And the winner is....

Emily is thoroughly kicking my ass at everything. She pummeled me in a beer-fueled quote-off and now she has successfully taken the chalice of victory in our cocktail-making competition. My proposed metaphor for our approaches was that of Olympic Figure Skating. Emily is the technical program - her cocktail making shows years of study and practice. Her drinks show mastery. I am the exhibition. I am Scott Hamilton and I go for the laugh. Call me Cuban Pete.*

We had a great time yesterday on a tour of the Joint Security Area in the DMZ. I bought a lot of things at the gift shop. Sadly, there were no Kim Jong-Il coffee mugs but I managed to ease the pain by buying blueberry brandy made in the DPRK. I convinced Emily to help me with an SFZero task and here is the finished product:


I began the competition with The Six-Party Talks:
1/2 shot Russia
1/2 shot DPRK
1 smidge ROK, Japan, China
2 shots USA
Served on ice.
Awful. I didn't even try to convince my opponent to try it.

She countered with a Unification Cocktail:
1/2 shot DPRK
1/2 shot ROK
Lemon juice to represent the bitterness of the past and honey to represent the sweetness of the future. Mix with ice and add tonic. This was quite good. E drank hers, which means that it was good because, unlike me, she has refined tastes.


I then made a Korean Flag shot.
So I combined 1/2 shot of DPRK Blueberry Brandy to represent the Yin, hot sauce for Yang, Fire and Earth, and tonic for water and air. Stir vigorously. Shoot. It wasn't so bad but the sauce I bought is the kind used in bibimbop which leaves an odd aftertaste.

Emily made a Russo-Shilla Sling, and a Korean War Cocktail. The former was not so great but the latter I consumed. I ended with a 1909, which had to be thrown out. The winner: The Unification Cocktail.

It has been another good day here in Seoul.

*And a total dork.