Cocktails to Beat the Hair Blues

I have trust issues when it comes to my hair.  I feel most women and gay males can relate to this fact; I don’t trust just anyone with my complicated locks!  Thus, I’m sure you can imagine how frightened I was when my hairstylist announced she was moving to Hawaii.  For good.  As in, never coming back (I miss you, Joanne!). 

The difficulty in allowing someone new to cut (and maybe color…) my hair stems from a horrible ‘do I received in 1996 from a very pregnant woman most likely high on whatever hormones were raging through her body. As a naïve pre-teen in the throes of puberty, I walked into her salon asking for a trim and left with a bob that would truly only work on a girl with pixie-like bone structure.  I am not a pixie. I am not Natalie Portman.

My hair is wavy and kinks in the front, I have a large, heart shaped face, and to top it off, I possess practically zero skills in the art of hairstyling. Basically, only specific styles work for me.

Having read this, most people would assume I took great care in looking for someone new.  However, desperation of having not had my hair cut in 6 months, as well as being in a wedding in a few weeks caused me to act. I was walking my dog two weeks ago when I passed a salon in my neighborhood. The people working inside looked young and hip, but not crazy-hip (i.e. no one resembled Edward Scissorhands or Flea).  Upon entering the salon, I discovered new clients get 20% off on their first cut.  Score. I booked an appointment and returned a week later.

Embarrassed, I showed my new stylist the split ends I’d been cultivating for months and explained in great detail what not to do with my hair.  Maybe there was a language barrier.  Maybe he has a hearing deficit. Maybe I didn’t actually explain as well as I thought I did (in actuality, this is most likely the case).  Either way, I left the salon that day looking like a lhasa apso.

Let me preface this mini-rant: he completely nailed my color.  I love it.  It looks the way my hair did before I hit 20, which is exactly what I was going for.  The cut, however, was reminiscent of a hair-era that should forever be forgotten: the seventies.  Upon seeing it, a friend of mine told me it reminded her of Florence Henderson in a good way.  Sorry, but since when has any reference to Carol Brady’s hair been a good thing?

Needless to say, I was in the throes of depression for the rest of the day, and well into the evening.  Once night set, I realized there was only one thing that could lift my spirits: a cocktail.  Not just any cocktail, mind you; one that would soothe my broken heart as well as appropriately convey my desperate state in name, body and soul.  I mixed myself a Dark and Stormy.

                                  (My dog likes to commiserate with me.)

Have you ever had a Dark and Stormy?  Aside from the excellent name, it genuinely tastes like an alcoholic root beer.  Yes, please!  Starting with dark rum, adding the juice of a lime and some spiced simple syrup (incredibly easy to make by the way, don’t be scared!), and topping it off with ginger beer, a Dark and Stormy can cure many a bad mood, or at least aid a person in trying to overcome one. It did just that for me on that fateful hair day and helped wash away any hair nightmares I may have had in my sleep.

Looking in the mirror the next morning, I realized I still hated my hair.  It looked even worse with the added element of bedhead.  Ripping myself away from the bathroom mirror, I entered our dining room to see a bowl of lemons sitting near our sun-dappled windowsill.  Lovely. How simply lovely. And breathtakingly beautiful. 

As strange as this sounds, the lemons inspired me to hop in the shower and get over the hair blues.  Towel drying, brushing, blow drying thirty minutes later (albeit with the mantra “Hair grows out. It will grow out!”), I realized my hair wasn’t actually half bad.  In fact, I kind of liked it.  In fact, it no longer reminded me of Florence Henderson!  Score.

When things have a way of working themselves out in this manner, there’s really only one thing I like to celebrate with: a cocktail.  With the bowl of lemons just begging to be used, I figured a Lemon Drop was in order. 

I am not a fan of vodka.  Over the years, we’ve just had too many run-ins; they’ve left us embarrassed, cringing and hating one another.  Having said that, I cannot ignore how essential vodka has become in today’s age of mixology.  Vodka has the ability to absorb flavor incredibly well, which makes for a delicious drink, especially one that also involves sugar and lemon juice.

So I mixed one up.  I toasted my hair-do (previously thought hair-don’t).  And I felt great.

Happy drinking (and cheers!),

Elizabeth

Simple Syrup

1 part water
1 part sugar

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the water and sugar. Syrup is done once sugar is completely dissolved.

To make flavored simple syrup (a delicious and complex addition to any drink), simply add whole spices (like vanilla bean, cinnamon sticks, anise pods, allspice berries, cloves, etc.) and strain them out of the syrup before adding.

Dark and Stormy

Juice of one lime (about half an ounce)
½ ounce simple syrup (see above recipe)
1 ½ ounces dark rum
Ginger beer

In a cocktail shaker with ice, vigorously shake lime, simple syrup and rum. Strain into a glass filled with ice.  Top drink with ginger beer (try Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew, which can be found at Trader Joe’s).

Lemon Drop

Juice of half a lemon (about half an ounce)
½ ounce simple syrup (see above recipe)
1 ½ ounces vodka (obviously, the better the vodka, the better the taste).

Chill martini glasses in freezer. Once cold, rim lip of glass with lemon and dip them in a plate of sugar. In a cocktail shaker with ice, vigorously shake lemon juice, simple syrup and vodka.  Immediately pour into the prepared glass using strainer.

To jazz up this drink, feel free to add some grated ginger or flavored syrup (raspberry and pomegranate are great additions for flavor and color.  Torani is a great quality syrup to use).


** A note on the cocktail shaker mentioned in the previous recipes. We recommend you use this shaker with a pint glass instead of this set with a top.  There are a few reasons for this recommendation.  One, the metal tops have a tendency to stick when you're trying to remove the metal top after shaking.  Two, they can rust really easily if not cleaned properly.  In using the metal shaker with a pint glass, you get easy removal and less of a mess.