The (Cosmo) Girls with Kaleidoscope Eyes

Among a cosmopolitan’s many appeals is its rosy hue; what other color would such a girly drink be? The ones Barbara and I have been enjoying lately are not the traditional blush-tinted ones; because of the industrial strength Trader Joe’s cranberry juice, they’re more of a vibrant fuchsia. Still in the pink family, though. Still lovely.

During this holiday season, we had occasion to explore a whole new color palette, with surprising results. First, I was gifted with a bottle of blue gin. Magellan, it’s called; “Precious Distillation, Imported from France.” When I showed Barbara, we both thought it was the bottle that was blue, the way Bombay Sapphire is, but then we poured out a shot and found that the actual gin is blue, from iris flowers, which was exciting because pink + blue would equal purple, and we thought that would be kind of fun.

But no, the resulting cosmo looked exactly the same as one made with normal gin.

Then on Barbara’s Hanukkah-themed Christmas Eve, she had grape juice along with pot roast, latkes and kugel, and mixed up a batch with the deep purple juice instead of cranberry juice. Once again, the resulting drink looked exactly the same as the regular ones.

We may have to add color theory to our list of experiments, because I want to see what a cosmo made with white cranberry juice and blue gin would look like. Although I think I already know: despite not having one pink ingredient, it will look pink because apparently drinking cosmos makes one view the world through rose-colored cocktail glasses. Or something like that.

Happy Holidays from Searching the Cosmos.

It's Never Too Late to Become a Cosmo Girl

After all this cosmo talk, my mother-in-law, Min, wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Actually it was her daughter Jean who wanted to know, but Min was curious as well. So on a visit to Connecticut this past summer, I brought all of the ingredients plus the cocktail shaker and some glasses.

As you can tell from the attached photo, Min liked it. I like the way her shirt matches her cocktail.

Trying something new is nothing new for her, by the way; she lives for it. She’s talking about taking flying lessons, for example. Although now that I think of it, that’s not new because she had a license 70 years ago, when she and her mother were part owners of a Piper Cub.

Here’s to the newest cosmo girl in my circle, on the occasion of her 87th birthday today. Cheers, Min!