I’m almost embarrassed to admit it, but one of my favorite shows to watch late at night with my wife is Sex and the City. I’m not a particularly big fan of any of the women on the show, and I don’t really buy into the idea that New York city is any more magical or difficult or whatever than Los Angeles. I watch the show because it’s taught me so much about what not to do as a husband. I’ll tell you what guys, wanna lose your wife? Do what Mr. Big does and you’ll be single in a week.
It comes down to this: when you get married, it’s a given that you are going to inherit a few new brothers and sisters. But you have to remember that for some people, men and women alike, friends are just as important as family, and yes, friends also come included in the marriage package (a fact that very often escapes Mr. Big). Some people spend half their life cultivating relationships with friends. My wife and her friends have known each other since elementary school – they call each other sisters. I get it though, you’re her husband and you should be number one. But fellas, you don’t really think you’re just going to show up and disrupt and disregard 30 years of friendship because you “put a ring on it” do you?
Even if it feels that way, you have to remember that her friends are not your competition. In fact, one thing I have learned over the years is that it’s easier to try to win her friends over than it is to try to make them go away. And what’s the best way to win over a group of women who have known your wife for more than half her life and could easily convince her that she can do a lot better than you? One word: alcohol.
If you think you get brownie points for making your wife a drink after along day at work, wait till her friends come over and you make drinks for them. If Sex and the City has taught me anything other than that Mr. Big is a douche bag who doesn’t have a clue about how important a woman’s friends are to her, it’s that women love a good drink. So, just like I promised, here’s drink #2 – a classic and simple recipe for a cosmo, a drink that you make with your wife’s friends in mind.
The cosmo is as easy to make as it is to mess up, so just like the classic margarita that you made for your wife, make sure you practice this one or you’ll end up giving her friends another reason to dislike you. After all, only an idiot screws up a cosmo. It starts with the following ingredients:
- 1.5 ounces of vodka (Any kind will do – vodka is flavorless remember? Just stay away from the store brand stuff.)
- .75 ounces of triple sec or Cointreau
- 3 ounces of lite cranberry juice
- half of a lime
Start the show with a martini glass. If you don’t have these in stock, how are you married? Take the time to figure out how many close friends you wife has, add 2 to that total, and that’s how many martini glasses you should keep in stock. The two extra glasses are for the two that will inevitably be broken by your wife’s drunk friends after a few of these cosmos. Now, if you were expecting her friends to come over, then you should have already had the martini glasses in the freezer. If they caught you by surprise, then just fill each martini glass with ice and water to frost them over in a hurry.
Fill a shaker about halfway with ice. Add the cranberry juice, vodka, and triple sec. Squeeze most of the juice from the lime into the shaker and shake it well for about 5 seconds – any more and you’ll bruise the vodka, which I think is just something a bartender made up one day. Anyway, strain the contents of the shaker, minus the ice, into your frosted martini glass and squeeze the last bit of lime juice into the drink.
Rinse and repeat as needed. Her friends will love you and your wife will love you because of it. At the end of the day, its just a simple gesture, but no matter what, a good husband always knows that his wife’s friends matter to her, and sometimes keeping them happy can be the key to an even happier marriage. Tune in next week for drink #3 – the one that matters most since it’s the one you make for yourself.
Leftover Bacon 