Recipe n°2: Maiden's Prayer

1 oz. gin

1 oz. triple sec

1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice

1/2 oz. fresh orange juice

angostura bitters to taste

Fill a boston shaker (c'est moi!) with ice, pour in ingredients, adding bitters last. Shake well and strain into a chilled glass.

(Joy of Mixology)

I hope the internet gods will smile favorably upon me.

I've started praying. Is that weird? I'm not particularly religious, but I do believe there's something out there...my mom would call it the "universe", I'm happy with calling it God, but it's definitely not a Santa Claus type I'm picturing. In fact, I don't really feel the need to picture it at all, I just hope they're listening. And I think they are, because so far my praying seems to be working!

Before all you imaginary readers run out and start gluing your foreheads to the floor, keep in mind that I don't ask for much, and I think this is the secret to my success. Here's a typical prayer, in fact this morning's:

I pray that today is...somehow fun. That work is easy. And that I do something tonight.

Pretty thorough, huh? And now that I'm jinxing myself by posting my prayers on the internet, let me say for the record that I just received a text message inviting me to eat raclette and drink beaujolais nouveau with several young frenchmen. Two thirds of my prayer have already been granted...it remains to be seen if today will be "somehow fun" but I'm imagining that's not too much of a stretch, especially seeing as how today is la fête de beaujolais nouveau (headache city, here I come) and there is a loud manifestation in the street. Yay, no trams running! It should definitely be "fun" trying to get to my friend's house across town for that raclette!

Sometimes my prayers are more specific, particularly when I know my day involves such fun activities as depositing papers at the préfecture for my carte de séjour (every single foreigner-in-france blogger knows what I'm talking about, and since for now, you're the only ones reading, I'm not explaining). Those prayers can be more serious:

I pray that my papers are accepted. That I can stay in France.

These seem like big things to ask for, but considering the fact that I tend to be an over-organized and generally fretful person, it's highly unlikely that these prayers remain unanswered. I do give credit to God, though, for helping me get away with having only a photocopy of an important document. I shan't say more in fear of arousing the wrath of the internet gods.

It's the wording of the prayers that gets tricky. Because everyone knows, "be careful what you wish (or in this case, pray) for" and I DO seem to get EXACTLY what I ask for. Exhibit A: One morning I asked for something along the lines of: to meet a guy who i find attractive and who also finds me attractive. Beautiful in its simplicity, right? Later that day on the bus, a very cute boy smiles at me and tries to make conversation, but something about his wrinkly-on-purpose-stonewashed jeans makes him a no-go in my book. OK, I forgot to mention that the supposed attractive boy must also be somewhat stylish, interesting, wordly, able to carry on intelligent conversation...i can now see my prayers becoming a bit run-on, and the last thing you want to do is bore their executors. I also think it's smart to stipulate that such large requests don't have to be fulfilled on any one day in particular; I'll leave the timing up to them. 

Any day now will be fine though. Amen.