Martini Party, 2005

Every year, Cathie throws a swinging Martini Party at her place. Gin and vodka abound, as do olives and onions, sliced fruit, buckets of ice, an army of shakers, and an assortment of martini recipes… all framed and stationed at various points in the kitchen.

Up until today, the past few times I was here… I didn’t end up breaking out the camera. I didn’t know a ton of folks, and was a bit hesitant about just walking around and taking pictures of relative strangers. This year, however, I dug into the sauce a bit more. :)

Andy, who some of you may recall was Internet-stalking me some weeks back. He had started to go through some of the older entries on here, and apparently couldn’t stop reading. I haven’t been able to yet, but one of these days at work… I’m gonna get a photo of him reading my blog (while he’s not looking).

This is Aditra, Andy’s girlfriend. When I found out she was here, I immediately asked for her picture. A while back, I had found out from Andy that Aditra did a lot of acting when she was younger. Her claim to fame? She was the Blackmer girl from The Untouchables, the little girl who runs out of the bar after Frank Nitti and says “Hey mister! You forgot your bag!” Right before she blows up.

As it turns out, Aditra is also quite fond of Texas Holdem. One of these days, we’re going to have to get a game together where the wives and girlfriends also play. Although… from what I hear, they may end up wiping the table with us louts.

Chris, chatting with Sherman.

Phil, Charity and me. I was showing off my camera a bit, and took this photo to demonstrate the advantages of the reverse display screen… allowing me to take this shot.

For some reason, doing shots of Ouzo becomes a thing. I think Cathie’s dad was drinking this tonight, in a glass with some ice. I had never heard of it before, and when I smelled it… I had an immediate, negative reaction.

A coupla things here, at this point. First – I never learned how to do shots. I know you’re supposed to just sort of open up and throw down the thing, but I just never quite figured it out. I just sort of drink it really fast. Second – this Ouzo stuff tastes like medicine I used to have to take as a kid. So maybe it’s not all that bad… but the memory it triggers is not a pleasant one.

I’m not even sure what in the hell it was that I took. But the smell is definitely the same. This medicine came in a bottle, with a dropper built in to the screw-top. I tried a few times to just drink it straight, but it tasted so awful that I remember my parents having to resort to soaking small pieces of bread with it – just so I could get it down. To me, that’s what Ouzo smells like: this greenish, brackish medicine that I had to choke down as a kid. Blegh!

Since I was doing a shot with Andy and Justin, I ended up giving the camera to Aditra, so she could film. She, after all, has the most movie experience out of anyone in the room.