BYOB(W)

So you probably thought I've been slipping these past few months with no posts. But here's the thing: it's really hard to have a cooking blog if you haven't been cooking. Well, if by "cooking" you mean opening up a bottle of wine or pouring a bourbon neat, then I've definitely been cooking my ass off! I I relocated (temporarily, not temporarily—TBD) to San Francisco a few months ago and literally I have been out almost every single day given the ridiculous access to incredible restaurants that surround me. I mean I have yet to have a bad meal—and I've had A LOT of meals. Remember the whole "freshman 15" thing. Well, I've discovering there is also a "San Francisco 15" thing. Thank God summers are too cold up here to wear a bathing suit! 

I have cooked exactly twice since coming north and one was this drink (OK, so I'm using that term "cooking" loosely here). But it's definitely a blog-worthy dish . . . er . . . drink. I made it as a signature drink for a party a friend hosted for this event. I thought she said it was BYOB (which I'm totally down with), but then she corrected me, saying the party was for BYOBW. What?! Seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. 

Yep, this is a race comprised of adults dressed in ridiculous costumes (i.e. Hello, Mr. Stormtrooper) riding very tiny and unstable plastic tricycles, et. al. down a really steep and very curvy road (in fact the crookedest road in all of San Francisco). How people do not lose their life or limb is clearly an act of God. If you don't believe in a higher power, come watch this race. It's kind of like watching Jackass. Lots of people doing really stupid and dangerously risky things with their bodies. It's completely absurd but also looks fun as hell. [And I apologize for being a dummy and not holding my camera horizontal when shooting. Rookie!]

Racers are corralled together in heats (how this is organized is beyond me but it seems to work) and then they're off—and carnage ensues. 

Every turn means epic mass collisions and traffic jams with the crowd moaning and groaning along with them. Yet, when the racers finish, they steadfastly march back up the side of the hill with enormous grins on their faces and do it all over again—until their vehicle is basically demolished. 

Towards the end of the race, it was all I could do to hold myself back from grabbing someone's nearly crushed big wheel and throwing myself down a steep hill with no body protection. I heard someone say it was the most fun you can have legally and I think he may be right. 

My drink is easy to make but looks very upscale and adult, which is about as opposite as you can get from Bring Your Own Big Wheel (BYOBW) but no one seemed to mind. It was the Bourbini, which was created originally by Louisville's Doc Crow and combines America's native (and my favorite) spirit with champagne for a unique twist. 

And in case you want to see more of the craziness, you can watch here. 

Bourbini

Ingredients

1 oz bourbon (I used Bulleit)

2 dashes peach bitters (I found at BevMo)

1/2 oz peach liqueur (also found at BevMo)

Lime slice

Sparkling wine topper

Fresh mint

Preparation
Shake ingredients with ice, strain into glass, top with sparkling wine and garnish with mint sprig.