July 24: National Tequila Day

Tequila is one of my favorite alcohols. I don't know why. It doesn't taste that good. But I love that warm feeling it gives you as it makes it way to your stomach. It was my go to shot in college.

In honor of today, National Tequila Day, I made dad take a shot of tequila with me. Dad isn't the most experienced with shots. He prefers wine or beer to hard alcohol. I prefer hard alcohol. Always.

First of all, we listened to this song. (To tell the truth, I forgot to play this song until afterwards but let's pretend we listened to this song as we took a shot.)

Jose Cuervo Song

We took a shot of tequila the correct way. Complete with the lime and salt.

In case you don't know the correct way to take a shot of tequila, I will tell you.

Take a slice of lime and rub the lime juice on your hand between your pointer finger and your thumb. Pour some salt on top.

Three Easy Steps To Take A Tequila Shot:

1. Lick the salt and lime juice from your hand.
2. Take the shot.
3. Put the lime slice in your mouth and suck on it.

I think dad was a little nervous.

For some reason, I don't think dad will be taking a shot of tequila again anytime soon...

Meanwhile, let's just all appreciate the beauty that is this bottle of tequila.

Did I buy this bottle of Jose Cuervo just for the bottle?

Yes. Why yes I did.

June 19: National Martini Day

Has anyone ever watched Scrubs? I loved that show, until it switched producers and the last few seasons were awful.

Anyways, I love JD. I thought of JD on this day because he loved apple martinis. Clearly a very manly drink ;)

I don't think I have ever had a martini before. So clearly I wanted a sweet and decadent one. A chocolate martini sounded good to me!

Note: If you go to the liquor store to buy chocolate alcohol, do not be persuaded to buy a cheap bottle of tequila just because the bottle was super cool. Not even if the bottle is gold with a skull design on it and it is labeled "limited edition collector's item." You don't need this bottle of cheap tequila.

Note 2: The above mentioned may or may not have happened to me.

JazzyJ's Chocolate Martini Recipe:

Ingredients:
- chocolate liquor (I used creme de cocoa because it was cheap)
- vodka (plain flavored, unless you want to be adventurous)
- half and half

Directions:
Mix 2 parts chocolate liquor with 1 part vodka and 1 part half and half.

Shake over ice and serve chilled. I decided to be extra fancy (because doesn't a chocolate martini just sound like a really fancy drink?). I dipped the top of my glass into the creme de cocoa and then dipped it in cocoa powder. 

Since this is a martini, you may want it shaken.

But what do you do if you don't have a martini shaker?

Well clearly you improvise and use a protein shake shaker!

It worked well for me.

As you may have noticed, this is actually a margarita glass, not a martini glass. I had to improvise. My dad had to drink his chocolate martini glass out of a wine glass. That's just the way we roll around here.

This may or may not be the alcohol I bought just for the bottle :D It's okay though, I know I'll put the tequila to good use. Can anyone say Hello Margaritas?

June 14: National Bourbon Day

Bourbon and Seven is my mom's favorite drink. This surprises me because she's not really into alcohol.

And I guess the fact that her favorite drink is a Bourbon and Seven surprises me because I find bourbon rather strong and harsh. I would like to think my mom's favorite drink was something delicate and girlie, like a Pina Colada or something. I guess she's tougher than I give her credit for.

 But my mom does put an umbrella in her bourbon, so I guess that makes a little more sense.

Everything is better with an umbrella in it.

Miss Sophie was interested in this bourbon, but don't worry, she didn't try any.

June 4: National Hug Your Cat Day and National Cognac Day

I saw other people posting pictures of themselves hugging their cats today and I got excited! Not that you shouldn't hug your cat everyday - because you should! But then one person posted a picture of them hugging their dog. I guess they didn't get the memo. But that's ok.

Sophie wasn't overly thrilled at being hugged. Or rather, she wasn't thrilled at all. She's not always the most enthusiastic. Meanwhile, I am always enthusiastic.

You should have seen me in Zumba today. I am not a coordinated dancer, this was my first time going to Zumba in a year, so I basically made up my own steps. But what I lack in skill, I always make up for in enthusiasm.

This may be one of my favorite photos ever.

I imagine Sophie is thinking: "What did I ever do to deserve this?"

It's also National Cognac Day. Maybe I should have given Sophie some Cognac before I hugged her?

I looked up drink recipes that included Cognac and any other alcohol I happened to have on hand.

"Who's Your Daddy" required Cognac and Kahlua. Both things I happened to have on hand.

2 parts Cognac and 1 part Kahlua, over ice.

It was a simple recipe.

However, upon taste, I had to add more Kahlua. I was impressed with the name (because it made me laugh) but I wasn't impressed with the drink. Neither was my mom.

I think it's the first time I have ever, not finished a drink.

So I wouldn't recommend a Who's Your Daddy, unless you just want to laugh saying it.

There were a lot of drink recipes that involved mixing Cognac and other alcohols in coffee. I am an avid coffee drinker and routinely enjoy Kahlua in my coffee, so I do believe I would like Cognac in my coffee. However, I was drinking this late at night and didn't want the caffeine that came along with the coffee.

May 28: National Hamburger Day

What's for dinner?
BEEF.

Have you ever heard that advertisement before? It's one of my favorites.

I have several different words (sounds?) that I make if I am either upset or excited or pretty much feeling any emotion.

My most common one is: Meefsk.

I've gotten a whole lot of other people to start saying it also.

There's also Hoofska and Umpfk.

And Beef used to be included too. But then I realized that "Beef" is totally unoriginal because it's actually a word. So I stopped saying it.

But I have a feeling, that one day, Meefsk is going to be in the dictionary.

Just watch and see.

Anyways, National Hamburger Day.

I just happened to go out to eat to celebrate my brother's birthday early, and I knew I should get a hamburger.

Now, I like my burgers pretty plain. Meat and bun. No cheese. Sometimes avocado and bacon. And sometimes a sauce.

This one here came with some very good and crunchy fries. I love fries/most potatoes in general.

I also had this very fancy cocktail. It had a whole bunch of stuff in it. Lavender flavored vanilla syrup and huckleberry vodka. It did not disappoint.

May 25: National Wine Day

This day is dedicated to my Dad, Rod. (Not Rob or Ron or Rog). R - O - D. His name gets confused very often. He introduces himself, emphasizing the D on Rod, and the person will say, "Ron, nice to meet you." I was at a scholarship event once and they had pre-printed name tags. I had emailed my parent's names ahead of time. They still got my Dad's name wrong. We knew several people there and my dad was so embarrassed.

Anyways, my dad is a lover of wine. You seriously have no idea. He lives for wine. I should probably count the number of bottles he owns. Note: This is making him sound like an alcoholic. My dad is NOT an alcoholic, he just has fine taste in wine and enjoys collecting (and drinking) it. He is a responsible drinker.

So I celebrated by having some Moscato.

This is not my dad. (He's not that old.) This is my Grandpa. We are on top of the Switzerland Alps having a drink of wine. (It might have been champagne but it's close enough.)

So happy National Wine Day, this day is for you daddy!

I couldn't actually find a picture of my dad and I drinking wine. Strange.

May 24: National Scavenger Hunt Day

So the question was, what was I going to go on a scavenger hunt for?

The answer: Wine!! (Because tomorrow is National Wine Day)

Not just any type of wine, but my second favorite, Moscato. (My first favorite is Prosecco, but that can be a little expensive.)

I am often overwhelmed by the alcohol choices. I'm sure people don't think I'm old enough to be shopping for alcohol (I look young) and because I probably look awkward in the alcohol aisle.

Sorry this photo is blurry, I didn't want someone to see me taking a picture and think I am awkward.

And there was a whole other aisle. This is a small town grocery store we are talking about.

Do you see that brown thing at the bottom of the photo? Yes, that is my bread sticking out of the grocery cart. In my picture taking haste, I apparently wasn't focused on quality.

And remember, I live in Oregon, so hard alcohol is not sold in grocery stores. This is ALL wine.

Now you understand why I had to go on a scavenger hunt to find my Moscato.

And here it is, sweet sweet Moscato!

March 5: National Cheese Doodle Day and Absinthe Day

What is a cheese doodle? Clearly, it is a piece of cheese that has been turned into a doodle!

Actually, it is a cheese chip like thing. Kind of like a Cheeto? I think. Anyways, they didn't look very good to me. I like mine better. It should be noted that this is the last piece of cheese in my house and apparentally my dad needs it to put on his sandwich tomorrow?

 Dad - I handled the cheese with a fork so it should still be clean.

While I love cheese, and even own a box of cards that feature specialty cheese facts, I sadly can't eat it because I'm allergic. I do however immensely enjoy goat cheese, which is ALMOST as good as regular cheese.

Are you wondering why I own a pack of cards that feature specialty cheese facts? Let me explain. I bought them probably about six years ago. I was thrilled because I thought it was a deck of playing cards that featured cheese. Except it wasn't. Oh, how very wrong was I. Why would someone ever want to own a box of cheese facts? Is it something you would leave on a coffee table hoping to spark a conversation with some guests?

This is them!

Here are some of the cards. They cover probably any question you could ever ask about cheese. There's 48 of them! If you are ever on Jeopardy, and a cheese question comes up, you should use your "phone a friend" option and call me. Not that I spend my free time reading these though.


It is also National Absinthe Day. Conveniently, my brother happens to be into drinking absinthe so he had all the fancy absinthe stuff.

This is the absinthe stuff! My brother has all the fancy stuff.

And this is some absinthe.

Pouring some into an absinthe cup.

Ready to drink!

Preparing the absinthe to drink was quite a process. I still don't understand it. However, all I know is that I do NOT like absinthe. It had a weird licorice taste and I hated it. Needless to say, I will stick to pina coladas and margaritas!

February 18: National Drink Wine Day

Funny story, luckily I checked to see what National Day it was before I posted this blog post. I thought it was National Love Your Pet Day, but it turns out, that isn't until February 20. I gave my cat lots of attention and took all these photos of her.

Turns out, it's National Drink Wine Day. So here it is, almost 11 at night, and I rush down stairs and yell "Quick, I need to drink some wine." Luckily, there was an open bottle and I was able to drink some which reminded me of a funny story. Almost two years ago I was on my way back from Europe. On the plane, they had given me a free mini bottle of wine, but I hadn't gotten around to drinking it yet. Back in the United States, we had to go through security again, and my mini bottle of wine was over the allotted ounces! Good thing I suddenly remembered! I went into the corner, drank that mini bottle of wine, and then I went through security. Good thinking, JazzyJ, good thinking.

Anyways, here's a picture of the wine I drank.

Good thing is, I now have plenty of photos to share of my cat in a few days. Check back February 20 to learn why my kitty is sometimes called "Clearance Kitty."