Hot Sauce and Aspirin

Happy late January! And if you an American or a person living in the United States, congratulations on surviving 2 years, if it has driven you to drink, allow me to help with your hangovers. I have intentionally not been drinking very much, after that New Year’s Eve hangover I decided to give my body a much needed break. But yesterday I took a break from the break, so here we are.

Not wanting to recreate the events of January 1st, wherein I threw up 10 times and was hungover for 4 actual days, I have made a resolution this year not to mix more than 1 kind of alcohol into any drink. While vodka beer champagne punches are the things of angels, really the angels are hangovers filled with regret and vomit. So, I’m steering clear this year. I like to call that personal growth. Yesterday I did one better, curious to see how it would work out, and I drank one kind of alcohol all day. Namely beer. Specifically, fairly low ABV beer, that’s alcohol by volume for all you non nerds out there. I started out already screwing up having an agua Fresca and champagne with brunch. But it’s brunch, it doesn’t count. Also there were 2 glasses of water, queso flameado and pancakes to mitigate the damage from the 1 mimosa. I know, brunch with only 1 mimosa. I also like to call that growth. Or I would if I didn’t know how all this ends.

Brunch was at Gabriela’s Downtown. I recommend the piña mimosa and the queso. I do not recommend the La Alba Panqueques, they were rubbery and dry. Also they came out about 1 minute after we ordered and were already cold, so I think they make them in bulk and leave them out. But the queso flameado was the best I have ever had, and I have had it a lot. It’s worth the trip for it alone. Gabriela’s is at 7th and 35, in case you are in Austin. If you are not from Austin, it’s the east side that has been gentrified into an eclectic mix of the homeless, breweries, and establishments that manage to survive the takeover. Anyway, we parked on east 6th kind of up near the breweries, so after brunch we decided to stop off at Zilker followed by Lazarus for a beer in each spot, then head home. We did manage the only one beer in each spot part of that decision. And I used one of those zippy scooters! So fun!But….while we were at Zilker, we found the Austin Beer Guide, which lists all the breweries in Austin and has a menu of their beers. We found one we had never heard of, so we hot footed it over to ORF before they closed and snuck in a beer over there too. I can’t recommend their beer highly enough. They still had some Octoberfest, so I tried it, and Brian tried some really dark rhum beer. They are only open on Saturday from 12-5 and are hard to find, but it’s worth the effort.

After that, our day should have been done, it really should have! I needed to go to party city to pick up some pirate stuff for Gasparilla in Tampa next week, and I had every intention of not keeping on keeping on. Except that I didn’t have that intention at all. At this point, we were still sober, we had been out from 12-5 and, had eaten, had snacks, and waited about an hour between every drink. So, really common sense should have prevailed. But, after Party City we decided to go to our neighborhood bar, so we could walk home, and get some nachos and a couple more beers. I was still sticking with the low ABV beers, drinking water, and eating snacks, so I figured a couple more beers couldn’t hurt. At Vincent’s we met up with some neighbors/friends had some food and beer and decided to continue the party back at their house. See how quickly things went from 1 mimosa to after party? Anyway, but the time things wrapped up, around 11:00, I had consumed my fair share, but it was ALL low ABV beer. No liquor, no wine (except that first brunch drink), no high alcohol content IPA’s, just lagers and English pales that ranged from 3.5-5% alcohol.

Now, the important question, did it work? It certainly seemed to. I feel fine today. Not run a 1/2 marathon fine, (great job 3M runners!) but live my life, write a blog, read a book, don’t want to vomit, fine. And let’s face it, 2016 Julie I am not, even on my best day I would not be run a 1/2 marathon fine. I will continue this research, sticking to one kind of thing for a whole day, and report back. Most likely the key was the low alcohol content. If the one thing had been vodka, even spaced out over 11 hours, 9 vodkas probably would have done me in. But, I think I’m onto something. Next weekend I will be reporting from hopefully sunny Florida, where I will be partaking in Gasparilla, St Pete Brewing, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs…there will be so many opportunities to test theories, remedies, or restraint! Until then, don’t drink and drive, do follow me on Instagram @hot_sauce_and_aspirin, and #HelloDrunkies so we can all see your favorite hangover causes and hangover cures! Cheers!