The Truth About Ninja Punch...and Other Things I Learned This Weekend

This past Saturday I made the drive up I-35 to the monster-plex that is the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I didn't spend any substantial time in either Dallas or Fort Worth other than to drive through them to get to my real destinations, hence the term I am now coining "the monster-plex" rather than the metroplex. It was the "metroplex" when I lived there six years ago (really?!?!? SIX?!?!?), but has since outgrown that term. The never-ending construction that exponentially increases the Greater DFW area into a Google Maps beast is phenomenal and reason enough for me to call it the Monster-Plex.

I entered Dallas proper and immediately headed over to the tollway out of habit and thinking that I'd be able to instantly feel my way around without the need for the concise directions that my friend Lisa emailed me the day before and now innocently lay on the passenger seat within arm's reach. Not that I'd ever spent any time in the suburb where she lives. Not that the aforementioned construction wouldn't come into play at some point. Not that my car's "sat-nav" is so outdated that half the streets in my OWN neighborhood, including the one I live on, aren't in it. I KNEW where I was going, I had already called my husband to look for it online for me.

Forty-five minutes of stubbornness and a call to my Joe-PS later, I finally found Lisa's house.

What's a Joe-PS? It's like GPS, but human, named after Marisa's friend Joe, it's the person you call who you KNOW will be able to get online and bring up Mapquest or Google Earth in the blink of an eye, no questions asked. Why did I call Marisa, who lives in Connecticut, in the first place? What? You don't call people who live out-of-state when you get lost?? Actually, the hubster is my usual Joe-PS but he decided that while I was driving in circles in the big, bad city it would be the perfect time for him to check out the local pool store for supplies. He wasn't knowingly absent for my directional dilemma...but I digress...as I usually do.

The funny thing was that I had actually called Lisa's house and left a message brimming with confidence on the answering machine to let her know that I was only about 15 minutes away...but that was before I went the wrong way on 121 and headed to BFE rather than following HER easy breezy directions that would lead me straight to her house. Once I got there it was all good though. I got to hold seven-week-old Baby E and chat to her big sister C. Lisa and I had a good catch-up session, too.
I've been friends with Lisa since I moved to Texas 22 years ago. She was my first friend here and I'm glad she's still in my life. It really is great to see people who've known you forever. You don't have to make excuses, give explanations or put on airs. They've been around long enough to see the good, the bad, and the ugly...and if you're lucky enough, they stick around for another helping.

After a couple of hours with her and her family, I headed out to the liquor store.

Well, that just came out wrong. I needed to stop at the liquor store for some vital ingredients to make ninja punch which was going to be my contribution at my next stop, the 11th Annual Thanksgiving Party at another friend's home.

"What is ninja punch?" you ask. Well, it's a concoction I created in my head the day before and perfected as I was pouring things into the punch bowl. I wanted to make something yummy with a bit of kick that just sneaks up on you...voilà! Ninja punch.

You start off with a little ice in a punch bowl. Then you just start pouring. It goes a little like this:

• Cranberry-cherry juice. Check.
  
• Pineapple juice. Check.
  
• Rum. Check.
  
• Cheri-Beri Schnapps. Check.
  
• Chambord. Check.
  
• Oh-I-Almost-Forgot-The-Sprite
• Throw in about 2 cups of cranberries as a "festive" factor.
  
• Slice a lemon, orange and a lime to up the "pretty" factor and throw that in.
• Taste.
  
• Dang! I-Forgot-The-Champagne! Pour that in.
• Taste.
• Add more rum.
• Add more Chambord.
• Taste.
• Make adjustments as needed.
• Make another batch now that you have perfected your ninja skills, Grasshopper.
• Share.
• Make another batch.
• Wonder why Britta thinks cranberries taste like curry.
• Have another cup.
  
• Enjoy!
• Send someone (Thanks, Lee!) to the store for more ingredients.
• Rinse.
• Repeat.
• Tell two friends who tell two friends...and so on...and so on.

It was great to see all 7,139 people at the Martins' home. Ok, so I exaggerated that number a bit...but I did include the right digits to come up with the actual number of guests who attended! (71, that's an incredible amount of guests!) Seriously, it was great to see friends from college, some of whom I hadn't seen in years. It was fun meeting new people and even fellow bloggers who were only out there somewhere in the blogosphere. It was comical to see my friends' kids dancing around, chatting, playing, and even throwing mild tantrums as they are truly smaller versions of their parents, and that is meant to be a compliment but might be a curse. Ha!

All in all, it was just great to be with some really wonderful people from my past, present and hopefully my future.