…Ahhhhhh Brazilian Daiquiri

Oy, what a day I had! There I was, minding my own business, puttering around in my back yard garden, when suddenly I heard men talking.  I looked up to see 2 men just 15 feet away from me — What the??  Scared the heck out of me!  Who were they and what were they doing there?

OK, the smart thing to do would be to run in the house and hit all the alarms, right?  But did I do that?  No, I did not.  I got right in their faces (all 5’ of me) and yelled ‘what are you doing here – how’d you get here?’   The guys said (looked like early 20’s) they worked for the gas line co. and had to survey the line in the right of way and they had climbed over my back yard fence.  Looking over, I saw a hooked ladder on my fence.  What the…  Apparently, they came prepared to invade people’s yards.

I demanded (again all 5’ of me) proof of their company, and they directed my attention to a truck parked on the street just outside my back yard.   Hmm, it was just a plain white truck, no markings.  I asked for their manager.  He came around the truck just then – the 2 guys still in my yard, now looking extremely uncomfortable.  I flagged him over and Yelled – ‘what are you guys doing, climbing into people’s back yards from the back street, etc.???’

He pointed to his ear plug saying – ‘can’t hear you’.  OK, that was like waving a red flag in front of a bull.  Because I’m thinking if I want to spend my energy talking to someone who won’t be paying attention and then telling me they didn’t hear me, I’ll go in my house and talk to my husband and kids!!  It’s kind of a hot button with me….  So… I Screamed ‘Take your earplug out!!!’  After which, I SCREAMED ‘Can you hear me now???!!!’ I then proceeded to rant at him, demanded his business card, and headed into the house, where my husband was wondering who the hell I was screaming at.  Sheesh.

Anyway, my husband called all kinds of people and hopefully, we have spared other women from having the bejeeezus scared out of them as the company honchos ensured us that workers are supposed to ring doorbells, announce themselves, etc. and they will be addressing this issue with their workers.

OK, so thank you Sandra Lee and my new project of Semi-HomeTested Cocktails. In lieu of deep breathing, tonight I made this amazingly refreshing Brazilian Daiquiri (Sandra Lee semi-homemade Cocktail Time – Apr. pg. 64). I used 2 fresh limes for the juice and Smirnoff’s white rum (instead of the brand she listed).  Absolutely fabulous and a delightful ending to a crazy afternoon!

Tip:  To make your own simple syrup, dissolve (stir)  1cup of sugar in 1cup of water on stove, and bring to a light boil till reduced by ½  – do not stray from the stove while you are doing this, as you will NOT want to deal with the mess of an overflow from the pan.  Cool the syrup and store covered in fridge for up to 2 wks.

My Semi-HomeTested vote for the Brazilian Daiquiri cocktail is ‘LUSH IT A LOT’.

What do you think?  Include your vote of LUSH IT, LUSH IT A LOT, or LEAVE IT in your comments.  Or just tell me if you’ve ever had an experience like this.

Salude!

T-Cee

Who’s friends with who?  Who’s fighting who? It seems that fighting is all that is going on on the Real Housewives of NYC lately.

We could definitely use a few new sub plots. Maybe that’s why they’ve added Sonya?!

This week,  Alex found her kahunas. Did Alex need to confront Jill with Bethenny’s message or  should she have taken her aside?

Well for 1, it made better drama to shout it from the rafters in front of the whole group of housewives. And 2, if she had pulled Jill aside, no doubt, Jill would have put her own spin on it.

The big Question is, Why is Jill upset – she already told Bethany several times that it was ‘over’. Does Jill think her crocodile tears for the camera will win her fans?

I say NO, given that on the after show with Andy Cohen, he did a poll to see if fans thought that Alex handled it badly. I have to say, that I thought it would be close, because Alex clearly entered the party with a mission to seek and destroy Jill. But the poll was a LANDSLIDE IN ALEX’S favor.

Who knew? My impression from last season was that Alex and Simon – newly dubbed ‘Silex’ – were odd to say the least.  This season, they seem to be the voice of reason.

Although I look forward to next Thursday for Alex to finish the school yard fight, and for Jill to finish self destructing, I hope that there is a new topic of interest.

Maybe it’s a good thing the Real Housewives of NYC season is nearly over. We need a change of pace next season.

Kristen Chenoweth performed I SAY A LITTLE PRAYER on the Live with Regis and Kelly show.  Broadway tunes and many things ’60′s makes me smile, so…

Hump Day Kudos to you Kristen Chenoweth

Enjoy!

Monday Night Tennis League– yeah!!!  Hurt foot-can’t play – booo!!!  Bringing pitcher of drinks to watch friends play – Priceless!!!

I arrived with cocktail shaker in hand and dove right into the ice chest.  Although I am not a fan of pomegranate juice, the Margarita mix softened the taste just enough to make it just palatable for me. (see Sandra Lee semi-homemade Cocktail Time book -  April/pg. 69).

So I settled down to enjoy watching ladies ‘social’ tennis.  Excellent points, but absolutely no shouting matches tonight – no ‘are you sure the ball was out’, no ‘hey that was a double bounce’.  Everybody loved everybody – nice, but just a tad boring.

However, after their matches ended, the women with an uncanny sense of smell ferreted out the source of the top shelf tequila and descended on the Pom Margarita Martinis.  With a unanimous decision of 14 women and 1 male observer, the vote was in.

Pom Margarita Martini was Semi-HomeTested rated ‘LUSH IT’.

What do you think?  What do you serve your friends after a fun night of tennis?

Cast your vote of ‘Lush It’, ‘Lush It a Lot’, or ‘Leave It’ in your comment.

Salude!

It was book club night and both the Startini Dream and Berry Encore cocktails were a big hit.

These 2 delicious berry flavored vodka martinis (Sandra Lee semi-homemade Cocktail Time book pg. 66) – one is a black cherry and the other a blueberry concoction – both with a touch of orange liquor – were very similar in taste but the majority vote that night was for the Startini Dream (black cherry).  For those of you who prefer a less sweet drink, simply decrease the orange liquor and increase the citrus juice.

Our book discussion was Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  Some felt that the book started very slow and then picked up, while I thought it started fine, but totally bogged down in the middle and thankfully the last 1/3^rd of the book was fabulous.

It follows the life of twin brothers growing up in Ethiopa who are as much in tune with each other as they are different – Marion the serious and thoughtful one and Shiva who skates through life with seemingly no thought to others.

There are many characters, and just as in real life, they each have secrets and pasts which ultimately shape their futures.  For ex., the twins Marion and Shiva are born out of wedlock to an Indian nun and a British doctor.  Add unrequited love, betrayal, parents unwavering love for their children, political upheavals, and barbaric attitudes and consequences for women to the mix and you have a really interesting story.  However, as I said, it just bogged down in places.  I usually like a book better than the ensuing movie, but I suspect that if a movie is made from Cutting for Stone, I would enjoy the movie more.

But with our martinis in hand the discussion was lively and isn’t that what sharing books with friends is all about?

And oh yeah, I did make my version of Sandra Lee’s White Pizza – only I made fresh pizza dough and homemade Alfredo sauce (I really do not like jarred Alfredo sauces and it is ridiculously easy to make).

So love the book or leave it, make your pizza from canned ingredients or fresh, but DO make the cocktails.

My Semi-Home-Tested rating for both the Startini Dream and Berry Encore cocktails are a definite LUSH IT.

Cast your vote of ‘Lush it’ , ‘Lush it a Lot’ or ‘Leave it’ in your comment.

Salude!

Team Bethenny…

The Real Housewives of NYC

Of course I’m team Bethenny.  Jill is playing the Jr. High game of “let’s hate Bethenny”.  Unlike Jr. High though, Bethenny is a grown, mature woman – Which means – hooray! – Jill and her sad little sidekick LuAnn will not be getting away with it.

I have to say that I was really dismayed when from the very first episode this season; Jill started talking badly about Bethenny waaaay before Bethenny realized that they were even having a major fight.  Jill was obviously trying to get the rest of the housewives to agree that she was right and Bethenny was wrong.  (I loved that Jill and Bethenny were best buds last season).

Good friends have tiffs and typically let off steam and then move on.  Unfortunately Jill thought she could steamroll over Bethenny and got stuck in B**ch mode.

Now that Fans have voted by a landslide (did you watch Andy Cohen’s show where he had people vote for Team Jill or Team Bethenny?) that Jill is wrong, wrong, wrong, she is starting to panic.

When Jill made it to Andy’s show, she started doing the “I was trying to be sarcastic funny like Bethenny and it just didn’t work for me – I will not be doing that next season” backslide.

Paaa – leeeese!!!!  Andy wasn’t buying it and neither did I.

And can we talk about the book???  All Jill and her (seemingly reluctant to be there) mom wanted to do was plug the book.  She has a chapter on forgiveness???  Are you kidding Jill?

So, the upshot is Bethenny and Jill are ‘over it’.  Which means a once great friendship is caput.  Ya know, you can get over serious crap from casual friends, but not from your best friends. I know – I had a very close friend – I don’t want to use actual names, so let’s just call her BaTinna – and of course there were spats over the years, but when I found out she’d been back stabbing me for a long while, several ‘mysterious’ situations became very clear.  Upshot – always listen to your gut – don’t hang with toxic people.  I have to cringe using the ‘too much used word “toxic”’, but it really does fit best.  Anyway, my real friends are still my real friends and that’s what life is about.

That and a lovely mojito or ‘rita on occasion.

Anyone agree/disagree with that??  Let me hear from you.

I am not usually a baseball fan – in fact the only thing I usually notice are the tight ends.  No tight ends in baseball you say?  I’m no sports reporter, but I’d say you’re the one not paying attention.

But my point is – there was an unbelievable play from Brian Kownacki where he is running to home plate and literally leaps over the guy trying to tag him out!!  Amazing!!!

Brian made a lot of people smile, laugh, and just plain take notice – s0

Hump Day Kudos to you Brian!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOs4YYZziNk