Espresso yourself

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3littlebirds was not created as a ‘mummy blog’. Still, after the third parenting-themed post, a friend threatened to ‘unfollow’ me because it might affect his “street cred”. After gently pointing out that that ship had already sailed, I took a long, hard look at my posts.

But rather than highlight the amount of mummy-blog-type content on these pages, it made me realise that the posts about my three munchkins – these adorable, messy, exasperating, hilarious creatures – were the easiest ones to write. Inspiration overflows in this crazy, chaotic, beautiful world where stressed is not just desserts spelled backwards but an actual, frequent example of one thing (stressed) leading to another (desserts). It’s all about the balance.

Speaking of desserts, inspiration came in another (delectable) form today. So I decided it was time to write about another of my true loves: gastronomy. The art and science of food. Which I suppose technically also covers drink. Molecular gastronomy, perhaps? Ok, ok, just cocktails.

An impromptu, post-work drink date with a girlfriend took place this evening, instigated by the sweet, caffeinated promise of a $10 espresso martini at Firefly in Neutral Bay – a stylish yet comfy wine bar & restaurant on this side of the Bridge. It is our 9th birthday, the promo email said. Help us celebrate, it said. Our martini is topped with cookie & cream shavings, it said. How. Not. To? Who am I to turn down a drink that is a fusion of coffee, chocolate and vodka? The trivector of guilty pleasures lovingly poured into one sexy martini glass. So we went. We ordered. We took a photo.

espresso martini

A drink so beautiful that even the camera made everything else fade into the background.

Impromptu martinis are the best kind. I might even ask for one without the vodka next time. Forget the street cred.

©2017 Seetha Dodd

7 thoughts on “Espresso yourself”

  1. Pingback: Venn will you be serious? | 3 little birds

  4. Dear Seetha,

    so glad you could make it to my humble bar for our 9th birthday. My great great Aunt Lucetta (the Firefly mascot and my inspiration) would be proud, what with you having three little munchkins yet still out and about on a school night knocking back espresso martinis.

    Although judging by the natural bright lighting in your martini porn pic it was more of a school afternoon than a school night.

    Fist bumps nonetheless.

    You’ll be pleased to know birthday week has been memorable so far, although I don’t know if memorable is the correct word to use.
    We made 117 espresso martinis last night so I can only imagine the sore heads and lack of productivity I’m indirectly responsible for today.

    It does get better though. Or worse, depending.

    This afternoon I fired up the absinthe fountain we had at our opening party back in 2008.
    In case you’re not familiar with absinthe please indulge my brief history/science lesson.

    Vincent Van Gogh chopped his ear off whilst imbibing it.

    Edgar Allan Poe was a big fan of it.

    Oscar Wilde even devoted some prose to it.

    Absinthe contains a mystical herb called Wormwood (botanical name Artemisia Absinthium) which, prima facie, transforms one into a world class artist, or writer, or drunk.

    I did the sensible thing by setting the absinthe fountain up, passing on instruction for use to my lovely yet misguided bar boys then leaving post-haste.
    That was a few hours ago so I am just imagining all of the things that have possibly/probably happened since.

    Anyway’s I’m alive, the police haven’t called and we all have our ears intact, so I guess it’s been a good day. My bar is nine years old (that’s 63 in human years btw) and there is just one hurdle left to survive birthday week; Unlimited Sangria Sunday.

    Yes Seetha, two hours of unlimited sangria for a very paltry sum. Red Sangria, White Sangria, Rose` Sangria, with lashings of wine and fruit and gin and mint.
    At last count we have nearly two hundred misguided souls booked in for this momentous day, mostly young lords and ladies yet to spawn munchkins and apparently nowhere too important to be on Monday morning.
    I’m equal parts excited and scared. It is going to be one for the history books and I am quietly pleased that birthdays only come around once a year.

    Thank you once again for visiting Firefly and I do hope to welcome you back another day. Not this Sunday please, but hopefully before we turn ten.

    Yours Sincerely,

    Daniel Sofo
    Owner, Firefly.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Daniel,

      Thank you for taking the time to write this entertaining response! You also have some impressive photo-analysis skills – you are right, of course, it was 5pm. Not quite living on the edge but I am happy to know that my drink date and I contributed to those 117 martinis.

      My previous knowledge of ‘Wormwood’ was only from Roald Dahl’s Matilda so cheers for the science lesson. 🙂

      I will leave the absinthe cocktails to the young ‘uns (Absinthium and Absenteeism having too many common letters for me) but I will be back for your Unlimited Sangria Long Lunch one weekend as soon as I can get the reinforcements in.

      Oh, and Happy Birthday! I hope the rest of the weekend celebrations go well for you and your charming team.

      Seetha

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