The day after I arrived, the rain rolled in. What if it had stored up all the memories of my father’s physical decline, my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s Disease, the weeks I sat with my grandfather while he died? And that wasn’t an accident. I just don't think vermouth and vodka play well together (whereas gin and vermouth is a wonderful combo). I am going to say some things now that will probably sound awful, but I have to admit to them because they’re true. I sighed. 10 Comments, Change/Grief/Healing/Pacific Northwest/The Beach, Change/Extra Dry Martini/grief/Healing/Life Lessons/Mom/Motherland/Pacific Northwest/Sarah Kelly/Sea Glass. By The Straight Up, December 28, 2012. And this morning, I needed to see that sunrise valiantly break through those clouds. Do it, Sar, I thought. And yet, it is. According to the San Jose Mercury News, in 1983, the San Francisco Court of Historical Review — a group with no actual legal authority — held a mock trial over the origin of the martini, determining that their city was the cocktail’s rightful birthplace. But other times, they don’t. That two years ago, I came here alone, with no plan, and I made friends and told stories and fell in love. On another day, I might have said, “It’s OK.” If I was less exhausted, less hungry, and if I hadn’t been standing in the hot sun, I might have chosen to take the high road. “Two or three times a day, I think. Driving through the hills above L.A., top down, wind in my hair, I suddenly remembered what it was like to hold dreams so tightly they made your heart swell. “Up” means that your drink will be offered to you in a tall, chilled martini glass. Three olives, please. “What we call the beginning is often the end. For example, if you order a whiskey straight up you would get a glass of whiskey without anything added to it. It might be something larger, like the loss of your job or your income. I had a clean bill of health. “On the rocks” means it will be served in a tumbler over ice. In this season, time has been hard to track. I haven’t written or published anything new on this blog in over three months, a fact which has made me feel more guilty with each passing day. Because over the last three weeks, I was reminded that I can still sit under the night sky and confess my secrets to the inlet. There was nowhere safe to run to. After my cyst was diagnosed, I avoided the internet. Then we headed for Laurel Canyon. For the olive garnish, skewer either one or three olives on a cocktail pick or simply drop them in the glass. Just thinking of you and Bob sharing this martini makes me smile. Dad was dying, and Grandma was losing her mind, and Grandpa was wheelchair-bound and depressed, and you just checked out. Los Angeles felt the same, and that sameness was comforting. Sanford and Son (1972) - S01E02 Happy Birthday, Pop. Waves of hot, heavy cramps traveled across my abdomen. Because if my mother is anywhere, she’s there, in the water that raised her. Or at least, part of me was. I slowly lowered my head back onto my pillow. Campus was effectively shutting down, effective immediately. For most occasions and people, I have found that a 2:1 ratio of gin to vermouth works well. In the meantime, I’m enjoying the hell out of my remaining time in New York. It has taken me seven years to be able to say this, but here it is: I forgive you, Mom. 12 months ago I barely slept that night. My family home, or at least it used to be, before I watched you unravel within its walls. Stay in touch. Very dry, please. My landlord’s son – who lived next door and who was supposed to let me in – had stopped answering my texts. But seven is an impossible number for another reason. This explains why it’s so hard to nail down the difference between a Martinez and a martini, let alone where it was invented. And here’s something I’ve learned from the other times I’ve jumped off the proverbial cliff: change is scary, but it’s also necessary. Created by a bartender named Martini, who first made the drink for John D. Rockefeller. I would go on to become a better, braver, more compassionate person in your absence, and that better, braver, more compassionate person is someone you will never get to meet. Garnish with the lemon twist. I was thirty-one, living a sun-soaked existence in Los Angeles, doing exactly as I pleased. 1 year ago Any man who embodies such straight forward speech would most definitely demand his cocktail straight up. Until the endometrioma – a benign mass filled with blood – was cut from my body. Two years that have reminded me of just how much I still have to learn. Confusion and mild hysteria. It was Thursday, March 12th. Martini By The Straight Up, December 28, 2012. You can’t go back to the way you were, and you find you don’t want to. It’s no secret that I may not be calling you home for much longer. Academic buildings, libraries, gyms, dining facilities, and most residence halls would be closed. I was the one who had decided that hope was too expensive, that happiness was too elusive. I gave my Lyft driver the gate code, he punched it in, and heavy iron doors swung open to let us inside. Or I was a terrible daughter. Ingredients: 2oz Gin. If it's a martini, it's made with a great herbal gin. My week in L.A. culminated with an unplanned trip to Universal Studios. Depending on the Vermouth, it can make the martini “dry” (more bitter) or “sweet” (sugary). Seven years since all the color bled from the world and the sky turned black and nothing would ever look the same again. But as we drove home that night in L.A., I realized something: the place wasn’t the problem. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. And I thought about the morning two months earlier, long after both of them were gone, when I sat with my boyfriend in Central Park and cried, because I had just seen my doctor and signed a whole host of pre-surgery consent forms and was afraid I might die. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. My apartment and its five neighboring units were classified as live-work spaces: airy, high-ceilinged, industrial lofts with unassuming eggshell façades and a stripe of steel blue across their midsections. But is it? Basic HTML is allowed. “I can’t believe I’ve been here a week already,” I lamented. San Francisco also claims to have originated the Martini. I’m grateful he got to plan his own funeral, and that I was able to carry his ashes down the aisle of the church, and sit in the front row with Deirdre and Dave and Matt and pretend to be the good Catholic girl he wanted me to be. Additional tests, on cells they took from inside my body, also showed no signs of cancer. Distilling includes the whey and natural spring water and the resulting vodka has lemon and sugary undertones which balance nicely with a cocktail featuring a lemon twist. Time to reconnect with the place that raised me. The months of April and May found me clawing my way through my second quarter of graduate school. But on the other hand, I think it’s probably best I didn’t have time to get “ready” for this, or to think about all the things I’d be giving up to become a full-time student. Dolin Blanc) to keep the color clear but sweeten the drink, making it more accessible to some. My friend Bob and I were sitting around the other day and I was wondering what cocktail to make for Friday Cocktails when he suggested I make his favorite, this Vodka Martini with a Twist. I miss Los Angeles, but I have no regrets about leaving it. I wish it hadn’t been such a mad, crazy scramble to get out of New York and that I’d had more time to say goodbye to the people and places of that city. I’m grateful for the knowledge I learned earlier than most: that love is complicated and people are too, and most of us aren’t working with a full tool kit when it comes to matters of the heart. Just a layer of morning fog that burned off surprisingly quickly, causing me to strip off my jacket and settle into my seat, enjoying the sea spray and the sun on my face as we zipped along the inland waterways of Puget Sound toward Boston Harbor. But I like olives too. A 1:1 ratio of gin to vermouth is called a 50/50 Martini. Combine with some caviar or Pâté and up your game. A quick google search led me to a chart comparing tumors to pieces of fruit. As we wound up the mountain and I watched the city lights spreading out like a blanket of stars below us, a feeling I’d almost forgotten sparked within me: hope.