Cocktails make liquor fun.

After a few shots on a hot day, you get a little tired of just slugging back straight booze. You need something calmer, more meditative. Cocktails. Tasked with mixing some mixers with some party fixers, I improvised with cranberry juice, Kiwi Strawberry Snapple and Skyy vodka. Everything tastes better chilled down and shaken up. The trick is to keep it simple and just go with flavors that you know mix well. Vodka+citrus=good times. Fresh is key too. After mixing it all and pouring the drinks into iced martini glasses, my friends and I thought they tasted OK, but a little flat and a little too sweet because of the Snapple. I said I’d love some fresh lime juice to really give the flavors some “pop,” and they said, we have a lime you pretentious schmuck. I sliced the lime up into wedges and gave each drink a spritz and then rubbed the rim with the lime slice. The result was just fantastic, the acid killed much of that clingy sweet taste and gave the flavor profile a whole new dimension.

Many people get caught up in cocktail recipes and making the “perfect” martini or margarita or whatever. I say, just get a few good ingredients a booze you really like and experiment. Keep the experiments to two shots maximum and you should always come up with a drink that will be new and easy to enjoy. If one of your guests don’t like, you can always add more mixer or just pour them a shot.

So this week, it’s three parts cranberry, one part Kiwi Strawberry Snapple and 1.5 parts vodka.

One of my favorite places in Napa Valley is the Calistoga Inn. Located in downtown Calistoga, the inn is a rambling old hotel with a gorgeous patio situated alongside a creek. I recently went there with my friends John and Heather and we all had a great time.  I had a roasted turkey sandwich with brie cheese and an olive tapinade. Heather found the tapinade a little overpowering, but as I’m a huge fan for olives I loved it.
The inn has a bar and a brewery and the beer is really some of the best in Napa Valley. We enjoyed pints of the delicious pilsner that had a nice light body, perfect carbonation and flavored with soft, flowery German hops. I tried a wheat too but found it a little on the malty side.

The Calistoga Inn, one of the best spots in north Napa Valley.

Next to the outside dining area, the inn has another garden area with picnic tables and a horseshoe pit. Unfortunately for us, it was a little too hot for throwing horseshoes. After lunch we ambled over to Susies, a locals “dive” bar on the main drag in Calistoga. Weekend nights can be rowdy, but we found a mellow crowd of older gents and a chatty bartender. We ordered up some beers, and I got a shot of chilled vodka that was just perfect on a warm day.
Refreshed we got back in the car and drove back to Napa for some cocktails and dominos.

Too hot for horeshoes during our visit.

Chilled Coronas and a dark bar, what better way is there to spend a beautiful day?

Domino castles are as sturdy as a house of cards. But they do look cooler.

Around 6:30 on Sunday evening, I was drinking a Coors and watching the Giants battle into extra innings with the hated LA Dodgers. I was making tacos and had some flank steak marinating in the fridge and was about to apply my spice rub to some chicken. The only concern I had was if I should have another Coors or make a margarita. Christine, however, was a little worried about our lab CoCo. He had a big fat bloated stomach and was just laying about the house not doing much. I figured he had just eaten something weird (he’s prone to cat feces, dead animals, sticks, etc …). Worried, Christine checked the Internet and soon found that “bloat” is the second leading cause of death in dogs, and that a bloated stomach can indicate the serious condition of a “flipped stomach.” After she read the symptoms, I started to get a little worried myself and we ultimately decided to rush down to the emergency vet clinic on Hammer Lane in Stockton. A half hour and $250 later, we had learned the CoCo had just gorged himself on food. And sure enough, when we got back home and checked the container in which we keep his food, there was a cone like depression in his kibble where he had carved himself out a feast. CoCo’s little repast gained him 10 pounds (bringng him to a hefty 95 pounds) so he’s on a diet of just his two meals and no little treats, or as I tell him, “no snackies for fatties.” Words that I could take to heart myself.

In today’s newspaper, I had a story about how car salesmen in Lodi are persevering despite bleak sales. During my interviews I drew on the struggles of the newspaper industry to establish a common ground between myself and the sales guys. After reflecting on it, I realized there were quite a few connections between the two industries at the moment. Auto lots have long depended on newspapers to promote their products and newspapers have always enjoyed the large ads purchased by auto dealers.  Journalists are often criticized for being pushy, manipulative and aggressive; traits that have also been applied to car salesmen. Now both industries are suffering as consumers either change their habits or seek different companies to supply their needs. I take confidence in the fact that people need information as much as they need transportation.

This will be a blog about living life the good way, with no worries, no stress and just enjoying the very best of everything. Please come back soon for updates.

At the top of a run at Kirkwood, looking for the best place for a break and a glass of Chardonnay.