The Sifter

ok, so this is the second attempt to post from the phone whilst supping a martini at a bar. let's see if this works...

Straight from The Onion... er, rather The Guardian:

"Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico."

If it's not the 'gators then it's the dolphins. Only in America :-)

From this article:

"A new study finds that blogs are more likely to deal with personal matters than politics or current events, and nearly 50% of bloggers see the activity as a form of therapy."

I thought a martini was therapy ;-)

I'm still in shock from seeing The West Wing on Monday.

They killed off one of their core cast - White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry - in one of the best scripted/acted heart-attacks I've seen on the small box.

And the cliff-hanger ending is... no-one realises he's dead yet.

Roll on next Monday's episode...

[In other good TV news - series 2 of Bodies is about to start in the UK. Hopefully we won't have to wait years for TVNZ to screen it...]

What I liked about this was that it was in the window of the door of a guitar shop...

Ever had one of those days when nothing goes right?

Yup.

I'll be surprised if Blogger even lets me post this, seeing as how there's computers involved... ;-)

So, apparently cocktails are not the recent invention we'd been led to believe.

According to some undoubtedly reknowned Italian journal,

"The first cocktail ever was made in Mesopotamia 5,000 years ago, using wine, beer, apple juice and honey. "

They called it Grog. We'd probably call it an "Appletini" and charge like a wounded bull for it :-)

Speaking of which, I've just finished a book called Cosmopolitan by Toby Cecchini (Wellington Library has it), the bartender who "re-invented" the drink that we all now know (and some of us love) - The Cosmo.

If you can bear with his writing style - he tries too hard to impress - then it's a good read, especially if you've ever spent any time behind a bar. Or in front of it. Or falling off one... ;-)

I was expecting a quick rip-off of Kitchen Confidential, but Cecchini knows his stuff and has some great stories to tell.

I just wish I'd known about Passerby (his bar) when I was in NYC back in 2000. It wasn't too far from Battery Park City where I was staying.

He gives a couple of recipes of classic drinks at the end of the book, including (naturally) what he makes the Cosmopolitan with:

5 pts lemon vodka
5 pts triple sec or Cointreau
4 pts fresh lime juice
dash or 2 of cranberry juice

I've had fun telling various bartenders around town about the book, and reciting this recipe and getting them to make it. It's a stronger drink than we're used to here for our Cosmos.

Tonight marks the welcome return of BroTown to TV3... and also Gordon Ramsey's Hells Kitchens (USA) starts tonight. Looks like Wednesday is going to be my new TV night... about the only other thing I've been watching lately is the excellent Bodies (Thursday nights, TV1). Makes all other medical dramas look like Disney.

Best thing since The West Wing... speaking of which, where is the latest series TVNZ????

Motel bar did a great tribute night (ages ago now) called "BroTel" where they served tall-ies of Lion Brown and cocktails like Raro & vodka. Pure class...

This one came through the electronic mail this morning: Judge based on a person's photo whether they are a computer programmer or a serial killer!

http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/killerquiz/

I got 6/10. The spooky thing is that I work with computer programmers, and have acted the role of a killer on Crimewatch. I thought that would have made me a better judge ;-)

On that bent, I got finger-printed yesterday. Not something that happens everyday, so it was kinda interesting. The second hand was a lot easier than the first as you know what to expect. (We got burgled at work, and I was being printed so they can exclude me from any prints they were able to find at the crime scene...)

Friday. Yay. Roll on beer o'clock.

... to link to the "Cheeky tales and sordid stories of the Sister-Sifter...."

Big congrats go to my pals Tubbs & Matt on the opening of their first coffee kiosk at London's Kensington Olympia station. Look out for the 'Sacred Coffee' kiosk, and also a cafe opening up in Carnaby St before too long.

And if you're in London, then post what you thought of the coffee so I can get an idea ;-)

This funny thing about this is that I *thought* it said "Alcohol Helps relieve hangovers" which I thought (at the time) was extremely logical.

OK, just wishing Stephen & crew the best of luck for their Sydney tour this weekend.

I wonder if they will also end up in a gay club at 3am on Sunday/Monday dancing to a Danni Minogue lookalike whilst wondering if anyone actually works in Sydney on a Monday? Probably not... ;-)