Give me the good gin!

My beautiful martini that I enjoyed last week at Lunardi's!

By now, I'm sure you know that I have a deep abiding love for Gin.
I wish I could tell you a fascinating story about how I became acquainted with this beautiful spirit but alas, my story is quite mundane.
It was borne out of ignorance.  But, I sure like thinking about it and sharing it with you! 
It goes like this.....
Growing up, my mother was quite a highball lover.  She hosted many nights of highball drinking around our dining room table--whether it was just a Sunday night playing scat with her family or a Friday night sewing club with her gal pals or a Saturday-night-after-bowling get-together or a meeting of her ISDA amici, my mother always had the high-balls covered.  She even had special coasters for her high balls (they were minature jockey straps....haha!).
My mother always made pretty high balls--sometimes with those marachino cherries floating in the short glasses with a little bit of juice for color, sometimes with curly lemon or lime rinds hooked on the side of our fancy stemmed glasses, sometimes with umbrellas attached to the sides of our sherbert-colored parfait glasses and other times with fancy green olives floating in our cool looking martini glasses.   We always had a  frosty bottle of  Gilbert's Gin on the dining room bar.  I think my mother loved gin best of all.  I was in love with the bottle.  It was much prettier than the brown Seagram's 7 bottle and the ripply clear Seagram's Vodka bottle.  Although the tall bottle containing a yellow liquid called Strega always captivated me--I knew better.  My mother and her sisters and her friends never touched the Strega---my mom's brothers would do shots with it and get sick...it was a man's drink.   I always found the Gin bottle to be pretty and inviting. 
Yes, my love affair with gin began even before the pine-y liquid touched my virgin lips. 
So, when it came time for me to order a drink at a bar,  I ordered what I knew---Gin.
The bartender asked--"with tonic?"
I had no idea what tonic was but of course I wasn't about to let him know I wasn't an experienced gin drinker....yes, I always drink gin with tonic...
"With a lime?"  he asked.
"With 2 limes"....I replied....proving that this young chick knew a thing or two about how to drink gin.....
My signature drink was born right then and there......gin and tonic with double lime. 
Over the years, my pallette expanded and demanded better quality gin---soon it was Tanqueray and tonic with double lime. 
But, if you only had the house gin....I drank it.
Along came my Lapband.
NO CARBONATED DRINKS.
I thought I was going to die without my gin and tonics.  
But, once again, I learned to survive.....good bye tonic, hello shaken, not stirred,  so long double lime, I love ya twist! 
Not just survive.....but thrive! 

This time, only the good gin would do.
Tangueray?  Sure!  
Then, I met Hendricks.
I had arrived at Gin Heaven.
Sure, I'll still drink Tangueray...if I absolutely have to.
But, don't try giving me  Gordons or Gilberts or Seagrams.
I deserve so much better.
And, damn, I'm worth it.
I have  my Lapband to thank for my evolution of knowing that I deserve the best quality.....of food and booze.....
Thus, I have my Lapband to thank for  being a better gin drinker.
If I didn't have my Lapband, I would still be drinking cheap gin with tonic and double limes.
 Imagine that?  Judi without a martini? 

Tonight, I am going to drink to my Lapband.