Office Party

The annual departmental Christmas party was Saturday night, and a very good time was had by all - in no small part because Southern Man was in charge of the bar. Longtime readers may recall that Southern Man's ex was working part-time as a bartender during the last nine months of their marriage (which contributed in no small way to the ultimate demise of that marriage) and she was pretty damn good at it. Well, Southern Man managed to pick up a few tips from watching the master (not to mention from drinking her fabulous 'ritas) and fashioned his very first mixed-drink effort as follows:

Blend the following:

• 2 cups sweet and sour mix
• 1 1/2 cups Cuervo 1800
• 1 cup Triple Sec
• 1/3 cup Grand Marnier

Wet the rims of the glasses with lime juice and press into coarse salt. Fill the glasses with crushed ice and beverage. Garnish with a quarter-slice of lime and serve.

The recipe says "serves eight" but when Southern Man's 24-ounce goblets are used it's more like three. We'll call them margaritas magnificos del hombre meridional - Southern Man's magnificent margaritas. He should have called them "twelve dollar 'ritas" since that's about what they cost him to make. His very first one went to the former dean of his college, and when she saw it her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. Suffice it to say that with the addition of several bottles of wine and a bottle of rum by the eggnogg the party became quite merry. Southern Man is already booked to run the bar at the next one.

We ate and drank (I think this was already mentioned) and played "Dirty Santa" (Southern Man not only sucessfully avoided the infamous Flying Pig that always appears at these parties, but made out with a nice art set that will end up in his baby daughter's stocking) and re-arranged the host's furniture and played cards well into the night. It was a good party. And given the deleterious effects of just one margarita magnifico, Southern Man stayed late (after everyone else left, he and his good friend, the host, chatted and watched a big chunk of The Two Towers together) to ensure that his drive home was un-impaired by his magnificent creation. However, tonight's blogging (four, count 'em, four updates) was fueled by a half-goblet version of the same - the very first alcholic beverage (other than beer) that he's had at home. Like Adam tasting the fruit of the forbidden Tree of Life, Southern Man's newfound knowledge may be...dangerous in the long run.

And after the hour-long drive home (the party was fairly far afield from casa Southern Man) he ended up driving a friend to yet another distant city to pick up her daughter. But even though Southern Man didn't get home until the wee hours (and then had to build a fire in his freezing duplex) he still made it to church on time the next day.

Next week is finals week at Southern Man's university employer, followed by the always frantic week-before-Christmas, followed by (praise the Lord) an entire week off, then as January begins my first week of actual work as a tax preparer for H&R Block, and finally the starting bell for the Spring semester. It should be quite a month.