Before 2011 faded into my rearview mirror, I really wanted to do something BIG. I wanted to redeem my less than stellar year (oh the things I could tell you) by hosting the most fabulous NYE party ever. In preparation for this fine event, things took a turn for the worse – I became a victim of a bloody massacre. First things first, nobody died. And since I am alive to tell this story, I can say: it wasn’t some creeper, with a knife, in the the water waiting for the right opportunity to murder an innocent victim (as the title might suggest). Instead it was Marie, with a mandolin slicer, in the kitchen, making au gratin potatoes. A lot of blood paired with a lengthy late night visit to to the ER and I was back on the road to recovery, stump and all.

Thankfully, fellow Lush Jen and I are also back on the road to recovery. Lush Recovery.

We started 2012 off right by re-launching La Booze Vie. To my delight, I was the first person to order Johnny’s new cocktail, Knife in the Water. Johnny informed me that it was his oldest infant in the orphanage (the top secret place in Johnny’s brain where he keeps future cocktail names under lock and key). I was lured into ordering this drink because it had rye in it. I love rye-based cocktails. The other key culprits in the drink include: gin and blood oranges. Although, the lighting in the lounge was dark and dim (and slightly seductive), I was able to determine that those blood oranges were muddled properly (maybe aggressively) into the drink. They left behind a cloudy residue of dark orange-red essence. It had a creepy, uncanny resemblance to a gory scene straight out of a dated horror flick. You know which films I am talking about – the ones that always have terrible acting with even more terrible “special”-effects, are completely predictable, yet they still scare the living bejesus out of me. In flavor, this drink had a very similar taste profile to an old fashioned (sub gin). The rye was subtle, but overall the drink was very delightful and something I could drink on a regular basis. Call me old-fashioned but I love old fashioneds!

Those who don’t know Johnny, might mistake him for stepping straight out of a horror film circa 1977. It probably is his lanky figure, cloaked in those dark and dreary garments (he always wears black). Or maybe it’s his unruly, shaggy, asymmetric haircut. Or perhaps it’s his dark humor, that only few seem to get. Don’t unleash a high-pitched scream just yet. Johnny is a sweetheart and his drinks are meant to provide delight not fright, Knife in the Water included. Those who disagree have my permission to whip out a chainsaw and go psycho.

Lush Marie

100 million Americans make New Year’s Resolutions every year. Me? I’m not big on resolutions. The cynic in me thinks there is no more sense in making a New Year’s Resolution than there is in making a third Thursday resolution. I know someone is trying to make money off those optimistic resolution makers — be it Snap Fitness, Lean Cuisine or Nicorette — and refusing to take part in the resolution game is my small way of sticking it to The Man.

But this year I joined the masses of other Americans and made a resolution of my own: In 2012 I resolve to have no more than one drink when I go out. When I told my friends of my goal they had a lot of questions and raised many potential loopholes and caveats. For example, what if I’m at a street fair all day? (Though I have never been to an all-day street fair, this was a big concern of Marie’s.) What if we go to dinner but our table isn’t ready so we have a drink at the bar first but then want a bottle of wine with dinner? What if it’s “just” beer? What if it’s 2-4-1 happy hour? I considered each “what if” scenario raised but finally decided the only way to do this was to have a hard and fast rule with no exceptions. Though I am generally a shades-of-grey kind of girl and not big on black-and-white, making this resolution black-and-white seemed the only way to make it work. No exceptions. No caveats. No excuses.

So when Marie and I set off to get our La Booze Vie band back together, I did so knowing I would have only one drink that night. The drink list had been recently updated with the Christmas-themed cocktails no longer on the menu, having been dragged to the curb like so many dried out balsam firs. I debated between the Poor Richard’s Cup and the Brute Nature, finally settling on the latter after deeming the former to be too similar to my own signature cocktail of late (the bourbon-with-apple-cider-topped-with-a-splash-of-ginger-ale-garnished-with-a-slice-of-clementine-since-I-never-have-oranges….I’m still working on the name).

When Johnny set TWO glasses in front of me — one of cognac and maraschino brandy and a separate glass of cava — I balked. “What is this?” I asked. Johnny explained that this is how the Brute Nature is served. True, the menu clearly sates that the cognac is “paired with” cava, yet somehow when I read the menu I interpreted that as “topped with” cava. I couldn’t decide what to do. It was only four days into 2012 and I wasn’t ready to throw my resolution to the wind just yet. I had to at least outlast the 55% of other Americans who can make it through the month of January with their resolutions intact. But Johnny assured me that though poured into two glasses, this is one drink.

I demurred, but was finally swayed by the reasoning that this was no different than if you were to pour one bottle of beer into two glasses (a “what if” scenario that none of my friends had thought of). Giving in proved to be a good decision, as the cognac and maraschino brandy was delicious; intense and fierce like a late-spring tornado, followed by the soothing rain of sparking cava.

So though I drank out of two glasses that night, I only had one drink. 2012 ain’t got nothing on me.

Lush Jen