...Forty years ago today, Walter Chell, bartender at the Owl's Nest Bar in the Calgary Inn (now Calgary Westin Hotel) in Calgary, Alberta invented the most holy of holy Canadian cocktails...
The Bloody Caesar
I implore you to celebrate this day in the only imaginable way possible...
- 6 oz. Mott's Clamato Juice - 1½ oz. Vodka (treat yourself... go for 2 oz.) - 2+ Dashes Tabasco Sauce - 2+ Dashes Worcestershire Sauce - Celery salt (or Caesar Rim) - Freshly Ground Pepper - Lime/Lemon wedge - 1 Crisp Celery Stalk
Rim highball glass first with the lemon slice and then the celery salt or rimmer. Fill this glass with ice. Add vodka and juice to ice, and season with pepper, Worcestershire Sauce, and Tabasco. Stir, and then garnish with a celery stick.
...cause I was totally spoiled, for this my 40th 39th(+) birthday.
Aside from the 50 + wonderful messages received from friends near and far on Crackbook, some lovely tributes from Santiago, Mitz and N@ and Ma on their respective blogs, and calls from Halifax, Palm Springs, Paris and Aix-en-Provence; I also spent a wonderful weekend with friends, lovers and furry puppiness.
Saturday evening we had friends over for drinks and nibbles. Then off to a local resto here in the gaybourhood: Piccolo Diavolo, then back for more drinks and laughs and... awwwwww yea... a honkin' huge Ice Cream Cake from Ben&Jerry's with Cherry-Garcia (YUM!)
Today was a fabulously casual morning, and by 'casual' I mean 'zonked out on the sofa with Santiago', waking at something between 9 and 10... give or take Daylight Savings... Off to a lovely brunch over at Saloon and a wonderful walk to downtown... and YES, I'll be the first to say it was nice to be able to walk outside with no hat, scarf or gloves or clunky winter boots (although deep down, I was secretly longing for a repeat of the weather last year and the 42 cms of snow we got!)
As for the absolutely sickening amount of fabulous gifts I received...
I received music by:
The Italian Whore... a.k.a. the First Lady of France... Carla Bruni.
Québecois chanteur Danial Bélanger (this WAS the most flattering pic I could locate).
A 2 CD and DVD set from Swedish Electronic Duo "The Knife".
I also received a gift certificate to Priape with which I might purchase this shirt...
As well, I received 5 pieces of Manhattan Glass. (I do live me some depression glass.)
A yummy bottle of Chambord Liqueur.
A bottle of Coteaux du Languedoc, Clos de Fontedit 2004 (not the 2002 as pictured)
A brand-spankin' new digital camera to replace the clunker I have now that was taking on average 20 seconds to churn out a photo... and it has stability control... cause you know when you get old you get the shakes!
And the holy Grail of them all (cue heavenly choirs) a shiny new 8gig iTouch...
In my head I've be singing the diVinyls "I Touch Myself" all day...
I am indeed blessed with the love of family and friends and the absolutely over-the-top love of my main squeeze Mr. D. himself...
Thanks again to all who made this weekend one for the history books. Especial Didier. oxox