's the one on the far left), and I got it out of I Like Food, Food Tastes Good: In the Kitchen with Your Favorite Bands, that book that I used last week for the They Might Be Giants Cosmo.


Here's to a great, or at least an only moderately annoying week. This week's to-do list includes making gifts for the kids's teachers. We've settled on candles this year, but if we don't manage that, Plan B will involve rooting through the stacks of review copies I receive and wrapping up a couple picture books. Good luck to us all!