I never own the right glasses...

Observe: the Pomtini. In a water-ish goblet. Which was previously purchased for containing margaritas. Which has also been used for wine.

Five New Year's Days ago, we had a small shindig...the only kind of shindig I usually ever host because I am not, by nature, a consummate entertainer. I am a stressed-out entertainer, always worrying if my guests are having a good time. Hence the focus on alcoholic beverages. Even a sucky shindig is more enjoyable with booze present, right?

Anyway, five years ago, Jan. 1, we had some friends over to celebrate the New Year. The day included lots of food, a sometimes side-splitting game of Lord of the Rings trivial pursuit, and, yes, margaritas. Only, in planning, I was insistent we purchase glasses appropriate for serving margaritas. My husband, who does not drink alcohol (for health-related issues rather than moral ones) insisted that the crystal wine glasses we owned (because we registered for them when we got married...why we registered for them, I have no idea, because even I did not really drink wine at that time) would be fine. But no! I was not to be deterred. So off to Target we went (where else do you buy classy stemware?) in search of margarita glasses. But we could not FIND margarita glasses. The closest I could get in that post-Christmas economy was these big water goblet-ish glasses. They seemed far more appropriate than crystal wine glasses, so we bought four and went on our merry way.

And indeed, they did quite well to contain the margaritas. If anyone was put off by the fact that they were goblets and not margarita glasses, they didn't let on. A good time was had by all.

So, fast forward a little over five years. I was reading the Jolly Ewe's blog the other day in which she wrote about pomegranate martinis. Now, I have to admit that I've never had a martini of any flavor. Not a gin martini. Not a vodka martini. Not a stirred martini. Not a shaken martini. They always seem far more cultured a drink than anything I -- the lover of the Long Island Iced Tea or the rum and coke, or, heck, the plain ol' beer -- am usually found drinking.

However, last night, I found myself at Max & Erma's for dinner, and there on the drink menu was a Pomtini. Pomegranate juice, orange juice and vodka. It had been a long, long day, so I though, ok, why not? I'll give it a whirl. So I ordered the drink, and the waitress asked, "Straight up?" and I said, "Sure!" (Like I know how a Pomtini is best served? All I know is who needs that ice to water things down...really!)

Well, I'll be darned if it wasn't one of the most tasty beverages I've had in quite some time! So much so that when I was at the grocery store today, I thought I'd just buy me some of that pomegranate juice that comes in the funny, bulbous-shaped bottles and see if I can't whip me up my own Pomtini with the vodka that's been languishing under my kitchen sink since being left over from the oldest kid's wedding reception a year and a half ago.

Not one to get hung up on having an actual recipe, I figured equal parts of all three ingredients would be a good place to start...so into my Tupperware mixer thingy I dumped two shots of each juice and of vodka with a bunch of crushed ice and shook. (I did not KNOW how voluminous a shot actually was -- I don't usually measure, I eyeball...heh...so I got a pretty big quantity of Pomtini for my efforts.) Anyway...I strained that puppy with my pink, plastic, heart-shaped strainer and poured it into my goblet/margarita glass/wine glass/martini glass...and It Was Good. Yee-ha!

The moral of the story is: you can serve a really good alcoholic beverage in a Dora the Explorer sippy cup and it won't matter...it'll serve the purpose and no one will care. As long as you don't accidentally give it to a toddler or something.

Note, however, that the Jolly Ewe drinks her 'tinis from actual, proper martini glasses...she is far more cultured than I...or she had better sense when she did her bridal registry... :}