Martinis & Blind Dales

I've reached the conclusion that the inability to throw back both wine and martinis in the same night - without adverse consequences the next morning - is a sure sign of growing old.  If my theory is, indeed, true, I now bear the mark of "old age."  I might be able to fool myself that bulging bellies and greying hair can happen to the youngest of us all, but I have to admit that "Wine or Martini, but not both" has become a bit of a mantra chez nous.

It takes a special occasion to "break" that rule.

And, with that being said, it's National Vodka Day and my old, younger self is making a brief appearance.

I was all ready to arrive at home and release my "inner 007" and mix up an old fave - the tasty Vesper Martini.  Then I realized that the Casino Royale classic is three parts gin.  Ooops.  Never fear.  Like Mr. Bond, I can - most Absolut'ly - be resourceful in a crisis.  I simply simply decided to make it dirty.  Shaken.  Not stirred.  And dirty.  After all, if you can't enjoy vodka soaked olives, one after another, you really are getting old.

The martini, OK martinis, was just the icebreaker.  I was also scheduled to take in a performance of Blind Date at The Cultch (the Vancouver East Cultural Centre).  I'd heard about this show some time ago when it was playing in the Centre of the Universe (Toronto for you non-Canadian readers) and was really looking forward to being able to take it in myself.

Naturally, Boo got called in for overtime and I had to find a last minute date for my Blind Date.  Now, Baby Mama is my neighbour.  Is married.  And can see perfectly well. So, she wasn't exactly a blind date, but good Lord, did we have an enjoyable time. This truly was one of those LMAO times.

For those that haven't heard of the show, it's improvisational at its core.  Our heroine, Mimi, is being stood up on a blind date and, seeing as how she's already in the bar and dressed to impressed, she simply finds a new blind date by picking one of the audience members to join her on stage for the performance.  She then "guides" her date as the evening progresses from the bar back to her place - while being pulled over by the police as they drive home naturally - where shenanigans obviously broke out because the final scene was five years later and she was pregnant with her new, now old, date's baby.

No two shows are the same and, obviously, the success of any one show can depend greatly on the date Mimi pulls from the audience. I think we must have lucked out though because Craig, our show's date, was a low-keyed hilarious - especially when Mimi asked him why he hadn't tried to kiss her yet and Craig's wife in the audience used her "time out."  Despite the red wine he'd been enjoying for courage, he astutely realized that he was in a no-win situation - saying that he recognized a "lady trap" when he saw one - even when his wife agreed that he could kiss Mimi once. In the end, he reluctantly agreed but said, "No tongue."  To which, Mimi quickly responded, "Haven't you noticed from my accent that I'm French?"

Good stuff.

As for my own dalliance from my "one booze only" rule, I didn't break it much.  Baby Mama and I had a single glass of wine during our Blind Date.  (So, no new bottle to add to The List.)  And there was no need to worry about anything the morning after.  Not so sure about Craig's though.