Martinis at Midnight

The Kamikaze Martini

The Kamikaze Martini

As always insight comes to me in the latest hour of the evening. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a raving martini alcoholic. On most nights I just go out for a martini tasting and have the intention of being home early. On this particular evening, this was the intention due to the fact that I had to be up early the next morning. A good friend of mine was in from out of town and a few of us decided to martini taste at the M bars. We planned to progress to 3 different bars all starting with the letter M and taste different martinis at each. Simple and harmless, right? Wrong! I forgot who I was going out with, and they had other intentions. The first M bar was a dud and we got out of there quickly; the second was much better, with a good martini list and a great bartender. It was at this bar that we were introduced to the Kamikaze Cosmopolitan. I should have known that it was not going to be an early night as soon as this martini was presented on the bar.

We all know that there are way too many versions of the Cosmo, but interestingly enough I had never tasted the Kamikaze.. It was true to its name, something familiar but with just a little more craziness. The Kamikaze is a mixture of a number of things which add their own touch to the concoction. This martini has Vodka, Triple Sec, and Peach Schnapps with cranberry and lime juice. What I liked about this combination was that it was almost all alcohol; I am a fan of a strong martini. My girlfriends were intimidated because they are all about the fruity martini (the ones that are in the martini glass but taste like juice). I knew we were in trouble after the first sip. This martini is so tasty. You can tell that it is strong but it entices you to keep sipping. It is slightly sweet and there is a hint of sour, but it does not come across tart. The girls loved it. This is when the Kamikaze kicked in and the craziness began. Help!

As we moved on to the third M bar, the giggles had definably started. My girlfriend made the comment that the Kamikaze martini is so good that it might get her boyfriend off the Prozac. We all did a double take on that comment and so the conversation unfolded. As it turned out, the boyfriend had developed a liking for the happy pill. He had been diagnosed a year earlier as depressed and had been given Prozac. She confessed that life with him on Prozac was better then the ups and downs prior to the happy pill, however after a year there were new issues. Prozac had made him emotionally void - it seemed the longer he was on the pill, the more insensitive he got, and nothing seemed to upset him. Someone could even get hit by a car and it would not faze him.

“The lack of sex drive was another huge issue; her vibrator was getting more use than her boyfriend.”

He had also turned into an air head; he use to be so detail-orientated and now he forgot everything, it seemed. When she made the suggestion that maybe he should talk to the doctor about going off the happy pill, he got very defensive and stated that he thought he would be one of those people that would be on them his whole life. Was this a self diagnosis or just the words of a Prozac addict?

 

 

 

 

 

 

What concerned her most was that he had not done any counseling to try and find out what was the cause of the depression. He was content to take Prozac for the rest of this life and be an anti-depressant zombie.

As we had another Kamikaze martini, we all agreed that everyone has issues and we all have a vice: it can be cigarettes, alcohol, pot, caffeine, or, in the boyfriend’s case, Prozac. The question is, when does the vice become an addiction? Is a substance an addiction when it is used on a daily basis or more frequently than that? The conclusion was that a vice becomes an addiction when you cannot go without it. I realized that my vice was the martini. I loved it and it did make me happy. However, as much as it might kill me, I could go without a martini for a long period of time. It was enlightening to realize that I was not a martini addict, just a martini lover.

This led me to start thinking about all the people in our society that pop the happy pills everyday. Depression is a very serious condition and the happy pills have helped so many people live better lives. But are we becoming a culture that takes a pill every time we are not happy? Aren’t humans meant to have a normal amount of ups and downs? What about the phase that you need the bad times to appreciate the good times? As we talked more, it seemed that we all knew many people that were taking some kind of anti-depressant, for a variety of reasons. Was this trend of everyone taking a happy pill actually helping people deal with their problems, or was it just helping them ignore the issues? Does Prozac help you deal with reality or just give you another version? Were we all living in a version of the matrix?

Conclusion:

It is always when you have the intention of going home early that you end up having the wildest nights. The Kamikaze Cosmopolitan martini is a drink that weakens your resistance, and even when you know better it makes you say, "Okay, just one more." Everyone in this world wants to be happy; this is a martini can give you that happy glow. The subtle sweetness of the Peach Schnapps mixed with the tartness of the cranberry and lime make it easy for this martini to be sipped quickly. Are we a society that craves happiness so much that we can take a pill daily and ignore the fact that it is an addiction? We all have vices and lots of us have addictions. Why are we trying so hard to be happy 24/7? Life is about the ups and downs. You cannot appreciate the good times without the bad. The Kamikaze is a martini that brings on the good times but remember that continued consumption of something that makes you feel good can only eventually lead to you feeling bad. Remember that all good things in life, and definitely martinis, should always be in moderation. This will keep you a lover, not an addict.

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Copyrights: 2005 by Marjory Cheales