Today's Groupon is going to bail you out next Thursday. For just $24 you get a ticket to the Cooking Fools Cocktail, Spirits & Hors D'oeuvres Tasting next Thursday, 12/18 from 6-8pm at 1916 W. North Ave. That's a pretty sweet deal (26% off normal price of $33) on unlimited classy cocktails and elegant appetizers. Especially considering the details: First of all, you'll enjoy specialties by North Shore Distillery's Co-Founder Sonja Kassebaum, featuring Sonja's own handcrafted artisan spirits and Sirene Absinthe Verte (yo...it's legal now!) served with a traditional Absinthe drip fountain. Secondly, you'll get two signature cocktails from Mixologist Angie Jackson: the "Holiday Harvest" featuring Angie's homemade infusions, and "Cool as a Cucumber Gin Elixir" featuring North Shore Distillery's Premium spirits. Thirdly, the Chefs at Cooking Fools will provide delightful appetizer pairings with the cocktails. And fourthly, did you catch that part about the Absinthe Fountain?!
You're going to need it too. I can see it now: next Thursday will be a long day at work for you. You're going to want to come home to a decent cocktail. Problem is your liquor cabinet is embarrassingly nasty. That Gordon's someone dumped on you last New Years Party isn't going to go well with the three mixer candidates in your fridge: grapefruit juice, PowerAde and milk. Neither is that crappy tequila you have. And let's face it, even if you had handles of fine aged Scotch & Old Raj Gin, you wouldn't know what to do with them.
Sonja & Angie have you covered. Please oh please don't try to be the cocktail equivalent of that chump at Home Depot buying all the parts for an ill-advised project. Let your face be red from drunken delight and not from total humiliation. I mean hey....you depend on paid experts to fulfill all your other consumption needs: cleaning and gutting fish, frying up a Big Mac, properly bottling that can of Mountain Dew....why should you try to rely on yourself for cocktails when they require the greatest level of expertise?
Never mind that when the apocalypse strikes you'll be in no shape to survive off of nature...you won't know which tree leaves are edible & which are poisonous, and the best cocktail you'll drink will be the disgusting moonshine sour you'll mix yourself if you run into some survivor resourceful enough to start a backwoods still. This is no time to start relying on yourself. Nay, tis the time to enjoy the holiday season with belly-warming holiday spirits! Drink ye merrily from the Fountain of Absinthe! Besides, studies have shown that the Apocalypse is likely to be a long long ways away, probably in 2012 if the Mayans are right, just after Arnold wins the election and implements a civilization-ending reign of brute terror.
Once that happens you'll be less likely to care about scavenging nuts and berries amidst the nuclear winter as you will simply wishing you'd enjoyed all of life's finest offerings. So before this one reaches the 30 person limit & closes, you better get your Groupon so you can drink some gourmet cocktails.
Cooking Fools
Many cooks would insist that a trusted recipe is the foundation of a good meal, but at Cooking Fools, it’s the first thing to go. Their cooking classes unshackle pupils from their cookbooks and encourage creativity in the kitchen. Their chefs exercise the same artistic license over the meals they assemble for cooking parties. Adhering to three main principles—quality ingredients, good style, and common sense—the staff crafts healthy food, decreasing saturated fats but never flavor. Many of their entrees radiate global inspiration, and are arranged in a modern, artistic way that doesn’t outshine flavors.