Retro Cocktails

The drinks of the 1990s return — and get a reboot

The drinks of the ’90s served largely as fuel for dancing, and as conversation starters with the Hungarian hand models we were trying to dance with.

Like the clothes we wore, a lot of the music we listened to and (wow!) the way we wore our hair, for those who were young in the ’90s, the cocktails didn’t need to be great. When these cocktails were well-made, they could be excellent, but that was often beside the point.

Do any of us even really remember what a Woo-Woo tasted like? What would some of the drinks of the ’90s — suddenly The decade, nostalgia-wise — taste like today? Is there a way to improve them and make them more interesting? Do they even need that? Let’s see what we have to work with:

Mojito

2 cocktails in high ball glasses with lime wheels and mint leaves
A pair of mojitos (mojiti?). An authentic ’90s recipe is on the left; an updated, greener version is on the right.

The mojito might be the quintessential 1990s drink. Its combination of lime juice and mint could make you feel like you were sitting in a swanky club in Miami. Maybe you were sitting in a swanky club in Miami during the ’90s — I don’t know what you were doing 30 years ago or whether you were legal to drink. The taste of rum was usually an afterthought; the focus was on the greenery.

You looked sophisticated, drinking a mojito.

The original version uses surprisingly little mint.

’90s mojito

Ingredients

  • 3 mint leaves
  • ½ ounce simple syrup
  • 2 ounces white rum — Because the rum is supposed to be a background flavor here, any mid-range, doesn’t-take-itself-too-seriously white or silver rum will work. Bacardi is a good choice.
  • ¾ ounce fresh squeezed lime juice — from ordinary Persian limes, the kind you find at the grocery store, next to the lemons
  • 3 to 4 ounces club soda

Muddle the mint leaves in the bottom of a Collins glass.

Add ice, and the rest of the ingredients, and stir to combine.

Garnish with a mint sprig, and possibly a lime wheel.

Sip, with your coolest, most inscrutable look on your face. If anyone asks how you are doing, tell them, “Livin’ la vida loca, my friend.”

Considering that this drink was considered one of the trendiest cocktails around at the time, it is surprisingly light and delicate. The mint and rum are very modest here. The main impressions you get as you drink it are of carbonation and lime juice. This is a drink for someone who wants to keep their wits about them.

But also, puzzlingly shy when it comes to the use of mint.

2022 me really doesn’t need to keep my wits about me. I know that I’m a lightweight at this point, at least so far as my cocktail consumption goes. The most exciting and dangerous thing I’m planning to do on a Friday night is emptying the dishwasher. If I’m going to drink a mojito, I’d like to forgo any subtlety and get slapped in the face with its mojito-ness. I am no longer bold, so I’d like my mojito to be bold for me.

Updated Mojito

Ingredients

  • 5 grams of fresh mint — This doesn’t sound like much, but when I tried to weigh three mint leaves from the original recipe, they didn’t register on my scale, which means that I was using less than a tenth of a gram of them. Thus, this is at least 50 times mintier than the classic version. Think a small handful.
  • 2 ounces white rum — I’m not really looking to make a boozier mojito, just a more flavorful one.
  • ¾ ounce makrut lime juice — These little limes are surprisingly juicy. If you can’t find any, Key limes would work well, too.
  • 1 ounce simple syrup — The smaller limes have a slightly bitter edge to them, which helps give them their sophisticated flavor, but a little extra sweetness helps balance it out.
  • 3 to 4 ounces extra-bubbly club soda — I like Topo Chico Mineral Water.

As before, muddle the mint in the bottom of a Collins glass.

Add ice and the other ingredients, and stir gently.

Garnish with half a tiny lime. This might prompt somebody to ask, “What is that?” at which point you can just hand over your drink for them to take a sip, and watch as they are knocked backward by flavor and joy.

It’s surprising how much flavor the smaller limes pack. The extra mint is welcome, of course, but the flavor of the makrut is the star of the show. This version of the mojito is sweet, and acidic, and musky, and herbal, all at once.

I hate to make assumptions, but I suspect that once you have tried this, any time you see makrut limes at the supermarket, you’ll find yourself saying out loud, “Do you know what time it is? That’s right; it’s Mojito Time, Baby!” You might get some strange looks from your fellow shoppers, but that’s the price you pay for being authentically awesome.

limes in cartons at grocery store
Makrut limes. Photo by John Fladd.

Limes
These are makrut limes. I stumbled over them in the produce section at Whole Foods. They have another, more common name, one with unfortunate racial overtones. They are more commonly called — and my apologies to anyone from southern Africa — kaffir limes. I had heard of using the leaves in Thai cooking, but this was the first time I had seen the actual fruit. Each of the limes is about the size of a golf ball, and covered with a thick, leathery rind.
I asked the produce manager what they tasted like, and he pulled out a pocket knife and opened one for us to try. The flavor was very intense.
“Are you getting … leather?” I asked.
“A little bit, but mostly … um….”
“What?” I asked.
“Lemon Pledge?” he guessed.
“That’s it! But in a good way!”
He nodded and smiled.
And it does. In 1958, the chemical engineers at Johnson & Johnson developed a scent for their furniture polish that smelled so good, so wholesome, that homemakers would feel guilty not spraying in on their woodwork. Smelling it today can instantly transport you to your childhood and soothe you like a lullaby.
Makrut limes taste a lot like that.
Only, naturally.
One shelf over from the limes was a bin of yuzu. I had always heard of yuzu, and even seen small bottles of yuzu juice for sale at astronomical prices, but this was the first time I’d ever seen the fresh fruit. They are about the same size and shape as tangerines, but a deep green color that lightens to a buttery yellow as they ripen.
My new friend cut open a yuzu for us, and we were initially underwhelmed. The juice tasted generically citrusy but was not very intense. The seeds were surprisingly large, but otherwise we both shrugged and started talking about rhubarb.
I bought a couple of pounds of the yuzu anyway, and when I got home I decided to make them into a syrup, which turned out to be astoundingly, shockingly good — vibrant and acidic, and with a bitter finish. If you find any fresh yuzu, I would recommend making this, though decent lemons would work well, too.

Yuzu Syrup
Zest all the yuzus you have, and set the zest aside.
Squeeze the fruit through a fine-meshed strainer, into a small saucepan.
Add an equal amount, by weight, of white sugar to the juice.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, making sure that all the sugar has dissolved.
Remove the pan from the heat, then stir in the zest. Cover with a plate, and let it sit for half an hour.
Pour into a small jar or bottle, through a strainer and a funnel. Label and refrigerate.

Jasmine

2 cocktails in martini glasses on placemat on table
A classic jasmine cocktail on the left, in the fancy glass, and a properly jasminey jasmine on the right. Photo by Adriana Chacon.

The jasmine made its debut in Las Vegas in the late ’90s. It was a riff on a riff on a variation of an already existent cocktail, so it doesn’t feel very transgressive to modify it.

I like to think of a beautiful bartender named Jasmine, with dark hair in a pixie cut, shockingly blue eyes, and a truly surprising number of tattoos (which, in the ’90s, were a cutting-edge trend). I imagine an admirer bringing her a bouquet of jasmine flowers. In this scenario, the admirer is also a woman named Jasmine, so Inky Jasmine makes her a jasmine cocktail.

Original Jasmine

Ingredients

  • 1½ ounces very cold gin — Keeping a bottle of gin in the freezer is not the worst idea in the world. (I already keep a bottle of vodka there, for making pie crust, but that’s another story.)
  • ¼ ounce Campari
  • ¼ ounce orange liqueur — I used triple sec.
  • ¾ ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice

Combine all ingredients, with ice, in a cocktail shaker.

Shake until very cold. You’ll know you’re getting there when you hear the ice cubes start to break up. I’m not positive, but I think this is one reason bartenders shake drinks next to their ears.

Strain into a martini glass. Remember to hold it by the stem, so it stays as cold as possible.

This is a very nice cocktail. It isn’t too sweet — the only sweetness comes from the tiny amount of triple sec — and the equally tiny amount of Campari gives it a gentle pink color and a very small amount of bitterness in the background. Considering its origins, it is a very adult drink.

My only real complaint with it is that it doesn’t have anything to do with actual jasmine.

So, let’s see what we can do about that:

Today’s Jasmine

Ingredients

  • 1½ ounces very cold gin — I’ve been using Wiggly Bridge. It’s a dry gin that doesn’t impose any floral flavors of its own and fight with the jasmine (see below).
  • ¼ Campari — I still like the color and bitterness it brings to this drink.
  • 1 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • ½ ounce jasmine syrup (see below)

Combine all the ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker, and shake until extremely cold.

Strain into a martini glass.

Holding the glass by the stem, do the pretentious, wine-snobby, sniffing-the-drink-to-bring-the-scent-to-your-palate thing. Something like 75 percent of everything you think you taste actually comes from the smell of whatever you’re eating or drinking. In this case, you’ll want to take in the floral notes from the jasmine syrup.

Again, this is a very nice, adult-ish cocktail. It still has the pretty color and bitterness, but it’s a bit sweeter, to help bring the smell of jasmine to you. You may not have ever experienced fresh jasmine blossoms, but they are staggeringly good smelling. The jasmine syrup brings just a whisper of that to a weary world.

Jasmine Syrup

Ingredients

  • 1 cup water — approximately 200 grams
  • 1 cup white sugar — also, approximately 200 grams
  • ½ cup dried jasmine blossoms — approximately 10 grams
  • The juice of ½ a lime — a regular, grocery-store Persian lime, not a fancy lime with delusions of grandeur.

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Boil for 10 to 15 seconds to make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat.

Stir the dried jasmine blossoms into the hot sugar syrup, cover, and leave to steep for 30 minutes.

Squeeze the lime juice into the mixture, and stir to combine. Strain into a bottle, then wait for the Call to Greatness.

Appletini

2 cocktails in martini glasses on counter surrounded by apples
A classic appletini in the fancy glass on the left, an updated one on the right, looking slightly smug.

There isn’t a lot to say about the appletini, sometimes known as a sour apple martini. It was popular in the ’90s and was, I think, a plot point in an episode of Law and Order. Within a few years it became fashionable to sneer at, which must mean that there was something to it.

OG Appletini

Ingredients

  • 1¾ ounces vodka
  • 1 ounce sour apple schnapps — I used a tiny sample-sized bottle of 99 Apples, not wanting to commit to an entire full-sized one.
  • ¼ ounce Rose’s Lime Juice
  • ¼ ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • ¼ ounce fresh squeezed lime juice

Combine all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker, and shake until very cold.

Strain into a cocktail glass, and drink while wondering what ever happened to wearing overalls with one strap hanging loose.

There are any number of recipes for appletinis, in varying degrees of sweetness and potency. This is one of the more restrained versions. It is not overly sweet and it does retain a lot of the sourness that you might hope for, if not a great deal of actual apple flavor.

This is, frankly, a cocktail with a lot of potential for progress.

Modified, More Apple-y Version of an Appletini

Ingredients

  • 2½ ounces apple brandy — I like Laird’s Applejack.
  • 2 ounces apple cider — This will do most of the heavy lifting, apple-wise.
  • ½ ounce yuzu syrup — see Citrus Sidebar

Combine all ingredients with ice and shake in a cocktail shaker until very cold.

Strain into a cocktail glass, and sip pensively, still thinking about the whole overalls thing and wondering if Dexy’s Midnight Runners and the Georgia Satellites were secretly the same group and if that’s why nobody has ever heard of any of them again.

This is a much better version of the appletini, partially due to the magical yuzu syrup and partially to the presence of actual apples. There is a citrusy sourness in the background, but a substantial apple flavor as well.

Espresso Martini

espresso martini on stove beside old fashioned coffee maker
An espresso martini, standing proud and unchanged.

Of all these nostalgic ’90s cocktails, only one stands tall, self-confident, and without the need to be updated.

A lot of cocktails from this period are called “classics” in the sense that they have been around for quite a while and they have been popular for much of that time. An espresso martini is a true classic, in the same sense as a black tuxedo, or the tinkling of Audrey Hepburn’s laughter in Roman Holiday. It stands nearly perfect; it needs no tweaking.

The Espresso Martini

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces coffee-infused vodka (see below)
  • ½ ounce Kahlua
  • ¼ ounce simple syrup
  • 1 ounce cold brew concentrate — I like Trader Joe’s.

Gently pour all ingredients over ice in a mixing glass. Stir slowly, but thoroughly, until very cold.

Pour into a frosted martini glass.

Drink with your eyes closed, thinking of classy dames and piano jazz.

The great thing about a well-crafted espresso martini is that it combines the bracing aspects of a stiff drink, with the stare-you-in-the-eyes confidence of a really good cup of coffee. The caffeine is a plus, of course, but the real standout here is the richness of the coffee. It smiles at you and says, “You got this, Kid.”

Put another way: This is a very good cocktail. Keep in mind, though, that more than one of these babies might keep you up very late into the night watching old movies and possibly crying.

Coffee-Infused Vodka

Ingredients

  • 10 grams French-roast coffee beans
  • 6 ounces 80 proof vodka

Using a mortar and pestle, or the bottom of a heavy saucepan, gently crush the coffee beans. The idea here is to break them up into pieces, but not to grind them into powder.

Combine the coffee beans and vodka in a small, tightly sealed jar, and store in a cool, dark place for two days, shaking twice per day.

Strain through a fine-mesh strainer before using in a cocktail.

Lemon Drop

2 cocktails in martini glasses on cutting board beside squeezed lemon
A classic lemon drop (left), and an updated, more lemony lemon drop (left).

I’ve got a friend who is a highly ranked competitive slam poet.

She and I have argued for years about the relative merits of poetry. Clearly, she is all for it. I, on the other hand, have reservations.

“There’s just so much bad poetry out there,” I have pointed out.

“No,” she has argued. “There’s no such thing as bad poetry!”

At this point, I have stared at her in stony silence, until the inaccuracy of this statement has collapsed on the floor with the sound of breaking glass.

“Okay, FINE!” she has responded. “Yes. There is a lot of bad poetry out there, but that doesn’t have any bearing on how good the good stuff is.”

I would like to argue that contention, if only out of obstinacy, but the fact that I’ve subscribed to a poem-of-the-day service for the past year would highlight my hypocrisy.

In that same spirit, someone could legitimately argue that a proliferation of bad lemon drop cocktails does not negate the excellence of a well-made one.

A Lemon Drop

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces very cold vodka — I’ve been enjoying Ukrainian Heritage lately.
  • ½ ounce triple sec
  • 1 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 ounce simple syrup

Combine all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker, and shake until very, very cold.

Strain into a chilled martini glass. Drink while still extremely cold.

The lemon juice carries most of the weight in a good lemon drop. It provides flavor, but even more importantly it adds acidity, which keeps the sweetness from becoming cloying. If you drink this while it is still extremely cold, it will sting your mouth a little, which suits its lemony-ness.

This is a delicious drink; it really is. I just think it might be better if it tasted more strongly of lemons. Let’s address that:

A Lemonier Drop

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces very cold vodka
  • ½ ounce limoncello
  • 1 ounce homemade yuzu or lemon syrup
  • 1½ ounces fresh squeezed lemon juice

Again, shake everything over ice, until extremely cold.

Strain into a martini glass.

This lemon drop is about as sweet as the original version — half an ounce of a sweet liqueur, and an ounce of syrup — and has the same amount of lemon juice, so the sweet/sour proportions are pretty much the same. The main difference here is the increase in citrus flavor.

Could you bump the lemon flavor even more by using a lemon vodka?

I’m not sure that’s legal in this state.

OK, You Knew This Would Be Showing Up Sooner or Later

The Cosmopolitan

2 cocktails in martini glasses, one with lime wheel, on shiny coffee table
A classic cosmopolitan in a fancy glass (left) and an updated, pomegranate version on the right, in an even fancier glass.

The Cosmopolitan actually got its start in the 1970s, but really came into its own in the ’90s striding across the landscape of American happy hours like a pink colossus. Yes, Sex in the City. Yes, South Park. Yes, it eventually became a bit of a cliché.

But what we tend to lose sight of is that, in spite of all that, a cosmo can be a very good cocktail:

Carrie’s (or is it Samantha’s?) Cosmo

Ingredients

  • 1 ounce vodka
  • 1 ounce triple sec
  • 1½ ounces cranberry juice cocktail
  • ½ ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
  • 2 dashes orange bitters

Combine all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker, and shake until very cold.

Strain into a cocktail glass.

Drink while plotting world domination with a special friend.

Admittedly, a classic cosmo can be a bit on the sweet side — cranberry juice cocktail and a large slug of triple sec form a fairly sweet base — but lime juice and especially the bitters help balance things out. It has a tartness that makes your mouth water, which in turn gives it a very juicy mouth-feel. It tastes good, and drinking one can easily lead to drinking two, and the next thing you know, you are telling very personal secrets to your new friend, Julio, the Uber driver.

Can it be improved on? Maybe.

John’s Cosmo

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces vodka — Let’s start by doubling the amount of vodka. The fruitiness of the final drink benefits from an authoritative booziness.
  • 1 ounce yuzu syrup — It’s OK to keep things sweet; that’s part of a cosmo’s appeal. But triple sec tends to hide in the background; that’s what it’s good at. Let’s replace it with something that brings flavor to the party. If you haven’t been able to find any fresh yuzu, a fresh citrus syrup made from limes, lemons or even grapefruit will work well. The point here is that we want an assertive citrus flavor.
  • 1½ ounces unsweetened pomegranate juice — Trust me on this. Your finished drink will still be pink. It will still be fruity — we just added yuzu, after all — but the pomegranate juice adds a bracing, no-nonsense spine to hang the other flavors from.
  • ½ ounce makrut lime juice — We’ve just introduced three strong flavors. Our lime juice should be equally assertive. The leathery, acidic, slightly bitter, yes, Lemon Pledge-iness of the makrut juice is what you want here. If you haven’t been able to find any makruts, you might want to go with Key limes. The point is, send in a heavy hitter.

There is nothing complicated here — throw the Frenetic Four into a cocktail shaker full of ice, and let them fight it out. Shake until very cold. Because all the flavors are so powerful to start with, you might want to set the shaker aside for a few minutes, then reshake everything to dilute it slightly.

Strain into a cocktail glass.

You: “This is purple. You promised me it would be pink.”

Cosmopolitan: “Oh, I’m pink.”

You, taking a sip: “Wow! That’s, um, okay. But you’re still purple.”

Cosmo: “Really? Take another sip.”

You: “I repeat — Wow! Well, maybe pink-ISH purple.”

Cosmo: “Are you sure?”

You, taking another sip: “I think I’m starting to see Time.”

Cosmo: “And what color am I?”

You: “I’m going with pink.”

Cosmo: “And you’re talking to your cocktail.”

You: “You are a very good drink.”

Cosmo: “I do what I can.”

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

This Week 22/11/10

Big Events November 10, 2022 and beyond

Thursday, Nov. 10

The Wilton Town Hall Theatre (40 Main St. in Wilton; 654-3456) will screen the silent film Wings (1927) today at 7:30 p.m. with live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis. The movie, which was a blockbuster hit when it opened and won the first “best movie” Academy Award ever given, is a silent film about American pilots flying through Europe during World War I, according to a press release. Tickets cost $10 at the door, and tickets for veterans and members of the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire are free. For more information about the Aviation Museum, visit aviationmuseumofnh.org.

Thursday, Nov. 10

On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan, a musical featuring some of Gloria Estefan’s biggest hits, will hit the stage at the Capitol Center for the Arts (Chubb Theatre, 44 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com) tonight at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets start at $55 (plus fees).

Friday, Nov. 11

The Southern New Hampshire University Penmen and Saint Anselm College Hawks will go head-to-head in a women’s basketball game today at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium (73 College Road in Manchester). The game will start at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $10 per person and can be purchased with credit cards only one hour before game time at the door. Visit saintanselmhawks.com.

Friday, Nov. 11

Creative Venture (11 Nashua St. in Milford; creativeventuresfineart.com) will hold the opening for its annual “Small Works, Big Impact” show today from 6 to 8 p.m. The non-juried show, which will be on display through Dec. 31, will have works of art, all smaller than 12 inches in diameter, from 30 local artists with media ranging from graphite and ink to polymer clay and glass, according to the website.

Friday, Nov. 11

Comedian Jimmie “JJ” Walker will perform two area shows this weekend. Catch him tonight at 8:30 p.m. at the Chunky’s in Nashua and tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 12, at 8:30 p.m. at Chunky’s in Manchester. See chunkys.com.

Sunday, Nov. 13

The Manchester City Marathon will start at Veterans Memorial Park (723 Elm St. in Manchester) today at 9:15 a.m. There will also be a half marathon and a 5K starting at the same time. Registration is $30 for the 5K, $85 for the half marathon and $100 for full marathon. To register, visit millenniumrunning.com.

Save the date! Wednesday, Nov. 30
A new exhibit, “Manchester Through the Lens of Frank Kelly,”is coming to the Millyard Museum (200 Bedford St. in Manchester; manchesterhistoric.org/millyard-museum) on Wednesday, Nov. 30, with an opening day unveiling at 5 p.m. Kelly, a photographer from Manchester from the 1950s through the 1980s, owned his own studio and he and his wife Eleanor photographed people, landmarks, and buildings of Manchester. Many of the photographs and negatives will be on display. Reserve a spot by emailing [email protected] or calling 622-7531.

Featured photo. Wings. Courtesy photo.

Quality of Life 22/11/10

More eagles in NH

Bald eagles have continued to find new places to nest in New Hampshire, according to research conducted and released by New Hampshire Audubon. Ninety-two territorial pairs of eagles have been confirmed in 2022, which is up by nearly 14 percent from 2021. Additionally, there are 72 incubating pairs confirmed (up by more than 7 percent from last year) and 84 young fledged — up from 81 fledged in 2019 and 2021.

QOL score: +1

Comment: New Hampshire Audubon reports that the bald eagle population has been doubling in size every five to seven years since the late 1990s. New Hampshire Fish and Game removed the bald eagle from the state’s Endangered and Threatened Wildlife List in 2017.

Rent is up

A recent report released by Rent.com revealed New Hampshire to be the state with the fifth-highest rent increase over last year, with rent costs up 19.1 percent from September 2021, and the median rent cost in the state currently at $1,894.

QOL score: -1

Comment:Rhode Island is the only other New England state that made the top 10, coming in at No. 9 with an increase of 16.5 percent, whereas Massachusetts was one of five states — and the only New England state — to see a year-over-year decline (-0.6 percent).

Socks for all

United Way of Greater Nashua has announced that it will share the donation of 5,000 pairs of socks it receives from the company Bombas every fall with nearly 20 other nonprofit organizations in the greater Nashua area serving the homeless population. According to a press release, Bombas committed to donating one pair of socks to homelessness-related charities for every pair of socks it sells in response to learning that socks are the most requested item at homeless shelters.

QOL score: +1

Comment: Clean, dry socks can help to prevent health complications such as skin infections, nail diseases, frostbite and trench foot, which are more prevalent among people experiencing homelessness due to spending more time outside, exposed to the elements, and more time on their feet searching for assistance.

QOL score: 84

Net change: +1

QOL this week: 85


What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at [email protected].

The week that was

It was another week of, as Johnny Carson used to say, weird, wild stuff. Among the happenings were Tom Brady ending a tough week with his billionth final-minute drive for a win, and the latest analytics-driven decision to cost a team the World Series.

Flash back to the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 1962 World Series. After a two-out double down the right field line that sent Matty Alou to third, Willie Mays was the winning run on second with the Yanks leading 1-0. If it were 2022, it would be, as Arnold would say, hasta la vista baby for starter Ralph Terry. Ditto for Jack Morris when he told Twins manager Tom Kelly to get back in the dugout in far more colorful language than that after he gave up a single and double to start the eighth inning while leading 1-0 in Game 7 of the 1991 series vs. Atlanta. He got the next three hitters and went for a complete game win in the 10th as the Twins won a second title in five years under Kelly.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson had that same decision on Saturday in Houston. He went with those in the stat geek suite and yanked Zack Wheeler in the sixth with two aboard after giving up just three hits, for Jose Alvarado, to get a lefty-lefty match-up with Willie McCovey look-alike Yordan Alvarez. Instead of hitting the rope that second baseman Bobby Richardson caught to end the ’62 Series, Alvarez hit a homer to center to give the Astros a 3-1 lead they would never surrender to take the Series in six.

Other than to revel in the second Series-costing failure in three years by the stat geeks, my point isn’t to hammer Thomson, especially since Alvarado had struck out all three Houston batters in the only inning he had pitched in the Series. It’s to say sometimes the right decision doesn’t work out and analytics are just a tool in the decision-making process. All the numbers they trumpet are what happened in the past and have nothing to do with the moment at hand, which is under an entirely unique set of circumstances.

World Series 101:Terry figures in an even more historic World Series moment than winning Game 7 in 1962. What was it?

Dusty Baker getting mobbed in the dugout by his players after Houston closed out the Phillies to win his first World Series as a manager after 25 years in the dugout has got to be a nominee for most heartwarming moment of the year.

UCLA and USC in the Big 10, yeah, that makes perfect sense. How many weeks do the, ahh, student-athletes get off from school when they do the Rutgers and Maryland swing in the Big 10 schedule? All of which Bill Walton sounded off on last week.

The Now I’ve Seen Everything Award goes to news that sportsbooks have put odds on who will be Gisele Bundchen’s first boyfriend after her divorce from TB-12. The favorite is ex-SNLer Pete Davidson. Nonsense like that probably made leading struggling Tampa Bay on a game-winning 60-yard final-minute drive over the Rams on Sunday a little sweeter for Tom.

There must be more to the Ime Udoka story, because I can’t see Red letting a guy who did such a great job as a rookie coach go to a division rival for no compensation. That says they just wanted to get rid of him for other misconduct or personality issues. I’d have tried to get Nic Claxton, who’s the athletic kind of big they need behind Al Horford and Rob Williams, and if it took expanding the deal beyond Udoka I’d do that.

World Series 101 Answer: When Bill Mazeroski hit the only Game 7 walk-off homer in 1960 to win a World Series it was Ralph Terry who threw the pitch Maz hit out of Forbes Field, making Ralph Houk’s decision to stick with Terry all the more revealing about the difference in thinking between then and the micro-management of today.

Finally, for the record: I haven’t liked Herschel Walker since he got run down from behind by a kicker (Adam Vinatieri) with nothing but the goal line in front of him on a kick return vs. the Patriots in 1996.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Finding buddies

Helping people with disabilities make new connections

Sarra Dennehy Lynch is the founder of the New Hampshire chapter of Best Buddies, a worldwide nonprofit dedicated to ending physical and social isolation of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities through friendship, leadership, employment and inclusive living opportunities.

What does Best Buddies do for people living with disabilities?

In New Hampshire right now, we have our school friendship programs and adult friendship programs where we match people with disabilities with a typical peer in their community or school. It’s not a mentoring program; it’s peer to peer, to build a friendship. We have our leadership programs … where we do day-long trainings, teaching people how to feel comfortable speaking in public and sharing their stories, advocate for themselves, and eventually network and write a resume and … feel comfortable getting a job. … The jobs program, which we don’t have in New Hampshire yet, places people with disabilities in jobs they really want. We’re not saying, ‘OK, you have Down syndrome, I’m sure you can bag groceries.’ We’re saying, ‘What are your dreams and hopes? What do you want to do with your life?’ … and we offer support to help them make it happen. … Our inclusive living program is designed for [living on] college campuses or near a college campus. We only have two of those [established] right now in the United States. If they’re not attending college classes for whatever reason, then they’re auditing classes or they’re working on campus. They’re able to have that kind of college experience even if they’re not able to go to college.

How did you get involved?

I started in political fundraising. After college, I worked in Washington, D.C., for my congressman, then for one of the national parties, and then for John McCain. Then, in 2001, I gave birth to my first child, a baby boy, and he was born with Down syndrome. My world was shaken to the core. I felt scared and lost and ill-equipped to have a child with, I thought, a disability, and was realizing how ill-equipped the environment that surrounded me was to prepare me. The doctors weren’t what you would think they should be. It was an ‘I’m sorry’ thing; there was no ‘Congratulations.’ There was no happiness around me at all that I had given birth to this beautiful kid. That joy and happiness had to come from me researching and learning. … We moved to New Hampshire in 2022, and eventually, when Liam — that’s his name — turned about 8 or 9, I started seeing that the world wasn’t fair for him. Even in tee-ball, if you don’t move fast enough, you’re not good enough to play with the typical kids. I knew I wanted to find something that celebrated people with differences. … I found Best Buddies, and somebody got me involved in the Hyannis Port Challenge, which is a 100-mile bike ride from Boston to Hyannis Port. That was the first time I had ever seen people with disabilities thriving the way that they were, and I was hooked. I said, ‘We need this in New Hampshire,’ and a bunch of us decided to help bring [Best Buddies] to New Hampshire.

What is Liam doing now?

He just turned 21 and just left me — he’s in college in Wisconsin, and he’s doing great. He’ll be home at Thanksgiving.

How has Best Buddies helped you and Liam personally?

Liam was involved in Best Buddies all throughout school. … When I first started doing Best Buddies, I was doing it because I wanted Liam to have a great experience in school. Then, I slowly realized that he was going to have a great experience, and I started to realize that Best Buddies is just as important for the neurotypical kids, because it shares with them the magic of learning about people with disabilities. These are the kids that are going to be our senators, congressmen, teachers, business leaders, parents; if they grow up around people with disabilities, maybe someday it will become more normal.

What is next for Best Buddies in New Hampshire?

We’re working really hard on bringing the jobs program here. We’re shooting for 2025. It’s a pretty substantial financial investment, and we have to raise the money … but I think it’s going to be really wonderful for people. They will each have a job coach … who will make sure their jobs are what they want and that they’re getting what they need.

How can people get involved?

We have all kinds of opportunities. They can be board members, sponsors or on event committees. … We’re always looking for people to serve as what we call ‘speech coaches’ for our leadership training. They help our participants get their thoughts down on paper and prepare and practice their speeches. … If you want to be matched in our [friendship] program … we send a questionnaire to learn a little bit about you, and then we find the best match for you, like someone who lives close to you and has similar interests. We would do a Zoom introduction, and if it’s a good match, you’ll see each other one to two times a month and talk or text weekly. It’s not a huge time commitment, and usually it turns into a normal, natural friendship where you don’t have to monitor how many times you see each other.

Featured photo: Sarra Dennehy Lynch with her son Liam. Courtesy photo.

News & Notes 22/11/10

Food support

The Capital Region Food Program announces the launch of its 2022 Holiday Voucher Pilot, a new food support program to reduce hunger for individuals, families and local agencies in the greater Concord area. According to a press release, the program was created as a more flexible, customizable and sustainable alternative to the nonprofit’s Holiday Food Basket Project, which has provided holiday meal boxes in Concord and its surrounding communities since 1974. The vouchers, which will be distributed on Dec. 10 and redeemable through Jan. 31, will allow recipients to shop for their own food and household necessities at local Market Basket stores. “Participating families will now be able to customize their food selections to not only accommodate various dietary restrictions but also to accommodate their cultures and holiday traditions that are important this time of year,” Karen Emis-Williams, director of human services for the City of Concord, said in the release. “The voucher program helps ensure clients receive the right food they need.” Voucher applications are being accepted through 33 partner agencies throughout the state until Nov. 30. Visit capitalregionfoodprogram.org/holiday-project-2022.

Paxlovid access

New Hampshire residents who don’t have access to a primary care provider are now able to get a prescription for the Covid therapeutic treatment Paxlovid through a free telehealth appointment with On-Site Medical Services, according to a press release from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. The antiviral, which can significantly reduce the severity of Covid symptoms, may be prescribed to certain patients who are at risk of developing serious complications from the illness. It is most effective when administered within 72 hours from the onset of symptoms. The telehealth appointments, which may be conducted over video or telephone, are available to qualifying residents age 12 and older who have received a positive Covid antigen or PCR test. If Paxlovid is prescribed, the medication will be sent to the patient’s preferred pharmacy for pickup or shipped to their residence via overnight mail. Visit on-sitemedservices.com/telemedicine or call 800-816-5803.

New housing

Gov. Chris Sununu and the Executive Council approved $50 million to support 30 projects under the Governor’s InvestNH Housing Fund that are held to affordability restrictions and construction completion within 18 months. “New Hampshire is moving fast to address our housing challenges,” Sununu said in a press release. “This initial $50 million investment will create 1,500 new rental units across the state, helping increase supply, drive down costs, and ensure New Hampshire is the best state to live, work, and raise a family.”

Home heating help

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP) has been approved to receive $33.9 million in federal funding, the New Hampshire Congressional delegation announced in a press release. LIHEAP funds New Hampshire’s Fuel Assistance Program and helps low-income households pay their home heating and energy bills to prevent energy shutoffs, restore service following energy shutoffs, make minor energy-related home repairs and weatherize their homes to make them more energy-efficient. “Especially as the winter months approach, ensuring Granite Staters are housed and in residences with adequate heating is crucial, so I’m relieved to see these additional federal resources allocated to New Hampshire,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds LIHEAP, said in the release. “I urge the State to move quickly and get these funds out the door to applicants.” New Hampshire households that are struggling to pay their energy bills can apply for assistance through their local Community Action Partnership online at capnh.org/home.

Future forensic psychiatric hospital

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Administrative Services and New Hampshire Hospital officials will hold a public information session on a proposed forensic psychiatric hospital on Monday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. According to a press release from DHHS, the 24-bed secure facility will be built adjacent to New Hampshire Hospital, a psychiatric hospital located on Clinton Street in Concord, and will provide safe, skilled and therapeutic psychiatric treatment for forensic patients. The information session, which will specifically cover design updates for the new facility, will be held virtually over Zoom, accessible at nh-dhhs.zoom.us.

No mail Friday

U.S. Postal Service offices in New Hampshire will be closed on Friday, Nov. 11, in recognition of Veterans Day. According to a press release, all retail operations and street delivery except for guaranteed overnight parcels will be suspended for the day and will resume on Saturday, Nov. 12.

Concord reached a record high temperature on Saturday, Nov. 6, of 78 degrees, breaking the previous record of 75 set for the same day in 1994, the Union Leader reported, citing data from the National Weather Service. The record also marks the second highest temperature recorded during the month of November in Concord, tying with a 75-degree November day recorded in 1948. The average high temperature this time of year for Concord is 53 degrees, the article said.

Hateful and racist messages and symbols were found spray-painted in blue graffiti on pavement, mailboxes and street signs on Penacook Road in Hopkinton last weekend. The Concord Monitor reported that town officials and community members came together to clean the graffiti, and that the Hopkinton Police are investigating the case and have designated extra patrols to watch for graffiti vandalism.

Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains will host an informational session, “Launch into Girl Scouts,” on Monday, Nov. 14, from 6 to 7 p.m. at 1 Commerce Drive in Bedford. Caregivers can learn about Girl Scouts and troop openings while their girls participate in fun space-themed activities, according to a press release. Walk-ins are welcome. Sign-ups for Girl Scouts are available year-round at girlscoutsgwm.org.

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