Vers l'absurde

Mary had a drunk little lamb.

You ever have one of those nights where no matter how much you drink, you just can't get drunk?

I do (obviously). I don't know whether that's a testament to the fact that I had a decent meal beforehand, or whether my liver, it is like a superorgan now when it comes to processing alcohol. Or maybe my blood is just so used to coexisting with alcohol that the rest of my body doesn't really react anymore.

No worries, I'm nowhere near cirrhosis. It takes LONG years of CONCENTRATED effort to get cirrhosis. This, I know. Thanks, med school! You were useful in reassuring me that I'm not going to have an alcoholic liver anytime soon!


The night started off with Meyer lemon martinis. Tasty tasty!


Then we moved onto sake, brought by ScarlettAce, who is, in fact, still alive, even though she doesn't post on her site anymore after I went to all that effort making a new pretty one for her. Ungrateful wench! Nag her into writing again!


Oh yeah, there was food in there somewhere too. Can you believe it's been nearly a month since I've had people over for dinner! Stupid school, getting in the way of all my fun! Those professors are just so inconsiderate, scheduling papers and the like. Hrmph. Anyhoo, a braised lamb shank ragú was made (since it took approximately three hours to make, my apartment was filled with nice meat smells. Yummy!), served over penne pasta. I wish I'd remembered to take a picture of the dish all plated, but I didn't, so you'll just have to imagine the ragú spooned over pasta with some grana padano atop. And Jen brought a terrific salad with mandarin oranges and feta, and it's been so long since I've had greens that I felt so healthy just looking at it.

Then as we were getting ready - okay, correction. As I was getting ready, since I have a penchant to remain in my sweats when friends come over for a dinner party, not changing into going out clothes until I absolutely have to, I had a glass of wine since the three of us had polished off the sake.


Oh! I forgot to mention! There was a Meyer lemon pound cake in there too. Mmm. I love that Meyer lemons are in season now, they smell so good and are so tasty.

Then we went out, where we met icky people. But I will write more about that here, because it's been entirely too long since I've posted there and that was the reason for creating a whole new site, was that I could talk about bars not here so I can maintain some semblance of sobriety. And, in case you're keeping tabs on my drinking, I had a vodka-tonic and a dirty martini at The Bar.

And I was stone cold sober. Dammit! I am an expensive drunk! I don't even get drunk anymore, sometimes!


But nonetheless, we stopped off at McDonalds and got happy meals, which are currently featuring toys from The Chronicles of Narnia. I love happy meals. They do, in fact, make me happy. I think it has something to do with the toy. And the chicken mcnuggets and french fries.

Anyways, even though it was rather disconcerting that I wasn't drunk Friday night, I can tell you with great confidence that I am not an alcoholic. How do I know that, you ask? Am I perhaps being biased in my self-evaluation? Au contraire! You see, the only other thing I remember with any sort of assuredness from medical school are the 4 screening questions for alcoholism and I will share them with you now.

Do you feel that you have to cut down on your drinking?
Do you get annoyed when people criticize your drinking?
Do you feel guilty when you drink?
Do you need an eye-opener in the morning?

These are known as the CAGE questions (you can figure out why - hint! Look at the bold words!). If you answer yes to two of the questions, there is a strong indication for alcoholism, and if you answer yes to three, congrats! You are an alcoholic!

It is always reassuring to know that one is not an alcoholic, since I can only answer yes to one of those questions (I'll let you guess which one).

So, in summary: dinner parties are fun, obnoxious people in bars need to go away, and I'm not an alcoholic!