Finlandia

There are two revolving doors at the exit of my El station. Every morning for a year and a half I’ve had to use all my upper arm strength to get through the left revolving door. It has never occurred to me to try the right revolving door. I am a Chicken of habit and one who believes that veering from routine can have grave consequences.

Of course there are exceptions. Once I owned a pair of satin pink underwear that I used to wear on big date nights. I got dumped three times wearing those underwear. Finally I put them in a mixing bowl, doused them with vodka and burned them. Otherwise though, I try and stick to the system.

Enter Rooster. This morning he exited the train with me and without asking, went through the right rotating doors. There he was, fluffing his feathers on the other side of the turnstile and I was stuck. For me, pattern is everything. My children will probably be autistic. But I can’t help it. If you can’t control your entrances and exits, what can you control? Then it occurred to me that I wasn’t actually controlling anything by going through the left revolving door, if anything, that hard-to-push door was controlling me. So I went right. And you know what? The right door turns without effort—no upper arm strength necessary. Break out the vodka.

FINLANDIA BLOODY MARY CONTEST

The Rules: Send your ORIGINAL Bloody Mary recipe to Finlandia Bloody Mary Competition. Each entry will be judged on the following criteria: taste, appearance, ease of preparation.

The Prize: $1000

The Entry: Bloody Gazpacho

1. Peel a cucumber, slice it in half lengthwise and scoop out and discard the seeds. Roughly chop one half of the cucumber and put it in a blender.

2. Add ¼ cup chopped green bell pepper, 8 ounces tomato juice, 1 cup of ice and the juice from one lime to the blender.

3. Add 8 ounces of Finlandia Vodka to blender and puree.

4. Place a thin strip of jalapeno in each of 6 martini glasses and fill each with Bloody Gazpacho. Garnish with a lime wedge.