Kirby at Home: Not All It's Cracked Up To Be??

No. 3 on my "30 Before 30" List is going to the Kentucky Derby wearing a big ole hat and drinking a cold mint julep ~~from my silver mug~~. Seeing as how no one thought I was serious when I said I wanted to go to the Derby, I decided to have a practice round this year. Luckily, besides the humonganguous rosemary bush Stephen also has mint in his yard, spearmint and regular. He has been telling me for months he had it, ~~I didn't believe him,~~ so I thought this would be the best time to try it out! Now we have all the perfect makins' for a true Kentucky mint julep.

Derby day I woke up, took a shower (shocker, if you know anything about me, you know I hate taking a shower), put on my pearls, lace top and my big two dollar Target find floppy garden hat. I was ready! I had taken some mint from Stephen's garden and began to make my mint simple syrup. I used 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 cup water and a bunch of mint. You know I eyeball that kind of stuff. Brought to a boil then let it cool in the frig.

Stephen and I went to the ABC store (he wouldn't let me wear my hat in) and picked up a bottle of Early Times Kentucky Whisky. We wanted this to be authentic, so we used the recipe from KentuckyDerby.com. We placed our bets, or so we thought, and went to make our drinks.

So, the recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon of your simple syrup mixture and 2 ounces of bourbon. That's not a very big drink, so we tried to use the same proportions. We also added more crushed mint and crushed ice. Topped it off with a fresh sprint of mint, and it was ready to go down. Man, it was pretty! Probably the prettiest of all the libations I have ever re-created. I even set up a little photo shoot for it. I was in love. That is until I took my first sip....YEEE-UCCK! It was like an explosion of sugar at first, then you realize it's a shot of whisky. Every sip was like that. I managed to force down maybe a 1/4th of my glass, but sadly I couldn't handle it. Our relationship came to an end after the race was over; you know about two minutes later.

Now, let's rewind about five minutes. We made our drinks, watched the National Anthem and got ready for the race. We get a call, the website is down and our bets didn't go in. We didn't place big bets, but we wanted to have something in it, so it came down to the wire. About one minute before the race began, our bet goes through. We have a few dollars on the favorite 8. Dailed In and few on 15. Midnight Interlude. The race begins, we are so excited. Imagine us: Me- jumping up and down screaming, with my hat on and a full glass of mint julep; Stephen- sitting in his chair calmly saying something like let's go. Two minutes later, it ends. It's over. That's what all the hype and preparation was for. We win nothing. 8. Dailed In gets 8th place and 15. Midnight Interlude gets 18th (I think). 18th out of 19 horses. Do we know how to pick em or what.

notice the rosemary behind me

Regardless of the let down of the drink and the let down of the race, I enjoyed it! I think it was so much fun. I can only imagine what it would be like to be there surrounded by all the celebrities and beautiful fashion. Oh, be still my heart. Animals and big hats. I love em. I do love them both. Maybe next year.