Evening on the Island of Grande Jete

Today's drink in my calendar is called the Ballets Russes in honor of the anniversary of Serge Diaghilev's birthday. That was the troupe that made Nijinsky famous, if you slept through ballet history class. Who's Nijinsky?

This cocktail uses pretty simple ingredients, it isn't a Bakst creation (you slept through that class too?). Vodka, creme de cassis (blackberry to you), lemon juice, lime juice, simple syrup. Shaken not stirred.

Verdict: another one that's pretty sweet. That's what you get when you add an ounce of sugar water. And the lime juice in it doesn't quite work for me. It doesn't cut the sweetness and adds an off-taste. So I tried it again, without the lime: better, still sweet, though the lemon's good.

A bottle of creme de cassis is the only liqueur I've ever drunk all my way through. A splash of cassis in vodka used to be a favorite pick-me-up. But I've been out of that for a long while. Now I have another bottle, a big one this time, to drink my way through. So someone talk Russian to me, like John Cleese in A Fish Called Wanda.