Advent for grownups - Week 1

I cannot take credit for this idea. This idea was suggested by my friend Chris's little girl, Wendy Darling (she is surrounded by feral boys, including my two boys, so she is Wendy Darling).

Chris was setting up the Advent calendars she'd bought for her three kids, milk chocolate-stocked jobbies from Trader Joe's (um, the calendars, not the kids), when sweet Wendy asked, "But Mom, where's your Advent calendar?" Chris replied that she wasn't really interested in grainy milk chocolate tablets in the shape of snowmen and whatevers, and so she didn't need an Advent calendar.

But Wendy still wanted her mother to share this aspect of the season. She said, "Well you could have a grownup version."

Chris put on the thinking face. "What would a grownup Advent calendar be like, do you think?"

"Well instead of chocolate, your Advent calendar could have different kinds of liquor in it!" And Chris's face turned from the thinking face to the "that's just great, my kid thinks all I do is drink" face. Which morphed into the "wonder what she tells the teacher about us" face.

Chris is still doing better than I am - I forgot about Advent calendars entirely, and now it turns out they make LEGO ones. My seven-year-old was outraged. "Why don't we have an Advil calendar?!"

And given my traditional Scroogey humbugginess, "Advil calendar" struck my fancy. Wouldn't you like an Advil calendar, filled with booze? I know I would.




So here is what you do.

Find a printer's type drawer, one with at least 24 little sections. You could paint it all Christmasy, or decoupage liquor labels to it. There could be glitter.

Tack pieces of twine across the width of the drawer. You want the twine to make little guardrails so things don't fall out of the drawer sections. You can use twine in a festive color if you want.

Go to the liquor store and buy 24 miniatures. Mission Liquors online has a good selection. Take this opportunity to sample oddities and premium brands, not the kind of things you tend to have around for your average laundry day binge.

Put the minis in the drawer sections. Drink one a day, using the recipes below, until it's Christmas Day or you are admitted to a 28-day program, whichever comes first.

Now obviously, we are starting late. Unlike with most prescriptions, you are free to double up (or even triple up) your daily doses until you're on today's date. Or stick with the one a day plan, and let Advent stretch well past the 25th. (My 365-day calendar is going to take a bit more work)

Here we go!

Wednesday, December 1: Absolut Citron 80 Proof

Let's start this project on a festive note, with the Champagne Cosmo:
1 Part ABSOLUT CITRON
1 Part Cranberry Juice
Champagne
Add ABSOLUT Citron and cranberry juice into a champagne glass. Top up with champagne.

We introduced my mom, who is not much of a drinker, to the Cosmopolitan on the weekend she and my dad were in New York City for Bob and my wedding. We took them to dinner at the Boathouse in Central Park to celebrate the fact that they'd both retired that year. Bob had a Manhattan, I had my Negroni and my brother had a Cosmo, which Mom sampled and really liked. Later, when her colleagues took her out for the same reason, she decided that for once in her life she was going to stray from the gin & tonic path and order that pretty pink thing she'd had in New York.

Reaching for the name, the word she came up with was "Continental." Close, but a totally different - totally gross - cocktail. And now she'll never try ordering anything different again. So it is incumbent upon me to mix her drinks whenever I get the chance.




Thursday, December 2: Cabana Cachaca Brazilian Rum

On the second day of xmas we try to stay classy with the Pearl Button. My god this looks good!
8 to 10 ice cubes
1/4 cup (2 ounces) cachaca
4 1/2 teaspoons (3/4 ounce) Lillet Blanc
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup (4 ounces) San Pellegrino Limonata
1/2 grapefruit wheel
Fill 10-ounce Collins or highball glass with ice. Add cachaca, Lillet Blanc, and lime juice. Top with San Pellegrino Limonata and stir briefly. Place 1/2 grapefruit wheel in drink and serve immediately.

Friday December 3: St Germain Elderflower Liqueur

I only watch broacast TV one night a year. Unless it's an Olympic year. Also, sometimes we watch Saturday Night Live. We don't have cable, so I'm not missing much. We borrow Weeds and Dexter and True Blood and Glee from the library so that we're not too culturally illiterate. So anyway, I watch the Oscars every year. Yes, I do. Don't judge. You watch real estate shows, for pete's sake! God.

Last year, I invented a slightly bitter, gorgeous cocktail to go with my night of glamour. I was channeling Glenn Close, I think (nominated 5 times, won zero). I called it the Nightmare in Pink, after one of John D. MacDonald's pulpy, noirish Travis McGee novels. They all had titles with colors in them, which I thought was really neat when I was in junior high and my dad would bring them home after reading them on long plane trips.




1 ½ part Gin
¾ part St-Germain
splash Campari
Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a curl of orange peel.

There's a green version, called The Gypsy, which I didn't make up. It's also a little bitter, though less gorgeous. I would drink that watching the Grammys - nominated for seven Grammy awards, Stevie Nicks hasn't won one since Rumours was Best Album in 1977.

1½ parts Gin
¾ part St-Germain
½ part Green Chartreuse
½ part Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice
Shake all ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a thinly sliced lime wheel.

Saturday, December 4: Stolichnaya Elit Ultra Luxury Russian Vodka

"I think I'll call it a Vesper."
"Because of the bitter aftertaste?"
"No, because once you've tasted it, that's all you want to drink."
Pretend you're not way behind on your Christmas shopping, slot Casino Royale into the DVD player, and drink this. It's the last chance you'll get to have a quiet, inebriated night to yourself before all holiday hell breaks loose.

The Vesper
1 part Stoli®
3 parts gin
1/2 part Lillet Blanc
Shake with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with an orange twist.





Sunday, December 5: Canton Ginger & Cognac Liqueur

I believe in this variation of a Dark & Stormy, with the ginger liqueur in addition to the ginger beer (Reed's is good, Barritts is better).

Darker and Stormier
ginger beer
1oz Domaine de Canton
1oz Flor de Cana Black Label Rum (or another dark aged rum)
splash of fresh lime juice
Fill a collins or high-ball glass with ice. Fill 1/2 of the way with ginger beer. Add Domaine de Canton, rum and fresh lime juice. Garnish with a lime.

Monday, December 6: Cabana Boy Wild Cherry Rum

What you don't know (maybe you do) is that Your Neighborhood Librarian goes out and whoops it up with her girlfriends Monday nights. Well. Your Neighborhood Librarian sits around with her girlfriends and bitches about her kids on Monday nights. So that's why Monday on the Advil calendar stands for shots and Scotch, and today, something called Cabana Boy Something Something.

Wow. Ok. I just looked at this one a little more closely. We're not going to drink this.

Instead... find a miniature of Cold River American Potato Vodka (it's gluten free!) and celebrate Hanukkah, drinkie style! Jews! You know I love 'em!



Hanukkah Gelt Martini

2 parts potato vodka
1 part Goldschlager

Combine in a shaker with ice, mix gently and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.





Tuesday, December 7: Buffalo Trace Bourbon

Ok there is NO reason to mix this very fine Bourbon with ANYTHING, but I am going to take this opportunity to throw in an eggnog recipe. It's December 7, you should have been drinking eggnog for a week or so now.

Over the years, my father, and later I, have been known to make eggnog from scratch for fancy occasions. We used our extremely classy neighbor's recipe. About as old as Jesus since the day I was born, Thelma had reportedly been a D.C. debutante as a girl and a famous beauty. She was definitely a very refined cook - made sugar cookies so thin you could read the newspaper through them. So we were very pious about her eggnog recipe.

One year my dad couldn't find Thelma's recipe. Darnit. So he used the one in Joy of Cooking. Guess what? It was exactly the same recipe. Either Irma Rombauer had ripped off Lady Thelma, or Thelma had been passing off the Joy recipe as her own for decades!

1 liter Maker's Mark bourbon
1 quart milk
1 quart heavy cream
2 dozen eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
Garnish: nutmeg

Separate eggs and beat yolks until creamy. Whip sugar into yolks. Beat whites until they stand in peaks, adding 1/2 cup additional sugar, if desired. Beat yolks and bourbon together. Add whites, beat cream. And add cream and milk to mixture. Add nutmeg to taste and garnish each cup with nutmeg.


Stay tuned - Week 2 is coming tomorrow!

Happy Haul-idays from Chronicle Books and Your Neighborhood Librarian

Chronicle Books certainly goes out of its way to be ingratiating, don't you think? Chronicle includes the subversive little imprint that brought us Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Quirk Books), as well as Blue Apple Books, who put out the very highest quality kids' books. In addition, their books are well-bound, beautifully printed, and use nice paper. PLUS their editorial staff seems to really function as curators.

Now, in addition to providing me with eye candy whenever I hit the New Books cart in the librarians' office, they've got a contest going: pick $500 worth of merch from their catalog, post it as a blog post, and you may win your list. And one of your commenters wins the list too. They call it Happy Haul-idays from Chronicle Books.

Now, of course I've done this with their Children's catalog, but this list? This list is MY list. Stuff for my family, friends, for myself. Cocktails, art, urban design. Enjoy. Comment for a chance to win.

	The Liberal Monument By Alexander D Architect Alexander D'Hooghe believes urban design has lost its way. Once among the most articulate and avant-garde of disciplines, the field now lacks, he suggests, the confidence necessary to address its most critical challenge—sprawl. In ... MORE
	Hot Type By Brett MacFadden and Scott Thorpe Hot Type + cloth + an iron = DIY clothing design. It's instantly gratifying to customize T-shirts, bags, or any other piece of fabric with these bold type-driven designs and custom created alphabets. Simple instructions explain how to ... MORE
	642 Things to Draw A rolling pin, a robot, a pickle, a water tower, a hammock, a wasp, a safety pin, a kiss. Budding artists and experienced sketchers alike will find themselves invigorated by this collection of offbeat, clever, and endlessly absorbing ... MORE
	The Map as Art By Katharine Harmon As seen in O: The Oprah Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, USA Today, Cool Hunting, and countless other media outlets, The Map as Art is available now in a paperback edition. This volume by ... MORE
	Art of McSweeney's By the Editors of McSweeney A novel with each cover hand-illustrated by the author. Literary journals bound by magnets, or designed to look like junk mail. The sharp wit, gorgeous design, and playful why not invention of independent literary publisher McSweeney's ... MORE
	The Pattern Sourcebook By Drusilla Cole This stunning picture book chronicles one hundred years of classic patterns, featuring designs in a wide variety of styles, art movements, and countries of origin to give an overview of surface design from the beginning of the last century to ... MORE
	Pictorial Webster's By John M. Carrera Featuring over 1,500 engravings that originally graced the pages of Webster's dictionaries in the 19th century, this chunky volume is an irresistible treasure trove for art lovers, designers, and anyone with an interest in visual history. ... MORE
	The Handy Book of Artistic Printing By Doug Clouse and Angela Voulangas During the late nineteenth century, letterpress printers, engravers, and lithographers boldly challenged the rational sobriety of traditional design by introducing intricate borders, corner embellishments, quirky typefaces, and ... MORE
	Angaza Afrika By Chris Spring The mission of this book is to illustrate Africa's immensely fertile artistic landscape. Africa has emerged from its colonial past and is asserting its own identity. African art is not only confined to the continent itself, but has spread ... MORE
	Made in India By Kalim Winata and Reed Darmon Indian design and style is enjoying a boom in popularity as more and more people discover its diverse charm and graphic invention. Kalim Winata and Reed Darmon (author of the popular Made in Japan and Made in China) have ... MORE
	Window Seat By Gregory Dicum Talk about a fresh perspective! Perched 35,000 feet in the air, Window Seat decodes the sights to be seen on any flight across North America. Broken down by region, this unusual guide features 70 aerial photographs; a fold-out map of North ... MORE
	The Worst-Case Scenario Almanac: Great Outdoors By David Borgenicht and Trey Popp Bears. Avalanches. Grill fires. The great outdoors is packed with perils, so be prepared from the moment you lace up your boots. With detailed instructions on how to get out of every kind of trouble in the wild, this new, dynamic almanac format in ... MORE
	Nature's Pharmacy Deck By The New York Botanical Garden Culled from the Nature’s Pharmacy exhibit at The New York Botanical Garden, this illustrated deck explains the healthful properties and uses of 50 (both historical and modern-day) herbs and plants. ... MORE
	Spice & Ice By Kara Newman Photographs by Antonis Achilleos From New York City to Los Angeles, top bars are serving up cocktails spiced with chiles, wasabi, ginger, and other fiery flavors. Spice & Ice brings this trend to the home bar with recipes for 70 tongue-tingling drinks, including ... MORE
	Bixology By Eve O'Neill and Doug "Bix" Biederbeck Photographs by Sheri Giblin From San Francisco supper club Bix comes this stylish miscellany for cocktail lovers, foodies, and arts aficionados. Packed with fun facts, fascinating lists, and bon mots, it also includes recipes for classic drinks and the bar foods that ... MORE
	Moleskine City Notebook New York The first guidebook you write yourself. The Bronx is up, the Battery's down, and the Moleskine City Notebook New York has space for everything in between. The Key Map summarizes the overall city layout , showing the sequence and ... MORE
	Sound Bingo By Kindermusik This sound-inspired game features 6 double-sided bingo cards, 100 vinyl game pieces, and a variety of sounds, from animals to musical instruments. Pop in the CD, identify the sounds, and find the corresponding picture on a card. The first to ... MORE
	MoMA Modern Play House Create a delightfully modern house with this innovative set of modular nesting boxes! Aspiring architects and designers of all ages can create modern spaces, arrange furniture and accessories, and pack it all up to go with this distinctive ... MORE
	Old Maid with Other Goose By J.otto Seibold It's the classic game of Old Maid featuring all the favorite Mother Goose characters from J.otto Seibold's Other Goose. Humpty Dumpty, Jack Be Nimble, Little Bo Peep, Miss Muffet, and Little Boy Blue all appear on 41 eye-popping ... MORE (Pre Ordered)
	Little Red Riding Hood/Caperucita Roja By the Brothers Grimm Illustrated by Pau Estrada Translated by James Surges Striking art accompanies this classic fairy tale that is now available in a Spanish/English dual-language edition. A beautiful addition to both home and classroom libraries. ... MORE
	My Garden By Mimi Luebbermann Photographs by Susie Cushner In gardening, there's nothing more frustrating than making the same mistake twice. Essential for gardeners of every skill level, this guided horticultural diary helps track successes and lessons learned. The undated journaling pages ... MORE
	Eat Me Keep track of dining experiences, food memories, and all things culinary with this stylish and handy journal designed especially for the food-obsessed. A clear vinyl cover makes this durable enough to withstand both extreme culinary ... MORE
	New York Notebook By Laurie Rosenwald Part guidebook, journal, and sketchbook, this vibrantly illustrated notebook includes more than 200 fun tips from a New York native; plus it has plenty of room for you to add info of your own. Not as overwhelming or structured as most ...

Trust in me when I say

I have been visiting lately with a friend who is in hospice, dying of cancer. And before you for one second think that I am a good person for doing this, let me say that I am doing it entirely for selfish reasons.

My friend is the mom of a large family, six kids, a couple of whom I went to high school with, that she raised largely on her own. That family meant a lot to me growing up - one boy was my best friend, another was one of my first crushes. The oldest girl took me to New York City for the first time. They lived four doors up from us. And the household was full of the usual Eight Is Enough contumaciousness - somebody was always getting married, or living in sin, or getting in trouble, or, whatever, chasing a pet around or something. None of that shit ever happened at my house. At my house, nobody ever even burned the toast.

So their house was, in a way, real life to me. And their mom was always - always - busy.

Now that her children, my contemporaries, are grown, successful, gone away, there has been space there. She joined the garden club and the sewing group, both of which my mom is a member of, so I've gotten occasional news. But still there was rarely time when I was in the neighborhood and not busy with some scheduled thing.

And then she got cancer. Years ago now. It's completely unfair, as cancer always is, but, I don't know, more so in her case. Because she was a nurse, because she cared for other people all her life, because she entered the Peace Corps as a grandmother, because her greatest vice was peanut butter and pickle relish sandwiches. It's just unfair, ok?

She has dealt with her illness in the same way that she dealt with all the everyday catastrophes attendant with having six children - philosophically, with perspective and candor and unusual calm. This summer, she entered a hospice program that allowed her to live at home, get her meds, have a wheelchair. She managed pretty well, but this autumn she began to fail. That's when I started coming around once a week.

During my visits, we just hung out. I had her to myself - left my boys with my parents for the afternoon and evening, which has been wonderful in and of itself. I told her funny stories about the kids and about the library. I knitted a scarf for my mom. She got me up to date on her kids, all of whom I had lost touch with. That perspective of hers was awe-inspiring. When I fretted about a kid, or about anything else, she was sympathetic and always had interesting suggestions, but mostly reminded me that worrying wasn't going to help. I found we thought the same way about a lot of things - we gave people the benefit of the doubt right up until the same point. And then - forget it!

More than once, when we talked about her kids, I expressed my admiration at the way they leapt to each other's aid without hesitation, ditched their jobs and lives to jet home when she needed them. "Six!" I would say, "Six kids, and they all grew up generous and good, and also funny and smart! And good-looking!" She laughed and admitted she had no idea what she'd done right.

I have such anxiety about my kids. They were born perfect, and they are smart and polite and beautiful now. I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since the Apgar score came back. Probably ever since I got pregnant. I told her that one time and she shook her head. She said she couldn't help feeling that all their good luck had finally turned - we had just learned that her youngest daughter's husband had been diagnosed with inoperable cancer himself. I said, "You know that's a fallacy - there's no sum total of misery in our lives and we'll get it sooner or later - right?"

She said she knew that. But it's hard not to believe it sometimes.

I love you, Bobbi. I hope I am half the mother you have been.

SNOWPOCALYPSE 2010

I set up my tripod in the dining room and took pictures of the snow as it fell, though eventually I had to pull back - the entire frame was white! Music is "Hotel Incidental Music" by Usha Khanna.