Yay for May!

The April showers are (or should be) over, and it’s time for summer kick in. I can’t WAIT to be done with my exams (only one more… and 10 Red Bulls to go) and on the plane ride home.

The month of May is chock full of great things, and I am more than excited to get this party going. While we’re all winding down and getting ready to finish up the school year, don’t forget to enjoy all the fun things to do and celebrate this month:

1) It’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! (Yeah, I know, try saying that 10 times fast.) As an ABC (American-Born-Chinese), this celebration is near and dear to my heart. Even if you’re not Asian, you can still join us in celebrating this awesome holiday by making some scrumptious Chinese food, and I don’t mean the kind by General Tso. Laugh it up with my fellow Asian Russell Peters, probably the funniest guy alive, and watch this PSA too, brought to you by Dat Phan, another hilarious Asian comedian and stereotypical crazy cab driver.

2) At only 50 calories a cup, who doesn’t love those lovely red heart-shaped fruits we call strawberries? It’s National Strawberry Month, believe it or not (yes, even fruits get to have parties in their honor). It’s also National Salad Month! Throw a garden party and combine the two to make this Chinois Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad, or this Arugula and Strawberry Salad. Speaking of strawberries, has anyone ever heard of strawberry meth? Sounds….tasty?
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How’s your Easter turning out? Did you celebrate with some mimosas this morning? Or perhaps you’re planning on a little red wine with dinner? I know there aren’t too many drinking opportunities on Easter, but that shouldn’t stop you. After all that’s what holidays are made for… er, well, kind of.

Maybe Easter doesn’t mean kegs, and shots and bar crawls to you, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t celebrate with a well deserved buzz. Get creative, people!

Anyway, I started thinking about holidays and how sometimes they just seem to be made for partying. I’m not talking about the holidays that are all about family (although a little peppermint Schnapps in my hot chocolate sure seems to make Christmas a little merrier at my house). No, I’m talking about the holidays that seem to be created around the drink. The ones that aren’t worth celebrating without something frosty and soothing. The ones where I don’t know what I’m celebrating, but I definitely am happy to celebrate. These are the drinking holidays, and I have listed the top 5 for you below. Read More »

Everything gets celebrated in college. No hook-up is too insignificant for an all day brunch recap and no detagging decision is too trivial to not involve all your friends. So it only gets crazier when it’s actually a nationally recognized holiday.

This year I celebrated my first and last St. Patrick’s day at college. Every other year I’ve been home on Spring break doing Irish Car bombs by myself while simultaneously stuffing corned beef in my mouth with my bare hands.

Because it’s a college holiday we chose to wake up before sunrise in order to start drinking as soon as possible. Before I could even wipe the sleep from my eyes and mop the drool off of my mouth someone was shoving beer down my throat. I brushed my teeth with Guinesss, washed my face with four-leaf clovers and started my day. Read More »

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in college, it’s that half of the contacts in my phone are people I don’t know. I may have known them for the length of a drink or a line outside my favorite bar, but memory fades with last call.

In any case, what makes the randoms in my phone stand out is how they’re entered as a contact… affectionately re-named, if you will.

We all do it, and I really do lament my memory slipping, but as I was going through my contacts list the other day, I couldn’t help but crack up at some of the best names I found in my phone. After which I was reminded of some of the better names and numbers taken down by some of my friends.

With no further ado, the best contacts I completely forgot about, and you likely have in your phone too (please note that actual names have been changed on the off chance any of these people remember exchanging numbers with me or my friends):

1. John Cinco de Mayo

Ah, yes, you remember the Cinco de Mayo story. What a glorious and drunken event. He’s still in my phone, identified by when I met him. This can also occur with cities and venues as well (see below)… Read More »

Every once in a while, I’ll go to a bar and someone will hand me a drink and I’ll take a sip and instantly want to puke. I mean, who actually enjoys stuff that tastes like turpentine mixed with a splash of soda?

Yesterday being Cinco De Mayo, a day seemingly dedicated to the art of delicious drink making, I decided to come up with cinco drinkos that actually taste good (so good they’re named after desserts!) and are easy to make with stuff you might actually have in stock:

Cupcake

Mix a half cup Sprite with a half cup of vanilla vodka. Que delicioso!

Thin Mint

Throw a shot of creme de menthe into your hot chocolate and disfrutas!

Apple Pie

Mix an ounce of tequilla with an ounce of apple cider and a splash of lemon juice. Mix in some butterscotch schnapps and you’re buena. Read More »

Any excuse to celebrate with tequila is my kind of celebration! I know that’s not the idea behind Cinco De Mayo, but hey — humor me.

Try these fun drinks, and remember kids DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE. Ride a bike instead.

!POMEGRANATE MARGARITA!

Ingredients:

Lime wedge, plus more for garnish

Salt

Ice

4 ounces white tequila

2 ounces Triple Sec

1/2 cup pomegranate juice

1 lime, juiced (optional)

Club soda

WHAT TO DO:

Pour salt onto a plate or shallow dish. With a lime wedge rub along the rim of a glass and dip glasses upside down to salt the rim. Fill glasses with ice.

In a cocktail shaker with ice place the tequila, triple sec, pomegranate juice, and lime juice. Pour into the salt-rimmed glasses and top off with club soda. Garnish with a lime wedge, if desired. Read More »

Nothing says summer like sangria. Whether you’re planning in advance for Cinco de Mayo (beware of drunken frat boys in sombreros…) or feel like you should upgrade from Carlo Rossi’s gallon jugs, here’s a simple recipe anyone can follow, courtesy of DrinkoftheWeek.com

You’ll need:

* 2 bottles of red wine (750ml)

* 1/2 cup Triple Sec

* 1/4 cup tequila

* 1/4 cup sweet vermouth

* 1/4 cup fresh lime juice

* Lemons, limes and oranges (sliced)

* Sugar to taste

* 2 cups Sprite or 7up

*And a punch bowl or pitcher to mix them in

Mix your wine, Triple Sec, tequila, sweet vermouth, and lime juice in your container of choice. Add sliced fruit and refrigerate for a few hours, just so your alcohol picks up the fruit flavors and vice-versa.

You don’t want your sangria to be all fruit, but the more you add, the more flavor will be picked up. If you’re feeling creative, you can add slices of apple and grapes to the concoction as well.

After your mixture’s thoroughly chilled, add your Sprite/7up and sugar to taste. Serve over ice and you’re ready for one cool evening… or afternoon. It’s always five o’ clock somewhere, right?

If you want to make this part of a perfect theme party, make some guacamole and bust out the tortilla chips. Or even make it part of a dinner party and keep it light with taco salad.

I have an inexplicable love for frat boys. You’d think that after college, I’d have learned my lesson and vow to never again attempt dating one. But no. Ooooh no.

It was Cinco de Mayo, right after college graduation. Four margaritas and a free t-shirt later, I saw him, stumbling toward the bar in basketball shorts, a t-shirt, J. Crew flip flops, and—

“Nice sombrero, hombre!“

Yes. A sombrero. To those who aren’t familiar, the frat boy always comes with an accessory: obnoxious headgear or aviators. My friend, who was keeping pace with my drinking at about half my size, decided to toss a line to the slightly dirtball, overly confident drunk guy. He turned, grabbed a basket of tortilla chips from another table, and slid into our booth.

“How do you ladies feel about flipcup?”

Swoon!

Hombre, as he came to be known, was a Long Islander with a hah-rrible accent whose buddy was hosting a flipcup tournament. I left the bar after putting my number in his phone, expecting never to hear from him again. Turns out Hombre had an affinity for drunk text messaging at prime booty-call hour. Which is how we ended up on our first date three days later. Read More »

• Like this t-shirt is any worse than “Cinco de Mayo” or “Irish I Were Drunk“? (kctv5.com)

• If you’re going to rob someone of all of their worldly possessions, the least you could do is tidy up. (Yahoo!)

• The following gallery is a case of “So Ugly It’s Cute”! Be warned! (The Sun)

• Not only are these inmates eco-friendly, but they’re making ice cream! Italian ice cream! Mmmm (Reuters)

• Things to do when your… stoned? (COED Magazine)

Tequila may be the touchiest alcohol out there. And by that I mean—we’ve all had those nights, and have sworn off the cursed drink since.

I’m about to tell you one of my most embarrassing drinking stories ever for the sake of this piece. Are you ready?

I was 18, met a 30 year old guy who I fell head over heels for, and became a regular at his local bar (you can legally drink in France at 18, thank God). He liked me too, which was a bonus. But he had an issue with the age difference. Yet, because of my undeniable charm (and extreme persistence), I was slowly but surely convincing him that age ain’t nothing but a number.

One night, sitting around with all of his friends who I had never met before, we decided to do a round of shots. Tequila it was, and when I asked for training wheels (don’t you just automatically get salt and a lime?), I was denied. “Katy, we’ve seen you drink. You can handle a big girl shot.” Nope. No, I couldn’t.

We took the shot, and as it was sliding down my throat, I felt it make a U-turn and begin to come back up. Nothing else—just the shot. And I kid you not, I literally projectile vomited this fucking shot of tequila all over the guy, and most of his friends. How’s that for bringing sexy back? I got him in the end, but that’s a whole other story…. Read More »