live salsa

[dragonlady7]

Dave's ambition with this vegetable garden is to be able to hook up an extension cord, take the blender out, and just make salsa. *mimes lifting blender up* "What's in salsa? Tomato? There's one!" *Vooosh!* "Peppers? There's one!" *Voosh!*

He worked his little tail off today out there being manly with a shovel and a tiller. He's got the whole bed de-sodded, turned over, and tilled. All we's gots to do tomorrow is throw the topsoil we bought on top, plant some seeds, mark where we planted 'em, water 'em, and then sit back and have a beer. (It's supposed to be 67 and sunny tomorrow.) [Er, and then go to work. Whoops. Have to work at 3. Am seriously considering calling in sick. Should I? ]
I haven't seen the work he did; it was dark when I got home.
So tomorrow, we go to the garden store, figure out what else we want to plant, and plant it. (Though it's too early yet for tomatoes, etc.)

Me, I am in pain. Work was hell. I got in at 11 and was moderately busy, and then just never stopped being moderately busy until all of a sudden I was extremely busy, and it stayed that way until I was moderately busy, and then I said "Right, I'm going home" and missed the last bus anyway. I had the single highest sales of any bartender, according to the cash office woman-- some $600 in cash and $700 in credit cards. "Man," I said to her as she looked at the sheet, "wish I'd made 15% of that."
I figured out in the car on the way home that I'd have to have made $195 in tips to have made %15 of that. Naw, I said, I didn't make that.
Got home, made me and Dave cosmos with my special recipe. (Fris lime vodka, two ounces apiece. Triple sec, one ounce apiece (go light). Wegman's cran-raspberry juice, a heavy splash. Garnish with thick wedge of fresh-cut lime. Squeeze lime after tasting to determine whether it could use more lime. [It always can. But it's like adding salt without tasting first.] Pour all ingredients except lime in shaker. Shake. Strain into stemmed glasses. Alt: drink over ice.*)
Drank cosmos. Moved on to drink more and sit on my bed. Got out money and my credit card slips. (I save a printout to show what the tip was and what the total was.) Added up credit card slips, counted cash.
I made $189.
That's my biggest day ever, and indeed, is almost 15% of my total. In fact, probably is; I rounded up to $600 for the cash.
Holy cow! I must've provided reasonable service even while busy. Hm. Why yes, I am cool: why do you ask? [It would be very cool if I kept records of my total sales every day to compare against my tips. I really ought to start doing that. I've been writing them down if I remember them, just for comparison purposes, but it would be interesting to keep more official-type track.]

Anyhow. The cash office lady also agreed to go figure out whether I'm eligible for the union, and if her calculations agree with mine, then yes, and she'll have the paperwork ready for me tomorrow when i come in. GOOD. Then I can have the joy of paying them dues and paying them for health insurance. But it is still slightly cheaper than just independently buying health insurance, all told. Also, it makes it damn hard for them to fire me. Not that I think they will. Because I am GOOD. So there.

Yeah, I should probably not call in sick and skive off work tomorrow, then. I should go join the union, and earn more money by being there. I should not stay at home and play in the yard and lie in the sun. I should definitely not drink Mai Tais all afternoon with Dave in the garden. Most definitely not. (Informal poll: Go to work like good girl or stay home nursing sore muscles and Mai Tais in the sun?)

I must say, though, it's really cool that Dave cares as much about the garden as I do, and is as convinced it'll be cool as I am. If we stay here, next year the garden will be way more ambitious. but baby steps: baby steps. (Someday I want a house with a bigger yard and more rooms too. Baby steps.)

Ohhh, I'm definitely sleeping with the heating pad tonight. First, another Cosmo! (Whoever says they should be made with Absolut Citron is a fascist. Fris Lime is DEFINITELY the way to go. Also, cran-raspberry, most def. Citrus and sweet!)

*the real official bartender-school recipe for a cosmo, for anyone who is remotely interested [do feel free to ask me about other recipes for other drinks if you're curious, btw; I don't actually get to pour many drinks with the boring people coming through this airport, though of late i've been in enough of a hurry that i don't mind not getting to pour them; boring Diet Coke is easier]: 1) 2 oz. citrus-flavored vodka, usually Absolut Citron because Absolut inc. invented the recipe, 2) 1 oz triple sec or Cointreau (they're the same, just one is way cheaper) 3) a tiny dribble of Rose's Lime, 4) small splash of cranberry juice, for pink color. Pour ingredients over ice into shaker; shake and strain into chilled stemmed glass, garnish with lime wedge. Me, I make a mean Cosmo or any of its variations. I am at one with the vodka.

Comments

[tehta.livejournal.com]

Absolut invented it? Really? When? Before or after someone invented the Kamikaze? It's always felt a little like drinks plagiarism to me.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

There are only so many drinks. Both the kamikaze and the cosmo are pretty much the same drink, but really, if you substitute ingredients, all drinks are basically the same. The difference with the cosmo is that they took a basic combination drink (the kamikaze) and shook and strained it like a martini (the original combination drink, along with the manhattan). Which appeals to the sort of people who like Sex and the City.

A combination drink is just a 2:1 of hard liquor to liqueur. A Black Russian is a combination drink; if you served one shaken and strained in an up glass you could give it some sort of bizarre name and probably charge double. In fact I think Applebee's probably does this. (Pondering it, I can't imagine why nobody ever did this to the green hornet. Oh wait, yes i can: brandy and creme de menthe are nasty. There's a trend that can safely be dismissed.)

But yes, apparently the Cosmo was invented by Absolut, and the official recipe calls for Citron. Which is pretty much, it's true, the only difference from a kamikaze. (Am I wrong or did Absolut start/popularize the current flavored vodka trend?)
Additionally kamikazes are usually shaken and strained as well, but into shot glasses instead, which has always seemed a bit of a waste to me. (I fully expected them to be a great deal less pleasant. The name is entirely wrong. I suppose the idea is that they're tasty and so you have many of them and... crash in flames on the deck of an American aircraft carrier?) (I was informed that you can order a kamikaze as a combination drink served on the rocks, but I've never seen that done.)

But yes, it's likely that someone at Absolut simply stole a kamikaze and added a splash of cranberry juice (a common bar mixer) simply for color because grenadine would be nasty. (#5 or 6 lesson I was taught in bartending school: People like red drinks. Give them red drinks and they're happy. When in doubt, add grenadine or cranberry juice and make it red. Failing that, add curucao and make it blue instead.)
It's possible the drink was invented elsewhere but Absolut definitely popularized it. Apparently its wide appeal now is based largely on its frequent appearances in that TV show.

[tehta.livejournal.com]

I used to drink kamikazes on the rocks all the time, as did several of my friends. I find them tasty. Them, and Brazen Hussies. And if I want a martini I'll drink a martini.

And flavoured vodkas have been around in Poland at least since I was a wee child.

[(Anonymous)]

Brazen hussies?

- Z

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've no idea what a brazen hussy is.

[tehta.livejournal.com]

This. Very similar, as you can see.

[amyjessica.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I have a bartender-ish question for you, since you brought up Mai Tais...how do you make yours?

I was a bartender in Northern Wisconsin (aka Bumfuck) for a couple of years, but nobody ever ordered drinks like that, it was either shots or beer. No imagination, these rednecks. So needless to say, I never got much practice at those 'classier' mixed drinks.

Anyway, I've tried a couple of recipes, but they always seem to be missing something. The best Mai Tai I've ever had was at Big Bowl, a chinese restaurant in the cities, but I've not been able to duplicate whatever it was they did to make them so damn yummy.

Glad it's going better at work, too. I know how much it sucks to work your fingers off for literally nothing. Waitressing up here was like that...hurry run faster I need it NOW! And then ten bucks in tips at the end of an eight hour shift. I'm happy things are perking up for you!

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot to reply to this one. I did give a Mai Tai recipe in my next post. But the short answer is, I don't make 'em. The airport bar is really limited in what it has. We got very little, as far as tiki goes. So I don't make Mai Tais. Not as such. I might get more into making them at home. Drinks you make at home, though, are never the same as ones in the bar. I was discussing that with the most senior employee at my place of work. She's tended bar at the airport for 22 years now, and was recounting the tale of the Melon Colada she had at Happy Jack's, the Chinese restaurant in Ft. Erie Ontario where I had an awesome Hurricane and Dave had the best damn Singapore Sling EVER-- she said she found out the recipe, and has tried time after time to duplicate it at home, and she's even a bartender so it's not like she doesn't know how to mix a damn drink, but... Sometimes you just can't do it!

I do make good Cosmos at home. And a decent Singapore Sling. At work I've repeatedly been told I make good bloody marys, and have been complimented on my manhattans. But I don't get to taste the ones at work, so I can't independently verify. ...

[kkatowll.livejournal.com]

I totally love this idea of the extension cord and vroosh!! :)

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

So does Dave.