Mary Wells | 06/11/2009 8:30 am
A Love Story, by Mary Wells
In response to: What's your kick-back-and-enjoy summer cocktail of choice? And where were you when you last enjoyed it?
Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, I like a very dry gin martini on the rocks with lemon peel before dinner. I didn’t grow up drinking wines at dinner or beer in college. When I got to New York I was the only woman in town who sat at a bar drinking water with advertising clients. I looked around at the ladies in hats with cigarette holders and I studied movies and it seemed to me that martinis were the height of sophistication. I decided to love them. It took me a long time to fall in love, three or four years, and nothing else tempted me.
By the time I could drink a whole martini without consequences I had also learned to like a good glass of wine with dinner. And that is it for me – no matter what the season. I marvel at the amount of beer men can drink, even very fit fellows, and at the vodka cocktails my girlfriends can drink and still dance in those skyscraper heels they are all wearing. I like danger but not liquid danger. Except once in a very long while, with just the right person, on a ravishing Italian night, when I am in the mood to be madly in love, I like a little Grappa. Absinth will do. I like what they do to my conversation, to my style.
Read more about: Absinth, Drinking, Entertainment, Gin, Italy, Love, New York City, Relationships, Society, Style, Wine
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4 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment
I’ve tried to love the martini, really I have, but I just can’t make that leap. My husband adores a Bombay Sapphire martini with two olives, but I’m not much of a drinker and I just can’t find it within myself to like gin.
We were once at a party when a friend told me that I didn’t like martinis because I’d never had "his" martinis. He made a drink for me and I couldn’t drink it. When another friend realized I’d given the drink away he swore that "his" martini would be the one to win me over. Despite my objections, off he went to mix another drink. He returned with a Dirty Martini. Sadly, it was at this point I had to tell him that I despise the taste of olives! Thankfully, they gave up and let me drink my glass of wine!
I’ve only recently discovered a love for wine. I love to try new wines from around the country and around the world. I’m no connoisseur, but I know what I like and it’s something that my husband and I enjoy together!
Oh, and to Judy K, I know what you mean about it making you sleepy, but as my husband loves to tease me, he often reminds me that one drink makes me sleepy, but two or more gets me thinking about "love in the air" every time! :)
Ms. Wells, I really enjoyed your post. You are a fabulous writer and made the scenes come to life in a way that I haven’t experienced in a while.
"I like danger but not liquid danger." What an inspired thought. :)