The Magic

There is a bar in La Plaza de Mina somewhere in Cadiz, Spain called Son Latinos. I fell in love with this bar. We had an instant connection. I heard the intoxicating 6 8 beat of cow bells and salsa music and it hooked me. There were drums and hot Cuban sailors, and it was all my friends could do to get me to go to any other bar. I became a regular, a VIP, a friend of the owners and the bouncers...so that during Carnival when there was a line around the block to get in, MJ and I could just waltz on up to the door and skip the drama. It was the place I learned to salsa and also it's where I was introduced to the refreshing minty-lime zing of a well made mojito. Nothing says summer bliss like a well made mojito...just fresh mint crushed with ice, silver rum, lime,a touch of soda, and sugar cane. I love it.

Sometime during grad school, when I was losing my mind, I decided I really needed a mojito, so I hosted the first mojito madness party and it has since become a kind of trade mark. Mojito Madness is occassionaly accompanied by some kind of personal holiday...my birthday, my graduation, whatever, but more often that not, it just comes to me that I need to have a party, which is what happened last night. Though after my last mojito madness, a strange affair where we ended the night with some unbloggable events, I have decide to rename this party mojito magic...the magic being in that everyone gets drunk and happy, but no ones gets too hung over or does anything stupid or dangerous.

My lovely friend from high school and neighbor played hostess and volunteered her space so to avoid any altercations with my neighbors who are getting stranger by the minute (I'll blog about them tomorrow). Her house is fabulously comfortable and was the perfect spot. As per usual, there is always not enough of something. At the first party, we ran out of mint. At my second, we ran out of rum....so this time with plenty of mint, rum, soda, and ice, my lime bringers were late...which held up the process.

There were three kinds of mojitos: pomegranate, mango ginger (which were divine), and the classic original. To line our stomachs, there was tamale pie, fabulous chicken empanadas, pasta salad, cake, and all sorts of other good munchies, but I digress. The real magic (oh God this sounds cheesy even in my head, but Mz. Blu wants to watch TV on the net, and I don't have a lot of time for revision so here it is) of my mojito parties is getting to spend some time with my community. Also I like cross pollinating my friends. Since I was little, I have always had a group of friends where someone hates someone else and it gets all awkward and irritating...but now it seems like my friends (at least in this state) all vibe well together. Moreover it was really cool to hang out with people in a different venue.And there was dancing....so for me it was perfect and when I woke up today I didn't feel like I wanted to die. I even made it to church with Tizaus and Shoshana and while I was there laughing at Tizaus' after mojito story (she was walking home drunk and surprised a possum taking a dump in her driveway), I was thinking once again how grateful I am for my friends. They are so much fun, the true magic operating in my life.