Ladies Who Nosh

I decided to watch Sex and the City from start to finish since I'm getting tired of watching the same 10 episodes on TBS at 11 o'clock every night, so I took season 1, season 1 from Netflix out of my mailbox today.

Of course, the iconic drink on the show is the Cosmo. I'm not a big vodka drinker, and I don't have any cranberry juice in the fridge - indispensable for a Cosmo - so I started looking through my bartender's guide for alternatives.

(By the way, my calendar's drink for today is non-alcoholic. I'm not messing with that. Yesterday's called for Pernod, and I haven't brought myself yet to put out $20+ for a flavor (licorice) I don't particularly like. But I'll have to one of these days. A lot of recipes call for Pernod.)

Anyway, my eye fell on the vodka stinger. Carrie Bradshaw and the other three ladies on the show who lunch lunch. I figured that would be a good substitute. Then I saw the ingredients: vodka and white creme de menthe. That's it? Not two of my favorite ingredients (not counting the Pernod). And in almost equal proportions.

I looked around at various recipes for a stinger online. The proportions run from equal parts to 2:1 vodka-creme de menthe. I decided to compromise and go with my bartender's guide recipe: 1 1/2 oz vodka to an ounce of creme de menthe, shaken, not stirred, straight up.

Verdict: it tastes like pimped out vodka. (I may be a David, but no Schuster.) I should be drinking a brandy Alexander if I want a sugar high. Elaine Stritch would drink this? Maybe it's her only calories for the day. As a friend says, it's like swilling toothpaste, minus the brush and floss.

I'll have to pick up the cranberry juice and go for the Cosmo in my next sex watching sessions. Not much else to do for fun here in the "Heartland."