The joys of being a minor

This was a glorious weekend. Some fellow Skiff staff members and I went to Dallas on Thursday for the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association annual convention, where I was surrounded by other journalism geeks - you know, those weirdos who care about grammar, spelling and who can quote the AP Stylebook like nobody's business. On Saturday I left for Greenville, Texas, and I came back late last night, so I didn't have time to experiment with cooking this weekend.

One thing I did get to experiment with was almost getting kicked out of a hotel bar. Yes, a hotel bar. Fun times. Let me recount the occasion; I promise there is something relating to this blog's theme.

Anyway, so my friends and I wanted to go out Friday night and have some fun. We're in downtown Dallas, how hard can it be, right? Well, we contemplated clubs, gay bars, the House of Blues and crashing a prom. When all of those options failed, we settled for watching "Adventureland" at the Angelika movie theater.

After the movie, we came back to the hotel and decided to go to the hotel bars for drinks. A non-alcoholic drink for me, since I was the only person in our party underage. Yeah. Awesome.

Well, when I asked the bar tender for a non-alcoholic beverage, he didn't look too happy and started lecturing me about the TBC. Expecting doom and trying to avoid a lecture, I said I was leaving. On my way to the door, a bulky hotel staff member in a suit stopped me and asked if I was the only one in my group who was under 21. I said yes and that I was leaving, hoping I could avoid problems. He turned to my group, and I thought, "Great, they are going to kick us all out." But the man said I could stay, unless he saw me drinking, in which case he would kick us all out. My friends nodded in agreement and I sat down at our table. The bartender made me a non-alcoholic drink on the house.

This drink was delicious. I do not know what it was, but I could detect orange juice. I think it was a Shirley Temple. This is how it's made.

Ingredients
4 oz. ginger ale
2/3 oz. grenadine
2 oz. orange juice
ice
Sprite or other lemon-lime soda

I didn't see how he prepared it, seeing as how I was sitting away from the bar, but apparently, you pour the ginger ale and grenadine, which gives the drink its pink color, into a glass with ice. Then, you pour the soda on the rocks. You may add a maraschino cherry if you'd like.

I'll be legal in about a week. Um, yay.

This week's groceries
None. I didn't go grocery shopping this weekend. Oh boy.