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| Don't be fooled, they're not good! |
"There's a reason why everyone orders bloody marys," I explain to my boyfriend as I wipe up egg with toast.
"They have to be delicious, right? Otherwise people wouldn't order them."
He rolls his eyes at me, "You hate bloody marys and you don't want one."
"I never tried one before really," I said.
He starts playing with his phone, ignoring me.
It's New Years Day, and the Mummers Parade is getting set up a few blocks away and the restaurant is packed.
We had no idea what Mummers were but we'd encountered some walking to the bar and he was Googling them so we could see if we wanted to go to the parade after.
I wasn't patient enough to make it through the 10 minute waiting list for a table and so we sat down at the bar where we were eating eggs, toast, bacon and French toast at this restaurant called Marathon.
I had ordered a coffee but I was getting increasingly tempted by the bloody marys that the bartender kept preparing in front of us.
I watched him with increasing interest.
He deftly picked up a bottle of Absolut Peppar, tossed it upside down and poured the liquid into an ice-filled martini shaker.
Well I love vodka, I thought to myself.
Then he shook up a reddish mixture of house bloody mary mix that was cloudy with horseradish.
I like tomatoes, I thought.
The bartender grabbed a glass, flipped it over and pushed the glass rim into a mixture of a salt and pepper crust. With a flick of his wrist he sloshed the liquid into the glass, garnishing it with an olive-filled stake.
I totally wanted one.
"I'm going to order one," I tell boyfriend.
"You better drink it all then," he says.
"I will," I told him. Even if I hate it, I was thinking.
The only time I'd ever had a bloody mary was at Klein's seafood market in Belmar with my mom. I got it because it was the only thing on special and it was $3 and came in a plastic cup.
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| Lesson, don't get the new guy to make your bloody mary... you might get this. |
Was.
Disgusting.
I remember taking a sip, then staring at the bartender in horror as I said, "This tastes like cocktail sauce?!"
To which he replied, "I've never made a bloody mary before."
Boyfriend interrupts my thoughts. "You're just going to hate it and pretend to like it anyway," he tells me and I curse myself for being so transparent.
I waited for the bartender to pay attention to me and ordered a bloody mary, noticing that the couple who'd just sat down next to me had also both ordered bloody marys so I took solace in the fact that I wouldn't have to go through this alone. Even if they were strangers.
Boyfriend's roommate was coming to meet us for a Mimosa.
Marathon's Mimosas are fantastic because they use fresh-squeezed orange juice that's so good that you drink it extra slow, just to savor it's delicious-ness.
I started remembering how much I thought I hated dirty martinis, until my friend Molly K. became a bartender and she'd make us filthy martinis with extra olives and how it somehow morphed into my favorite drink. It's still my favorite drink, but only if she makes it....
"Maybe it's like sushi," I said. "Everybody kind of hates sushi the first time you try it but then it grows on you and all of the sudden, you realize that you love sushi."
He stared at me.
"Do you like sushi?" I asked him.
"I've eaten it before," he tells me, "With you."
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| How can anyone not love sushi? |
It makes me shudder and goosebumps rise up along my arms.
Nope, I hate bloody marys.
I ask the boys what they're talking about because I feel left out and that's when boyfriend notices that the bloody mary has arrived.
"Here we go," he says, "Did you try it yet?"
"Yes," I told him. "I took a sip and I love it and it's the best drink ever and it's so delicious that it's my new favorite drink."
"Let me see you take a sip," he says. "Right now."
"Fine," I say, stalling. "I will take a sip right now."
"Take a big sip," he tells me.
I stirred the drink with the straw, braced myself and took a big sip.
"Look at your face!" he says, laughing. "You hate it!"
"No I don't," I said. "I love it. I'm going to order another one as soon as I'm done with this one."