Thursday, July 13, 2017

Docs and Drinks...



Over the years, we have grown (older and) less and less willing to venture north to the Nation’s Capital despite the fact that it isn’t that far, and a very good friend lives there.  Like international travel, the process of getting there now overcomes the benefit of being there.  Yes, there are wonderful restaurants, museums, shops, galleries, and so forth, in DC, but there is also traffic, rude (IMHO) drivers, one way streets (always the other way than the way you want to go), zero parking places, etc., etc..   But sometimes you have no choice like last Monday when we visited MedStar (I have to say that) Georgetown Hospital.  A local doctor thought it might be wise to take a closer look at MFO’s upper GI tract and further that she (the Doc) thought it best to do it at GT rather than here.

So, armed with maps, GPS directions, and real time Nav equipment we struck out.  As most folks probably know, to get to GT from the southeast, you more or less have to go diagonally across DC.   The trip up (we always choose Route 4 through Calvert instead of 5 and bore in on Pennsylvania avenue) was as expected although the time tested rule held true that the speed of other drivers is inversely proportional to the distance from DC.  So we got to the other side of the mall by our own dead reckoning and then turned on the nav system who promptly wanted us to “make a legal U turn” and the blue line indicated that it would lead to a Virginia approach.  With helpful advice from the driver (MFO) like “do I turn here or not!!!???) we finally fumbled onto M street and went by the end of the Key Bridge and then north to Reservoir Rd., and eventually into Entrance Two of the huge complex.  Mercifully there was valet parking and we were able to exit right at the entrance.

It’s always interesting to visit a megalith medical facility, dozens of people in varying colored "scrub garb" scurrying about, often carrying a clipboard, scholarly looking doctors with a stethoscope around their necks, and bewildered patients like us.  We finally got to the right office (“down the hall, turn right, then left, take the elevator to the 2nd floor, turn right, go down the hall to the end, and the first door on the right will be the Gastroenterology Office).  We got there, did the check-in ritual and settled in. The rest of the day went well (including the medical side) and I only had to cool my heels in the waiting room



for or a little over three hours.   There was a TV for the people similarly imprisoned which presented a seemingly endless series of pre-recorded canned talk shows like Steve Harvey (“so what are you having for Thanksgiving this year?”) which droned on and on without my slightest bit of attention.  But see that flatscreen on the right?  It was a pretty ingenious device to allow you to track the progress of your patient.


Part of the check-in procedure (besides the requisite bracelets) was to assign each patient a number. Then on the screen the color of the box around your loved one’s number indicated where in the 14 Step (!) process (key below the screen) they were.  MFO slowly changed colors until I was notified to go to the elevators and wait for somebody to come and get me which they did.   A bit more sitting with her, a short consult with the doc (all is well). And we were done.

Somehow the exit from the big city went easier than the entrance and we got to Wisconsin Ave., then back on M, over to Pennsylvania (passing by the old Kinkead’s) and sitting in traffic until we got to Rte 4 again and joined the Grand Prix to Southern Maryland. 

Fortunately, we got to the digs just in time for Cocktail Hour, and although MFO couldn’t partake, I certainly did.

Speaking of cocktails it provides nice segue

into the real reason for this post.   There are certain cocktails/drinks that are linked to a specific location, like Sazarac’s and New Orleans, Julips (or bourbon) in Kentucky, Manhattan’s in NYC, Champagne and Paris, Mojitos in South Beach, and so forth.   They may be consumed elsewhere but trace their lineage back to a certain place.  One of those drinks is a Negroni, which is kind of synonymous with Florence, Italy.  Kind of thought of (and pushed as) a sophisticated drink, and indeed one site asked us:

Want to impress your date? Order a Negroni. Want to impress your boss? Order a Negroni. Want to impress the bartender? You know what to do.
It’s the only drink to order these days if you want to: a) Tell everyone around you that you’re smart, savvy and sophisticated, and b) Enjoy one of the very best tipples you ever did siponly drink to order these days if you want to: a) Tell everyone around you that you’re smart, savvy and sophisticated, and b) Enjoy one of the very best tipples you ever did sip.

The “Classic” recipe is equal parts of Campari, Sweet Vermouth, and Gin. Boom!  I generally stay away from drinks with sweet vermouth, so don’t think I ever had one.  But,an article in the “spirits” column of a recent Food Section of the Washington Post caught my eye.  Was entitled: “Sometimes a Riff on a Classic gets it Just Right”.  And while I really don’t like the term “riff”” applied in the culinary world, regular readers will know “just right” is dear to my heart.  The article sort of followed the author’s trip to Florence, so naturally Negroni got involved.  Blah, blah, but eventually got around to a couple of variations on the classic.



And because I am always attracted to crystal clear drinks (“you first eat (drink) with your eyes”), I decided to make one



Whoa!  The only ingredients I have is the white vermouth and the ice, and my cubes are not one of those trendy “large” variety.

So, we’ll suspend the saga here while I wait for various purveyors to special order stuff for me.  I have had the Junipero gin in the past, but it’s not in the Feeder’s liquor cabinet at the moment.  Never had the Bitter Bianco, it seems to be a relatively new entrant into the market.  Celery Bitters?  Huh?  I made a stop at Elements (Eatery and Mixology) and although they have the best selection of bitters (and hot sauces) around,


Celery wasn’t one of them.  So, that too is on order.

So, we both have to wait for the next chapter.  Meanwhile I’ll be having my plebian Dry Manhattan

And I have in the hopper an evolving wine adventure..  stay tuned for that as well.   

So off you go to your own “poison” and then

DFD




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