New Amsterdam Gin
I'm fond of the story how we drank the last of this kind of gin in Ontario. We discovered New Amsterdam in the LCBO and it soon became our gin of choice. It makes fabulous martinis, a staple in our household. One day we went to the St. Marys LCBO and it wasn't on the shelf. It had been discontinued, so I guess not everyone was so enamoured. I complained to Ron, the store manager, and he said there was nothing he could do, it was a head office decision, etc… but he could see what remaining stock there was. He ushered me into his office. To my amazement he was able to check the inventory of NA gin in every store in the province and right then and there phoned those that still had some and said he had a customer. So 20-plus bottles, all the remaining NA gin in Ontario, were sent to St. Marys! We thought we'd have to pay for it all at once, but no, it was kept in a private area in the store and, as we needed it, I would go in and say "I'd like a bottle of our gin, please."
It won't surprise you to know that New Amsterdam gin is American, from NYC. Since exhausting the supply in Ontario, we've had to rely on importing it, two bottles at a time (fortunately, Canada Customs does not ask how big the bottles are -- we love the 1.5 litre size). We also have friends who have unselfishly brought us back gin from their US travels -- thank you Cathy and Bob! (Others take note.) No problem getting this Yankee gin here happily.
The Rachel Maddow Show
OK, this wouldn't be in Joey's favourites category. He laughs at me but I adore Rachel Maddow. She does talk a bit fast, about three times as fast as I do, but she's so smart, and funny too. For those who are not au courant with US cable news shows she has a prime time slot on MSNBC and was described in the NY Times today as the network's star host. MSNBC is the anti-Fox.
For Canadians, American politics is, as my friend Skip (aka Mary Lou) Evans says, a spectator sport; one I've become somewhat addicted to. I really love to watch Rachel sticking it to the Republican and Tea Party types, whether it's about the rolling back of abortion rights, the restricting of voter rights or the fights over gay marriage. Rachel, by the way, makes frequent reference to her female partner.
The juiciest thing lately has been the whole Chris Christie thing, which Rachel introduced last month as "a tale just too crazy to believe" and has been following doggedly ever since. That a Republican governor of New Jersey, or at least his senior staff, would secretly order the shut-down of several lanes on the George Washington Bridge, the world's busiest, as part of some mysterious vendetta against a Democratic mayor (whose town was totally snarled with traffic for days as a result)… well, it's pretty crazy, like something from the fictional TV series House of Cards, and yet it's true. (I confess I'm not a big fan of Christie since he vetoed a bill legalizing gay marriage in New Jersey.)
Here I can watch Rachel Maddow live every night (at home I can get her on podcast but a day late). Fortunately for Joey we have more than one TV.
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