Septemmber 11, 2009 dinner and remembrance

It's been 8 years since THE 9/11 and it seems a distant memory, but one we remembered and toasted last Friday night. The toast was for peace, which seemed quite appropriately offered by our hostess, Vickie, but in hindsight, the toast was meant to be for getting along, liking and caring about each other, and protecting one another against anything that remotely resembles the events of THAT September 11th, 2001. It was such a horrendous day -- we still cringe as we recall watching the events on TV after barely returning from little brother David's wedding on Cape Cod -- that we choose to forget our sadness and fear and focus on the last eight years of "safety" despite its cost to our freedoms. We hope to keep having these bifurcated thoughts for many years to come.
Vickie and her husband Clint prepared an interesting meal from two very different palates. Vik has become a vegatarian lately, prefering not to eat anything with a parent. Clint is a man after Eva's heart, a true carnivore. So, they served red meat with a vegetarian tart and an organic salad, which was of course followed by deep dark chocolate cake with ice cream!! Everyone raved about it all and devoured every bit.
One highlight of the evening for me was that Clint, a bartender of renowned and talent, remembered that my favorite drink has been for decades a vodka gimlet and had mixed some up. Ah indeed, what a fabulous drink!!!! I recommend vodka gimlets to everyone as the perfect drink -- vodka, Roses' Lime Juice, and shaken cold to be served over ice. Easy and refreshing and delicious and drinkable for an entire evening or lifetime. Then today, Sunday, I was reading the September 14 issue of the New Yorker and what do I find, but a paean to vodka gimlets called "Easy Cocktails from the Cursing Mommy" by Ian Frazier under Shouts and Murmers (for the whole article go to http://www.newyorker.com/). A quick excerpt says "Anyway, as I was saying, making this particular drink , which happens to be a vodka gimlet, is simplicity itself, once you know how. Plus it's so delicious! The tangy tartness of the lime juice combined with the antiseptic astringency of the icy-cold vodka -- wonderful." Check it out and be SURE to have backup bottle of Roses on hand at all times. hehe