The Old-Fashioned Cocktail

On a recent trip to NYC with a my husband and a group of thirteen friends, and friends of friends, the most ordered cocktail was hands-down the Old-Fashioned.  Loved equally by sleazy men in dark bars and grandmothers, this drink is possibly the original cocktail, and it's made a comeback.

There are a couple of versions: the Dixie Old-Fashioned, Rum Old-Fashioned, Brandy Old-Fashioned, but I'll share the tried and true recipe for a typical Old-Fashioned from my trusty The Complete Book of Mixed Drinks by Anthony Dias Blue.

Old-Fashioned
2 maraschino cherries
2 orange slices
5 dished of bitters
1 teaspoon sugar
1-1/2 ounces bourbon
Splash of soda

In a rocks glass, place 1 cherry, 1/2 slice of orange, bitters, and sugar.  Muddle until the mixture is well ground.  Add the bourbon and a splash of soda while still mixing.  Fill the glass with ice.  Garnish with the remaining cherry and orange slices.

The jury's still out on whether all that muddling is necessary.  Some argue that the fruit should only be used as a garnish (Dixie Old-Fashioned), but if you're feeling adventurous mix  a few versions, and see for yourself, or better yet, invite the neighbors over on this snowy Sunday night and have an Old-Fashioned taste test.

Go Tell Aunt Rhody

My twins play a version of dress-up that they call "Mama & Honey" a version of playing "house" where one of them is the mom and the other one the little girl.  They put on high heels, lip gloss, lots of jewelry, throw a purse over an arm, grab a doll stroller, pile it with books and play food, and walk around the house barking orders at each other and soothing each other.  They do this for hours on end, often setting up house in the downstairs bathroom.  I believe this is pretty typical, possibly with the exception of the barking orders and extreme amounts of jewelry.

Recently, I've noticed a new twist to their Mama & Honey dialogue.  It's called "my mom and dad died, can I live with you?"  Sometimes it's "my brother's dead, what should I do?"

Hmmmm.....

At the advice of a friend, I tried to insert myself into the play to get to the bottom of this, but it didn't work.  They didn't want me to play.  They're probably re-enacting one of the countless versions of Cinderella they've seen on TV or been read.

For about a year they've randomly asked their dad and me if daddy's going to die?  At about 3.5-years they began trying to figure out how getting older and dying are related.  My twins know that their paternal grandpa is buried in the cemetery two streets away, but thankfully haven't had a loved one pass away in their lifetime.  Yet.

Death is a reality that all children will eventually be faced with.

My mom pointed out that historically children's songs and nursery rhymes prepared youngsters for death.  With higher mortality rates in the old days, it was perfectly healthy to sing about death.  Songs like Go Tell Aunt Rhody describing the death of a goose, and her children and husband mourning, clearly deals with the death of a mother.  One might argue that in our efforts to protect our children from death by virtually eliminating it from their songs and literature, we might be making this inevitable part of life even more mysterious.  Death is enough of a mystery without robbing children of a little foreshadowing and an opportunity to "play it out."

Go Tell Aunt Rhody

Go tell Aunt Rhody
Go tell Aunt Rhody
Go tell Aunt Rhody
The old gray goose is dead

verses:

The one she's been saving (x 3)
To make her feather bed

She died in the mill pond (x 3)
Standing on her head

She left nine little goslings (x 3)
To scratch for their own bread

The goslings are crying (x 3)
Because their mother's dead

The gander is weeping (x 3)
Because his wife is dead