Decisions, Decisions!

So how early in the morning can you start drinking?  I mean for research purposes?  :-)

Tomorrow night is our next Cooking Club gathering.  The theme is New Orleans and I have appetizer and cocktail.  My appetizer is set – I found a recipe that just looks yummy and I’m pretty sure will be a hit – but I’m still working on my cocktail. 

My original plan was to make Ramos Gin Fizzes, a classic New Orleans cocktail.  There are actually several versions that vary just slightly and then there are also a whole line up of other varieties of fizz, such as Silver Fizz, Golden Fizz, Royal Fizz and the list goes on.  Most vary only slightly from the original Ramos Gin Fizz. 

So last night I decided to do a trial run as this drink has one ingredient that is rather uncommon in a cocktail – egg white.  (In the case of a Golden Fizz it’s egg yolk and some versions use the entire egg.)  I know – this sounds a little weird but it gives the cocktail a little body. 

Well, I tried a couple different methods and I really didn’t like either version.  But after the first two I just couldn’t bring myself to mix another – I did want to get up this morning, and hopefully be hangover-free!  When I went to bed last night I was trying to think what I might make instead of the Ramos Gin Fizz.  New Orleans is known for a couple other drinks like the Hurricane (too sweet for me!), the Sazerac (also a good choice) and Milk Punch (served at breakfast to fix what ails ya.)  But when I woke this morning I decided I wanted to stick with the Fizz.  Which means I need to do some more work and I have a very busy late afternoon and evening so I pretty much need to have it nailed earlier today – hence we are back to the first question. 

You may wonder why I am so determined to make this Fizz thing work.  Well, we’d have to go back to a time long, long ago….

I grew up in a family where alcohol was part of daily life but always respected.  At dinner with my Italian grandparents I would be served a "glass" of wine starting at about age 12.  (The glass was actually a very small cordial glass.)  As I got into the late teens an occasional beer or bourbon and seven might be offered but it was usually sort of a reward or part of a special occasion of some sort.  So drinking with the adults wasn’t foreign but also wasn’t necessarily common. 

When I was in college I was an Industrial Engineering major.  Well, at least for some of the years – I actually had three majors at various times but that’s another story!  I was a member of the local student chapter of IIE (Institute of Industrial Engineers).  In my junior year there was a conference in southern California and several of us decided to attend.  I hooked up with three other people and we decided to road trip.  One of the guys, Jeff, had a car (bonus!) and parents who lived in Los Angeles (double bonus!).   If I remember correctly I had a crush on him, too. 

About 6:00 pm we took off from Corvallis, OR (home of OSU and the Fighting Beavers!) and started the 1000 mile/16 hour trip south.  Although we intended to switch off driving, Jeff drove the whole way – explaining that he’d done the trip so many times that it was no big deal (can you say speed?).  Besides a couple bathroom/food stops we only made one significant stop and that one was rather historic – at least before this last winter.  Coming into LA there is a stretch of Interstate 5 called The Grapevine.  Well, on that day The Grapevine was closed due to a mudslide.  We parked the car on I-5, broke out the Frisbees and played on the freeway for a couple of hours. 

Once the freeway was open we made our way to Jeff’s parents’ place, rolling in about 3:00 in the afternoon.  His parents lived in a really wealthy part of LA.  I can’t remember the actual name of the area but I do remember that their neighbors were VPs from Disney and CEOs of local corporations.  Anyway, we all got cleaned up and by then his dad was home.  We were asked to meet in the living room for "cocktails".  And what was the drink that afternoon?  The wondrous Silver Fizz! 

I don’t know if it was the drink, the trip, the idea of "cocktail hour" or what but I loved that drink!  I have never had one since but think about them every now and then.  I don’t believe many bars serve them – they are a labor intensive drink – and even if they used to, with all the concern about raw eggs I’m sure they’d prefer not to. So I thought this dinner was the perfect time to take a walk down memory lane.  Now if I can just get it to taste like I think it should. 

And that, in a nutshell, is why I will be drinking around noon today…  :-)