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I hate to follow up yesterday’s post on job losses with another Debbie Downer topic, but last night at my company’s Q4 meeting we got the official news I’ve been dreading. Time to pack away my party dress I bought in August and forget my plans of sipping on company bought champagne: our holiday party has been cancelled.

I suppose I should be focusing on our CEO’s more optimistic announcements that we won't be having any lay-offs or pay cuts, but I’m giving myself one day to pout. I love Christmas and all the cheesy, over commercialized, over the top festivities that go along with it. So what better way to celebrate than to go all out on your office’s dime?

At least the news didn’t come as too much of a surprise, given the trend of a no frills holiday season for most offices and many families. Many NYC bashes have taken big hits, and I’m sure the cancellations in Boston will unfortunately soon follow.

Woman’s Wear Daily reported that Marc Jacob’s cancelled his annual masquerade holiday party, which had been scheduled for December 10th at the famed Rainbow Room in NYC with a "Rock and Roll Circus" theme. Marc Jacob’s holiday soiree is known for being an over the top event, W Magazine described the glamour of last year’s event:
“Masked revelers at Marc Jacob's annual holiday bash at Gotham Hall took the Venice Carnival theme to heart, partying as if the city of canals would be underwater by morning. Gondoliers hit up the champagne fountain, French poodles flirted with one another and women strapped on corsets so tight they could barely speak”.

Bank of America, American Express, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are all cancelling or cutting down on the festivities too. The Estee Lauder annual Christmas party and the famed Conde Nast (publishers of The New Yorker, Vogue, Glamour and Vanity Fair) lunch at the Four Seasons are also not being scheduled. Viacom, whose parties are normally hosted by divisions such as MTV and Paramount Pictures, is opting for a more than fair trade. They’ll be getting two extra paid days off in lieu of the usual holiday party.

For those of us that have fallen into the hands of Scrooge, we are not alone. Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement firm, found that 77 percent of companies are planning holiday office parties this year, down from 90 percent in 2007. The firm also found that one in five companies is scaling down its usual year end party.

In the spirit of the holiday season and giving, I suppose it wouldn’t be appropriate to fulfill my dreams of ice sculptures and gourmet hors d'oeuvres at Top of the Hub. I’ll make due with a more modest celebration and be happy that my office isn’t cutting any of its charitable giving. But I’m not returning my party dress yet, just in case ;)

[Photo: Beer O'Clock by Ben Harris-Roxas on Flickr with permission under Creative Commons Copyright.]

TGIF! In the winter spirit there are visions of beer dancing in my head and I can't wait to go out tonight with my girlfriends. I can appreciate a good variety of beer, like Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale or Sam Adams Octoberfest this time of year. But for a weekend night out I'll usually skip the fancy brews an opt for a BudLight. Keep it simple and cheap for your bartender.

But lately, it seems like breweries are coming up with some varieties that seem more like a whole load of chemicals more than beer.

Let's start with MGD 64, with a claim to fame of only 64 calories (clever name, I know). So in case you missed the ads on TV, the pitch is that two woman walk into a bar, one orders an MGD 64 and the other says "I'll have 64 calories of a Margarita please". MGD 64 poster girl gets a nice full beer and Margarita friend gets a 1/4 glass of Mexican drunkenness. This is where I'd appreciate a little fast forward in the bar scene...

Let's be realistic. One hour later, Margarita girl is singing Karaoke to "Apple Bottom Jeans" dancing with some hot Latin lover, while poor MGD 64 girl is dishing out her last $20 for her 6th beer, lacking in the drunken confidence to even approach the Karaoke mic let alone steamy Latin boy.

This is where the kicker comes in that MGD failed to mention, MGD 64 only has 2.8% alcohol while the average light beer has 4.2%. And we all know where the Tequila in your Margarita stands.

Moving on, I can vouch for the good flavor in Michelob Ultra, but their advertising is even more pitiful. What happened to good old clydesdales and hot girls to advertise beer? You're not fooling me with your images of skinny active people in cute work out clothes. I know the morning after a few Mich Ultras there's no way you're getting me on a bike or hiking some mountain.

I suppose that at a long day at a football game or a party you may opt for something that you can drink a lot of before getting a solid buzz, but this is America. What hard working citizen looks forward to casually enjoying a few beers for sake of flavor. Oh, and just try and pass these things off with your most loyal consumers Miller, the college kids of America. They'll laugh in your face. We're in recession here. There's no way their going to pay for 2 beers when they can get drunk off of one.

I also think it's fair to say that in Boston you're going to get some pretty harsh criticism from your local bartender if you try to order any of the aforementioned. But just for kicks, I just may try and order Michelob Celebrate Chocolate tonight at Daisy Buchanan's.

Before you know it we're going to be seeing calorie free beer (Is this what it was like when Diet Coke got invented?). I'm dreading the day. So enjoy the classics while you can. Support our friends over at Anheuser Busch and crack open an ice cold Bud Light and enjoy the calories (and the alcohol).

[Photo: wineshop by paul goyette on Flickr used with permission under Creative Commons Copyright.]

Blogette's typical Friday afternoon:

5 p.m.: Appreciating gorgeous crisp fall evening, leaving work content and craving wine

6:15 p.m.: Proceed into Liquor Store determined. Will find perfect bottle of wine.

6:30 p.m.: Stand in Liquor Store isle completely overwhelmed by 1,000+ bottles of wine, stare dumbfounded and observe what other people are buying

6:40 p.m.: Begin to wish I could casually stroll in and pick up random bottle of wine (mental note: research good, cheap wine). Meander towards wine specials, drawn to pretty bottles. Indecisive. Too many pretty bottles.

6:45 p.m.: Exit store unsatisfied with Barefoot, Yellow Tail or random cool label wine that was on sale.


Why do we find ourselves in this situation girls? Sticking with the same bottle of Kendall Jackson chardonnay is like picking out the same nail polish color for your pedi every week. Why not consider the other endless possibilities?

I'm clearly not the person you want to get your ritzy wine recommendations from, but I do know from years of waitressing that a $10 bottle of wine can taste the same (if not better) than a $50 bottle if you're choosy with your selection. So I did a little research and came up with a Vino Grocery List. Consider it a bucket list for diva wine dabblers:

Luna di Luna ($7-$20): These jewel colored bottles are gorgeous, cheap and offer pairings of traditional grapes. My favorite in their line is the blue bottle of Sparkling Chardonnay/Pinot Grigio, which is inspired by the famous Murano glass of Venice. Amongst other vibrant choices are the Merlot/Cabernet in Ferrari red and a sleek jet black bottle of Sangiovese/Merlot.

Xplorador Concha y Toro ($7): When you think red you usually think Italy or California, but these reds represent Chile's new move towards wine-making. The Merlot is available at 7-Eleven (!) but tastes like it's a hand picked from an Italian wine cellar.

Castle Rock Carneros Pinot Noir 2003 ($10): Pinot Noir is usually a good transition if you're not a big red drinker. It is usually more on the expensive side, especially since it's such a trendy red right now, but I found this one on countless under $20 lists online.

Saint M Riesling 2006 ($12-$15): Riesling is a German white that is usually on the sweeter side and a good choice for a summer or desert wine. Be careful when buying though, label’s with trocken (“ dry” in German) will be dry. Look for "Auslese" if you want the sweeter taste.

Little Black Dress Wines ($6-$10): I'm aware of my aforementioned label problem, but this wine (especially the Pinot) is a high quality white and is perfect for girls nights.


For further inspiration, check out the American Wine Awards 2008: Best Wines Under $20.

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We’ve all done it. Circa 2 a.m. Saturday night, you stumble in from the bar, plop down in front of your laptop and proceed to compose a gmail response to your boss (one less thing to do hungover) or profess your love to your ex-flame. I’m an on the go-offender myself. Damn blackberry email capabilities.

Well this week Google announced a side-kick to assist in combating drunk habits, “mail goggles”. The term is a play on “beer goggles”, the sad but true presumption that after a few glasses of wine, the scrawny guy in the corner with the sweater vest increasingly resembles John Mayer.

At the bar, we have our girlfriends to assure us of the true nature of our prey (I do believe my best friends saved me on my 21st from going for a 40+ married man). At our computers, we now have Mail Goggles on our side.

Google’s plan is to make sure that you really want to send that email by automatically prompting you to answer five simple math problems before you hit the ‘send’ button. Apparently if you can do a little addition and subtraction, you should be aware of the consequences of your emailing. I've never been a math quiz and I'm not sure how accurately this is all going to resonate with a tipsy Blogette, but I'm definitely seeing success for a similar Facebook app.

According to the Official Gmail Blog, Mail Goggles is by default only active late night on the weekend, as that is the time you're most likely to need it. Once enabled, you can adjust when it's active in the General settings.

[Photo: Harpoon Octoberfest by Another Pint Please on Flickr used with permission under Creative Commons Copyright.]

I have a lot of traveling coming up over the next few weeks, and this past weekend was the only one I could squeeze in for my favorite fall activity, apple picking. Channel 5 predicted crisp, sunny autumn weather and I penciled in family time for one of my favorite childhood outings.

Today’s post was going to feature gorgeous panoramas of fall foliage, recipes for apple crisp and fresh apple cider, and photos of artsy pumpkin faces that I carved out Sunday night.

Now bring yourself back into reality and sympathize with my participation in alternative fall festivities for 20-somethings. I apologize for the lack of a feel good, pick me up Monday post, but I’ll spring for honesty instead. I spent Saturday at Harpoon Brewery’s Oktoberfest and Sunday I was way too hung over to even leave my couch, let alone drive to the boonies of Western Mass. for climbing trees and picking out gords.

So I’ll indulge you in my weekend spent with Southie’s finest keg killers, complete with chicken dance and polka contests, keg bowling and German chocolate cake eating contests. I know, you’re dying for the apple pie recipes already.

Aside for a small tasting of Wiener Schnitzel in Austria (gross), I was an Oktoberfest virgin until this weekend. First impression of Oktoberfest was that it reminded me of a carnival for nostalgic recent graduates dying to relive their day drinking days (myself included). But after a few UFO’s and bumping into old friends, I began to appreciate the atmosphere and the obscenely long times for keg beer and porta potties just faded into the crowd.

I looked online to try and be scholarly and give you all some cool facts about Oktoberfest being more than just drunkenness, but I didn’t find much. And I don’t like to endorse researching at Wikipedia, but their entry too accurately summed up Harpoon’s festival this weekend:

“There are many problems every year with young people, who overestimate their ability to handle large amounts of alcohol. Many pass out due to drunkedness. These especially drunk patrons are often called "Bierleichen" (German for "beer corpses"). They are brought by staff to a medical tent where drunks as well as sick people are treated.” Gotta love quality shared research. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktoberfest)

We only lasted until around dinner time (Weisswurst, Sauerkraut, and Bratwurst only satisfy you for so long) but my guess is that there were Bierleichens aplenty in Southie come Saturday night. Something we can all appreciate, German or not.