A Taste of Life

Tonight was the opening cocktail reception for the five-day TASTE extravaganza put on by my magazine. Since I have cut down working at Durham Magazine to writing one column an issue it was a fun night to get to see some of my pals. The party was held at TOPO distillery and featured cocktails made with their homegrown spirits and food from local cookbook authors with their books.

Considering my life on the wagon I had to ask the TOPO person if I could have the Spicy Cucumber in a virgin version. They were perfectly happy to leave the vodka out of my cucumber, lime, jalapeno and seltzer drink, which I greatly enjoyed.

My dear sweet editor Andrea told me that she was on the hunt for my missing underpants that I lost in 1984 and have sworn not to drink again until I find them. I told her that my daughter also wanted to find those underpants so she could see me drink just once. Andrea then realized that I was probably the same person drinking as I am not drinking…ding, ding, ding. That is why not drinking is not that hard for me.

The hard part about cocktail receptions is cocktail party food. Most things in the finger version come on a cracker or some other bread-like version. That leaves nothing but a half a deviled egg for me. I did find two cook book authors who had samples I could try. One was Andrea Weigl who wrote Pickles and Preserves and had a pickled yellow squash sample. It was yummy and timely since I just planted five yellow squash plants. The other author I liked was Fred Thompson whose book Southern Sides I purchased after tasting his black-eyed pea salad.

But parties are not just about food and drink. The real fun was spending time with people I love, but don’t get to spend enough time with. Tonight I had a surprise of getting to visit with my friend Treat, who is perfectly named. I have not seen her since her wedding to Regina, which I was very sorry I was unable to go to since she had to marry in Maryland and not North Carolina.

I may not be able to fully enjoy all the parts of a cocktail reception but I fully enjoyed myself at this one. It is never about what I can’t have, but what I can.