MAGPIE/ Prompt #22

photo/ willow/ magpie tales

WHAT A LIGHT BULB MOMENT that must have been when the bottle of vodka tipped over into the cocktail sauce. I am projecting that the following scenario ensued..

A young apprentice barman by the name of Fernand Petiot was working at The New York Bar, later to become Harry's New York Bar in Paris, one early afternoon, in 1921, chit chatting with Mr. Ernest Hemingway, a good and steady customer.   Trying to grab lunch on the sly, he started to pile some shrimp into a dish when the aforementioned vodka bottle tipped over and filled to overflowing the bowl holding the cocktail sauce.  Instinctively, after grabbing the bottle, he put lips to the dish, sipped the overflow, grabbed a piece of celery, stirred the shrimpless contents, and justifiably shrieked, Eureka!!

After tasting the contents that were passed to him, Mr. Hemingway agreed that this was a bloody good sort of a drink!  Bloody Mary came later, either as an homage to Queen Mary I of England, or to a waitress named Mary who worked at the Bucket of Blood in Chicago.

RECIPE FOR BLOODY MARY FROM THE NEW YORK SCHOOL OF BARTENDING

1 oz. vodka in a highball glass filled with ice.
Fill glass with tomato juice
1 dash celery salt
1 dash black pepper

1 dash Tabasco sauce

2-4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp. horseradish
Dash of lemon or lime

Shake vigorously (if you use a shaker) or stir lazily.  Garnish with celery stalk.


VARIATIONS:
Bloody Fairy-  Absinthe replaces vodka.
Bloody Geisha-  Sake...
Bloody Margaret-  Gin...
Bloody Dane-  Akvavit...
Bloodless Mary-  Without tomato juice.
etc....

1/2 cup supplies 1/3 of daily dose of lycopene or 8 milligrams per serving.   

A toast to Willow at magpie tales for giving us the opportunity to participate in this Prompt!  Cheers!! 

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