How did You Get This Number? And a Cool Cocktail

It was too hot in Boston this past week to do any real cooking.  Luckily, for Sloane Crossley's breazy second collection of essays, a cocktail seemed just as appropriate as food.  In general, I don't drink at home that much.  While I love a cocktail or beer or wine out, at home, I just don't get the urge.  So it was a fun treat to put together this fruity bourbon cocktail during the 100 plus heat wave we had.  Bourbon is definitely my hard alchohol of choice, it has the most character to me and has a little bit of sweetness that makes it easier to drink than whiskey or scotch.  And it has loads more character than vodka.  The recipe for this easy Cherry Smash cocktail after the jump, and more about "How Did You Get This Number?"

I very much enjoyed Sloane Crosley's first essay collection "I Was Told There Would be Cake," so was excited when this second collection came out.  Crosley is a 30-something book publicist who happens to be a sharp, funny writer herself.   Her focus I would say is situations in which she embarasses herself, and she describes them with true honesty and wit.  For those of you who are fans of David Sedaris, Crossley kinda fits into that genre, though she writes  from a slightly less wacky perspective I would say.  The first book I think was a little more fun - it dealt with 20 something issues.  Most of the essays in this book, which deal with 30 something issues are good, though a few I found a little dull.  In this book Crossley reveals she has some sort of spacial disorder that makes it very difficult to find her way around (I related here, as being someone with a weird inability to really know my right from left), which made for a funny essay on her time alone in Portugal in winter.  20 and 30 something women will relate to her essay on the lengths that we all go to to be bridesmaids to our friends - in her where the wedding is in Alaska.  My favorite essay was the last, which is about her sudden relationship (platonic) with a guy who hooks her up with fancy furniture that has "fallen off a truck" and a heartwrenching breakup.  It is this essay which I think some of the humorish shield she puts up falls away and real emotion comes through.  I would recommend reading her first collection more enthusiastically than this one, but both are good reads.

Cherry Crush

Adapted from New York Times

2 ounces Bourbon

6 pitted cherries (NY Times calls for 3, I think 6 is better)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon sugar

2 dashes Angostora Bitters (I used orange bitters)

Mint for garnish

Put all ingredients (except for Mint) along with  1 to 1 1/2 cups of ice in a blender, blend away till smooth, garnish with mint spring.  Ta da!