When Routine Bites Hard

I'm not one for routine. I do not have a daily game plan, I don't follow much of a schedule. I guess sleeping in the same bed every night and having a stove top espresso first thing in the morning is the most routine in my life.

The other morning I woke up and enjoyed a delicious Martini. Vodka please, ice cold, just a little bit dirty and straight up. That's how I drink them. I usually have them in the early evening, but when I woke this particular morning I went to the spot in the kitchen where the coffee station is set up and without thinking mixed a Martini, turned on the A.M. news, sat back and drank my Martini.

When I finished I was drunk. It was about 7:30 in the morning and I was drunk. See the problem is this. The coffee stuff in our kitchen is at one end of the counter and the cocktail stuff is at the other. The night before Stacey cleaned the Martini shaker and placed it at the coffee station. So I called her at work to discuss it. She SAID she just made a mistake, but I was drunk and thought otherwise. Yes, I was drunk and she was mad and that made me mad cause as far as I was concerned it was her fault. I told her, talking like I had a mouth full of marbles, I told her "you can't put the shaker next to the coffee and not expect the worst". She just hung up on me. So I called her back. She threatened to kill me when she got home and hung up on me. So I called her back. She threatened to never come home and hung up on me. So I called her back. I called her back 20 times that day. She said she would divorce me and take all my money and hung up on me. I called her back and told her "bring it on, I ain't scared and all I got is twenty dollars".

When Stacey got home that evening I made sure to have a nice cold cocktail waiting for her.

Holeman Finch Public House

Saturday afternoon Stacey and I ate at HF, which has been one of the hottest spots in Atlanta for a little over a year now. It's in Buckhead, part of the Restaurant Eugene empire. Like usual it was a great meal made from small plates, a really wonderful way to eat if you ask me. One gets to try many different dishes at one sitting.

HF also specializes in cocktails. Cocktails at HF are treated with the same care given to the food. The Bar Chefs, 3 of them are the owners/operators at HF, are the best in the industry. Mixers are made fresh everyday, the best ingredients are sourced out, same as food and the drinks are mixed with the care and preciseness of a chemist.

Here is what we enjoyed at HF last Saturday.

DRINKS

Resurgens Cocktail - peach infused rye whiskey, Noilly Prat Sweet Vermouth + house made cola bitters

The Usual - Amaro Cio Ciaro, fresh grapfruit, Regan's orange bitters + sparkling gruner veltliner

A bottle of Duck Rabbitt Porter

Dogfish Head IPA on tap

FOOD

Roasted Veal Sweetbreads
arugula with hog jowl and brown butter

Fried Rabbit Livers
soft grits and chow chow

Roasted Mussels
cream sauce with pork belly and bread

Cornmeal Fried Oysters
adam's family remoulade and lemon

Pork Belly Sliders
with summer garden slaw