So....for those of you who spend their precious free time reading this rather useless blog (hehe), I am happy to announce that I am placing boot to ass (or more appropriately hands) and will be resuming writing after a rather long hiatus. (Speaking of rather long, that sentence was atrocious)!

October and November have proved problematic where Martini Night is concerned. We have not been able to find nights that are free. Jon has class, I have the gym and various work parties, Art has cabinet making and various illnesses, Sharon has conferences, report cards, work, Jordan has work and various work/fun functions, and Matt could probably have his own private Martini night but what fun is that? One should not drink by themselves, it's no fun. : )

Featured above is the last martini we made as a family: the key lime martini. I do not remember what everyone thought of it, what we had to eat that night or any crazy hijinks which may have ensued (and believe me, I am sure there were some). I do remember that I thought it was delicious, if that matters.

Tonight will be the first Martini night in the resumption of the tradition but this evening will break pattern as well. Tara is hosting the martini tasting and only Jon and I will be attending. This tasting is in preparation of her pre-Holiday party on November 30th. We will be sampling the Candy Cane Martini, the Cranapple Martini and the Green Apple Martini. More tomorrow on our festive evening!

The Blind Kamikaze Martini ~ September 12, 2007

"Good meat. Good food. Good gosh. Let's eat!" The toast that began the drinking and summed up this week's Martini Night. Due to work obligations, we again moved Martini Night to Wednesday. The Falcone family hosted a special guest, Tara Autrey, who is my co-worker at Goodspeed. (Shout out to Tara! Holllaaa! Sorry, reference to silly mid-afternoon ghetto language.). Fortunely, Matt is over his stomach virus and was able to return to drink martinis with the rest of his family.

The Blind Kamikaze martini was on the menu at Tara's request. While this particular martini tasted great, the alcohol content was a little overbearing and lots of fruit juices and sodas lept from the refridgerator to remedy this drink's kick.

The Blind Kamikaze Martini

2 oz. Bacardi Light Rum

1/2 oz. Peach Schnapps

1/2 oz. Midori

1/2 oz. Chambord

Pour rum, schnapps and liquers into mixing glass. Add ice and stir to chill. Strain into martini glass.

Considering the fact that there is nothing but alcohol in this drink may be how it got it's name. After one martini, you're blind. And you need to be blind to drink this martini because it looks like swamp water, a lovely murky brown green. Perhaps a better name for it would be the Shut Your Eyes, Chug and Fall Over Martini. Whatever that name may imply, everyone was rosy cheeked and happy after a few sips. Of course, our comments were written down before our taste buds were numbed:

Art: Best we've had as far as I'm concerned.

Sharon: I'm not big on this one.

Jordan: I like it.

Sharon: Is that all you're going to say?

Jordan: For now.

Matt: Ummm....well, I'm not on my death bed anymore so I'm gonna get drunk. (But he still added juice and did not come close to finishing his drink. I believe he added both cranberry juice and Diet Pepsi (?) or maybe just juice...I'm not positive. Either way, I can't blame him for not drinking the crazy concoction he created.). Jordan took a sip of his drink and announced that it "tasted like crap". Congratulations go out to Matt for making a good martini bad. ; )

Tara: I'm going to try adding some cranberry juice. Matt said it's better. It's prettier. (Although began to look like swamp water shortly thereafter....weird).

Jon: I think it's good; it's damn strong. It's got good taste.

Megan: It's very strong but the peach taste is good; but that is one God-awful color. Where's the beer bread? I'm starving!

Art (in a bad Russian accent...AGAIN!): You dreenk ze finest vodka een all of Russia!

Jon: Zis is not ze finest vodka een all of Russia!

For dinner, we ate steak, pepper and squash kebobs and Mediterranean Herb Foccacia (which Jonny baked. He's so domesticated...haha!). The dinner was delicious but a little disappointing only because we were supposed to be having pizzas on the grill but that idea was thrown out in favor of meat. (ART!). : )

Of course, no night of drinking with Tara would be complete without her spilling her drink...on her pants, on the porch, on the floor. Jon couldn't help but laugh since Tara is notorious for spilling her drinks everytime we get together. One incident comes to mind involving Lupo, an apple martini and a spill that resulted in martini-dressing for my salad. Her explanation: "It's not even the drunkeness, I'm just clumsy."

While eating dinner, Nate learned how to flirt. He gave Tara "the eye" all through dinner, flashing those baby blues and that charming little smile. Pretty smooth for an 18 month old! At least one of the Falcone men has the moves!Nathan found his Yankee candle again this week, but luckily he forgot where Grandma's drinking glasses are kept.

Overall, this Martini Night was rather calm. Next week, stay tuned for the Key Lime Martini and more of Art's Russian accent.

Flirtini ~ September 5, 2007

Because of our move, returning to school and overall life insanity, this week Martini Night was moved to Wednesday. Unfortunately, not only was the night changed but we were down one member of the Falcone family. Matt was lucky enough to fall victim to the stomach virus that has plagued Sharon and Jordan which rendered him unable to drink martinis. He decided to return home after attempting to join in the fun.



This week Jordan and I decided to sample the Flirtini. It is a rather complex concoction so luckily the food accompanying the martini was simple. For dinner, we had grilled chicken, grilled squash and zucchini, ciabatta bread and a cucumber, red onion and tomato salad with balsamic vinegrette.

The Flirtini

1½ oz. Vodka
½ oz. Triple sec
½ oz. Cranberry juice
½ oz. Lemon juice
½ tsp. Sugar
1 oz. Champagne

Combine vodka, liqueur, juices and sugar in mixing glass. Add ice and shake. Strain into martini glass and top with champagne. Stir gently. This recipe makes one martini.

The Flirtini was by far the best martini we have had. Everyone enjoyed it and best of all, there was champagne left over to drink afterwards. ;) Now see what all the members of the Falcone family had to say about this tasty bubbly beverage:

Jon: It's good, like a very expensive Mike's Hard Lemonade...the pink kind.

Jordan: I liked it but it does taste like lemonade. It's good because it doesn't need doctoring up.

Megan: Jon, I think you stole Jordan's original comment. Anyway, it was very tasty although it could use less champagne.

Nate: (hides fork under table cover) Uh oh! (drinks milk).
Art: (in a very bad Russian accent) You drink the finest milk in all of Russia! That is not the finest meelk in all of Bahsia! (I don't know, don't ask me. I just observe and write the blog...haha!).

Art: Tasted very much like two snaps, a twist and a kiss. Do you know where that's from?
Megan: (rolls eyes) I have no idea.
Jon: In Living Color!

Sharon: Of the three, this is my favorite but it dries out my mouth.
All: WHAT?!!!!

After the martinis and dinner, we relaxed on the porch where Nathan was happy to entertain us with Yankee candles and toddler babble. Although he is the youngest member of martini night, he is probably the most entertaining. There is nothing like an 18 month old double-fisting Grandma's drinking glasses while running away from Mommy to make for a fun night!

Next week, we will sample the Blind Kamikaze martini and will have a guest. Tara, my co-worker, is joining the Martini Festivus! The fun never ends.....

Pear Martini ~ August 30, 2007

Last night's Martini Night was a rather special one: Jon and I received the keys to our new home last night and while the closing is Tuesday, September 4th, we are now officially home owners! In honor of this milestone, Art made a lovely toast to Jon and I and our new abode. He also offered a rather comic explanation as to why he and Sharon moved to Salem. Salem is in essence the word salami without the "e" sound at the end and we all know how much Art loves salami. Needless to say, he got a weak laugh and an eyeroll or two...haha! We also had a special guest this week, Uncle John. He was rather enthuisiastic about being able to be a part of this newly- formed tradition.

This week we tried the pear martini. It was interesting, needed doctoring, overall not the best martini any of us had ever tasted. Food accompanying the martini was delicious! We had steak cut into strips, pear salad and ciabatta bread.

The Pear Martini

2 oz pear vodka

Splash of grapefruit juice

Squeeze of lime juice

Combine with ice in shaker and mix. Wet top of martini glass and coat rim with sugar. Garnish with a pear slice.

Now right away, you might be thinking what I originally thought looking at this recipe...how does lime and grapefruit equal pear flavor? Well, it really doesn't. The following are all of the Falcone family's comments:

Jordan: Orange juice takes the funk away.

Matt: I can do without. (Then, after adding some sugar and orange juice) After all the doctoring up, it's at least drinkable.

Megan: (Makes a pucker face) It needs sugar, LOTS of sugar.

Jon: It needs lime juice and sugar on the rim instead of water and sugar...and maybe just have pear juice or nectar, no grapefruit juice.

Art: I think the sweeter it is, the better.

Sharon: I think I was the only one who enjoyed it but I think it was pretty good with extra sugar added.

Uncle John: Sharon, can I have more?

Of course, Matt consumed approximately half of his martini and was already tipsy (the martini was rather strong)....

Matt: Okay, it hit me.

Art: That's the thing about martinis.

Matt: What? You get to be hoity and sows'd (sauced with a rather funny pronunciation).

My grandmother's death this past Saturday seemed to have Art pondering what would be said at his funeral. He made us promise that during his funeral service, we would mention Art's beautiful 55 year love affair with sopressata. I guess to fully appreciate the humor in that, you would have to know Art (or at least understand every Italian man's love affair with sausages, antipasto, sopressata and the like).

Next week, Jordan and I have been charged with finding a martini recipe. Jordan has already emailed me some fabulous recipes with a Flirtini, a Blind Kamikaze and a Foxy Squirrel martini (among others). Yummmm.....

The First Falcone Family Martini Night ~ August 23, 2007 ~

For ages, my father-in-law Art has been attempting to gather the family in a night of drunken fun. (Okay, perhaps not drunken fun, but fun nonetheless). Last week, the family made a very sad and unsuccessful effort of holding the first martini night and finally, last night, Art, Sharon, Matt, Jordan, Jon and myself gathered for our martini sampling.

Welcome to the first Falcone Family Martini Night held at the newly built home of Sharon and Art.

The purpose of Martini Nights is two fold. Our schedules are rather hectic therefore we have one night set aside each week where we know we may gather as a family and share all that has happened in our lives. Secondly, we just want to drink martinis! Each week, we will pick recipes for a different variety of martini and critique each one. The martini of choice this week was the Caribbean Martini. Food accompanying the martini was: mini hotdogs wrapped in croissants, zucchini quiche, fruit, bread and spinach dip.

The Caribbean Martini

9 oz. Absolut Vanilla Vodka

3 1/2 oz. Malibu Rum

6 splashes pineapple juice (you might want to be more generous here.....)

Mix all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Will make 3 drinks. Garnish with pineapple.

The martini was good after adding a few extra splashes of pineapple juice to each glass. They were rather strong (and yes, this was the general consensus).

Here are the comments about the Caribbean martini:

Art: I am looking forward to the next martini night.

Sharon: Fine, maybe a little colder, frostier.

Matt: My comment is uuuggghhhhhhhhhhh.....that's it, yup. (Matt was rather mezzo stunade, which I have no idea how to spell. Let's just say the drink was strong and he is not).

Jordan: I think it would be good if the ingredients were in equal amounts.

Jon: I think no pineapple juice, maybe...well, okay, ahhhh, put a strawberry in there. (Laughs.) But, it's good.

Megan: Good, maybe better with coconut milk to be more like a pina colada martini. Of course, it has to be Goya. :)

Matt's other memorable quote of the evening: I don't care how gay it is, quiche is good. (Don't ask).

Next week: look forward to the Pear Martini. :)