Munchie Mondays: A Hot Cindy Toddy

As you may or may not know, I'm recovering from the flu or maybe it's bronchitis...I'm not sure which. I'm also not sure if this is merely a continuation of the sore throat I had back in January. Point is, I've been sick for ages.

Lately the issue has been waking up in the middle of the night with this super dry, uber ticklish, annoying as hell cough that just kicks you in the gut. Cough hack-hack-hack-hack-hack....I have not gotten enough sleep. I *could* take some Nyquil or some other over the counter medicine, but why bother when there's an age old Scottish solution right in the pantry? If you think about it, this is not too much different from what you'd get at the drug store.

A "Toddy" is technically any sort of hot drink, but here in the States it usually refers to a hot alcoholic beverage that involves whiskey or brandy and some kind type of sweetener plus spice. This is my version.

A Hot Cindy Toddy

2 shots of whiskey (I've got an affection for Bulliet bourbon these days, but I think good ole Jack Daniels would do fine)
juice of half a lemon
1 tbs of honey
some boiling water to top the tumbler
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of ground cardamom

Mix the lemon juice with the honey. Add alcohol. Pour boiling water on top and mix until honey is melted. Serve with spices on top (some people do this with cinnamon sticks are stirrers)

Ta da! Instant cough medicine that'll knock you out in a jiffy so you can get rest. It warms you up. Cleans out the air ways and makes you forget you're sick.

I do not recommend doing this every night when you're ill! By all means, orange juice and plenty of fluids is the way to go. However, if you're at the stage where you're pretty much recovered except for that annoying wheezing gut wrenching night time cough that come out of nowhere, consider imbibing in some good spirits.

divine dinner

Ooh yum.

I'm relaxing right now with a glass of Birthday Riesling #2 (this one is slightly drier that the first one) and a plate of broken pieces dark chocolate, blue cheese crumbles, dried tart cherries, freshly shelled pecans and a sliced up Farmer's Market organic Braeburn apple.

I'm in heaven noshing on all of this. Unfortunately the bottom half of me ain't feeling as divine.

I'm soaking my feet in a tub of ice water right now and it's so cold my calves have cramped up. Ballet class was a bit rough for me today and my summer injury to my left foot has caused me constantly to strain the muscles in the arch and ball area leading to chronic inflammation. Not fun. However, seeing the kittens try to drink from the bucket is funny (as gross as it is).

in laws and coping

I just drank a whole bottle of Riesling in a 15 minute time span. German Riesling, mind you. My inlaws would approve, but I guzzled it down because they're driving me bonkers. They're driving T bonkers too.

I just made hot sauce with 3 habenero peppers, 2 roasted chipotle peppers, 2 serrano peppers and other hot sauce related stuff. Bill, my FIL, likes really hot sauce. He told me if I were to cook for him, I need to make the hottest sauce possible. I know I made it hot because his face turned red when he tasted it and he was sweating bullets but his comment to me was "Oh. It's okay. I can sort of feel the burn." He hasn't eaten any more. My poor husband and step-mother-in-law are drinking lots of water because they thought his comment meant that it wasn't really *that* hot.

I know how to make really hot sauce.

Anyhow, I insisted that I made the batch just for him. Bill pushed the bowl towards me and went "Well, why don't you have some since you think it's that good?"

To spite him I took a huge scoop with my chip and chomped on it in front of him. I think the raised eye brows indicated that he was impressed. I think my hubby is mortified. I'm disappointed in myself for feeling the need to one-up Bill, but oh well.

The fortunate thing is that I can take heat well and if you don't let the substance near the tip of your tongue you're okay. But, here I am typing away, hiding in a sense with a rumbling tummy from consuming a sauce made out of pure hot peppers. My way of calming all of this down is by guzzling tons of this supposedly "super dry" Riesling that Jay got me for my Bday. "Cause you're a sour puss. It's as dry as you are..."

The Riesling is super sweet, BTW.

It's actually really good with a multidimensional bouquet and smooth fruity flavor. A touch of muscat and pineapple I detect...I ain't sharing more than I already have (Anna and Bill each got a sip.) Anyway, either Jay messed up when he purchased it or he really meant to say I was fruit baket. Maybe he thinks I'm sweet.

Or, in my quasi tipsy state, I'm just over analyzing things. Oh well, I don't care. The magic German Riesling takes heat away immediately. If Bill wants a competition with hot sauce, bring in on Babe!

Oy. I'm a mess. Gotta go finish preparing dinner...

The party of all parties: intemperance and turning 30

I should probably start by saying my actual birthday is July 6th, so I'm technically still 29. But, I did party like it was the very end of my 20's on Saturday.



First off: I love my friends. I really do. I love what they do for me. I love what they put up with and I love the fact that I can easily love them back. My best friend Shawn drove 650 miles over 10 hrs from Kansas to be here for my party and drove back the next day so he could teach his next class. Dearest Monica and her hubby Blake put in countless hours to help me with food preparation. My husband calmly sat through with my wailing when the cake people misspelled my name all while my wonderful brother was chewing them out over the phone.


Sammi, Shawn and I (aka the Adzuki Bean Stash writers)




Don't mess with the King of the grill!


Monnie helping with pics.


With darling Hubby.

Those tokens of friendship and caring manifested itself in subtler ways all night too and not just with actual gift (although I received many amazing gifts): Troy pulling back my hair for me while I strapped on Dimitri's accordion. Sammi giving me an honest-to-god kiss for celebration's sake and singing in front of everyone with her big hearty voice. Kate hooking a necklace clasp for me so I could try on the new gift Marilyn game me. All those friends who lugged their instruments and gear only to get trapped into an accidental 45 minute homage to "Another One Bites the Dust" (or "Another one Rides the Bus" depending on where you swing). All those friends who took the time to make me something. All those friends who laughed with me no matter how stupid the situation was. All those earnest hugs, pecks and spontaneous inside jokes...yes, I definitely felt loved.






Dimitri and Cindy, accordion playing crime fighting duo.








With my baby cousin Eric


With Ritch


With Sarah


With Kate


With Mark


With Jay...aww he's blushing. Or maybe he drank too much bourbon.


With Roger and Summer

I think about my work friends, the parents with their beautiful babies, the vast number of my musician buddies with their sacrosanct weekend schedules, the over 50 crowd and the under 25-ers, people I've known for more than a decade and those I've only known for months. I think of them along with the wild party queens, the restrained goths and my super-shy introverted companions all joining together despite the disparate social circles to help create the memory of my celebration. With that, I feel so appreciated.

Matt and Lane


With Brent


With Vickie, Quinlan and Kyung (the awesome boss I speak of frequently)


With Marilyn and Eddie.


The dashing Dan, me and Sandy with the needle point gift from her and Beth.


With Beth (who I often feel is my mom away from home)


With Claudia


With Bradley


Kyung and Quinlain


With Juliet


Ross and Juliet


With Bobby and Elizabeth


Sophia serenading us.


Phil and Angie.


With Troy and Alice.

The second, and somewhat less sophisticated musing I take from all of this is that I am never getting drunk again. Ever.

If you recall, I've never been drunk before. I usually just get tired and fall asleep consequently bypassing the stupid tipsy dumb-blonde phase. This time around, however, I succeeded in getting piss-ass drunk, trashed and as a result, puking my guts up the next morning. Why would any college student want to do this on a regular basis is beyond me.

Alcohol is evil, I say! Behold the beautiful, poised, graceful me oozing with temperance prior to consumption:


After about 5 mix drinks, a couple of beers, champagne, wine and Jay's bourbon, I was reduced to this pile of babbling shit, cute shit mind you, but still babbling and I don't really know what the fuck I was talking about:

You can just see it in Jay's eyes as he pleads with my husband:
"Awkward...please get your inebriated wife off of my [manly] lap so I can finish my drink."

Again. Sober and beautiful:


Versus plastered and pathetic:


Let this be a lesson to you kiddos. Don't get drunk if ya wanna look hot all night. It just doesn't work. Besides, large amounts of alcohol leads you to do things like...

Play your harp with a goofy grin:


Think a cat book is the funnist damn thing in the world:


Contemplate why:


Continually jam to "Another One Bites the Dust" even though it isn't that great of a song:


Howl at the moon:


Forget which bearded man is your husband:


Flash your naughty bits:


Dance like there's no tomorrow:


Start ranting about the evils of the recording industry...oh wait you can do that sober:


Attempt to drink and smoke while on a swingset:


Stare off into space:


Take really bad photos:


On a different note, I should point out that Etouffee's kittens were a hit. We had groups of people come up to visit her in the master bathroom closet where she decided to set up camp.






As for food, well, I over prepared, as expected. And of course, the bulk of my friends are food people as well, so they brought stuff. I can't even begin to go into all the wastage and my heart feels for those starving kids in China right about now. However, a good portion, such as the BBQ was salvageable.



We did manage to drink all the alcohol though.

This is just a small sampling of pics taken that day. We took over 300 and then I uploaded around 180 onto Flickr. I think they capture the night really well and there are more pics of jam sessions, party goers, food details etc. I wish I took a photo with Monica, but we were both so busy making sure the party was going smoothly that we actually didn't cross paths.

Visit:
Cindy Adzuki's 30th Birthday Photo Album (Static Version)
Cindy Adzuki's 30th Birthday Photo Album (Slideshow Version)

To all my friends and family who came out to make this day special to me, I love you dearly. Thanks so much.