And so we come to the end of the Countdown and to the only real failure: The Americano.
I was optimistic going in—the recipe is simple and I’d never had Campari before, so I had no idea what it would taste like. I assembled the ingredients as I made supper, so I could sip through dinner.
As the kids played outside, I mixed everything up, my optimism still strong. And then I took a sip.
My first thought as it hit my tongue was, “No.” But it was only one sip. Maybe I just needed to give it more of a chance. As I took the second sip, I thought, “Oh, hell no.” It had the sharp and sour taste of food dye, with a lingering finish of alcohol. I like food dye as much as the next American, along with all kind of other artificial foods, but this was too much.
So I dumped this down the sink and made myself a Mai Tai, since I still had limes and rock candy syrup. It was really good.
Lessons learned: Cocktails probably still aren’t for me, although God willing and the world’s lime supply remains steady, I’ll keep making Mai Tais.
Final conclusion: You should pick up Star Dust. It’s got better cocktails than the ones I made, kissing under the stars, and a wonderful romance. And it’s available now everywhere: Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo | Google Play