THE THINGS WE'RE DRAWN TO...

Got a great story about my first French martini. I was at the Zinc Bar (very cool jazz club) waiting for an online first date and a handsome, very tall guy with a beautiful dog shows up at the doorway. Handsome guy enters. Sits down next to me. Sexy, amazing female bartender (I'm not into women that way) knows the sit-down-next-to-me guy, who it turns out designed the incredible Zinc Bar and we totally hit it off. My date is late but texts. They both (bartender and bar designer) want to know what's going on. What a night.

The date turned up and was also really cute and awesome (my musician taste) and the fabulous female bartender wanted to know how things were going. “Great!,” I say, honestly. Meanwhile, I'm still hitting it off with the bar designer and totally into the fact that he designed this vintage bar from reclaimed parts (that was his specialty and that's where his specialties ended, sad to say).

Anyway, she asked me what I wanted to drink, like any good bartender would and I didn't know. So she asked what I liked and she served me up a French Martini. Marriage in heaven.

BTW, French martinis are totally delish (apologies if you don't drink). They're 1 part vanilla vodka, 1 part Chambourd Raspberry liqueur and 2 parts pineapple juice. Garnish with fresh raspberries and bask in heaven.

I ended up seeing the online date guy for a while but he got impatient with me wanting to get to know him slowly. I ended up in an 8-month relationship with the bar designer guy who was a total wacko but we did have a very fun time. I heard the incredible bartender got fired (say what?!) -- life is crazy. Meanwhile, me and French Martinis are still going strong.