I GET A lot of odd requests during a busy night. Most of the time, I can honor the requests, but there are times when I can't. Not because I don't want to, but because sometimes the requests require ingredients that we don't have at our bar. Believe it or not, no bar has every ingredient necessary to make every drink that you've ever heard of. It's just not possible. Recently, I was asked to make a Skinny Girl Margarita. I explained that I couldn't because Skinny Girl is a brand name for a product that we don't carry. That didn't seem to make sense to the person who requested it, so she stormed angrily away before I could offer to make her something similar. Later, I decided that I should dig a little deeper.

Let's start at the beginning. A Margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila mixed with an orange-flavored liqueur and either fresh lemon or lime juice, often served with in a glass with a salted rim. Originally, it was served on the rocks, but it can also be served frozen or straight-up. There are many stories about the origins of the margarita. The most plausible is that it is a variation of a cocktail called a Daisy, which consists of a base spirit (brandy, whiskey, gin, rum or vodka), lemon juice, sugar, and grenadine. Since daisy loosely translates to margarita in Spanish, this is most likely the cocktails origin.

The idea behind the Skinny Girl Margarita was to create a low calorie equivalent to the margarita we all know and love. The creator of the Skinny Girl Margarita, Bethenny Frankel, remarked that I wasn't an expert -- I was just another person bothered by a 700-calorie margarita. Her Skinny Girl formula yields a 100 calorie cocktail per 4 ounce serving. This is quite a few calories less than 700, but what exactly is a calorie?

On Saturday, May 14, the sky was ominous and the rain threatened to pour at any moment, but that did not deter me from making the trip from Richmond to Norfolk for the 10th Annual Virginia Beer Festival. My resolve was recognized and rewarded by the beer gods in every conceivable way. There were absolutely no traffic delays. If you're from Hampton Roads, then you know this is a major miracle. In addition, the rain held off for the duration of my visit to Norfolk. This allowed me to make wise use of my time at Town Point Park to enjoy as many of the great beers this festival had to offer.

When I arrived, there was a large crowd waiting to get into the festival, while hundreds of others were already enjoying themselves inside. Like me, many thought that it might rain, so they waited until the last minute to decide whether to take the risk. The good news is that the risk/reward ratio at this event was very high. Upon entry, I received my sampling glass and map of the area. For the second year in a row, I got the impression that the organizers had read my mind. All the beers that I was most interested in trying seemed to be positioned really close to each other. The layout was similar to last year. There were food vendors near the main entrance. The main stage along with the VIP seating area were located in the rear of the park adjacent to the Elizabeth River with the main vending area positioned in the middle of everything. There were several strategically placed water stations and plenty of open space for blankets and lawn chairs as well. The tasting stations were placed along outer edges of the park. These locations allowed everyone to find the beers they wanted to taste and then return to their chairs and blankets as required. The ability to purchase pitchers of what you really liked made this an ideal set-up.

On Saturday, May 14, the sky was ominous and the rain threatened to pour at any moment, but that did not deter me from making the trip from Richmond to Norfolk for the 10th Annual Virginia Beer Festival. My resolve was recognized and rewarded by the beer gods in every conceivable way. There were absolutely no traffic delays. If you're from Hampton Roads, then you know this is a major miracle. In addition, the rain held off for the duration of my visit to Norfolk. This allowed me to make wise use of my time at Town Point Park to enjoy as many of the great beers this festival had to offer.

When I arrived, there was a large crowd waiting to get into the festival, while hundreds of others were already enjoying themselves inside. Like me, many thought that it might rain, so they waited until the last minute to decide whether to take the risk. The good news is that the risk/reward ratio at this event was very high. Upon entry, I received my sampling glass and map of the area. For the second year in a row, I got the impression that the organizers had read my mind. All the beers that I was most interested in trying seemed to be positioned really close to each other. The layout was similar to last year. There were food vendors near the main entrance. The main stage along with the VIP seating area were located in the rear of the park adjacent to the Elizabeth River with the main vending area positioned in the middle of everything. There were several strategically placed water stations and plenty of open space for blankets and lawn chairs as well. The tasting stations were placed along outer edges of the park. These locations allowed everyone to find the beers they wanted to taste and then return to their chairs and blankets as required. The ability to purchase pitchers of what you really liked made this an ideal set-up.

On Saturday, May 14, the sky was ominous and the rain threatened to pour at any moment, but that did not deter me from making the trip from Richmond to Norfolk for the 10th Annual Virginia Beer Festival. My resolve was recognized and rewarded by the beer gods in every conceivable way. There were absolutely no traffic delays. If you're from Hampton Roads, then you know this is a major miracle. In addition, the rain held off for the duration of my visit to Norfolk. This allowed me to make wise use of my time at Town Point Park to enjoy as many of the great beers this festival had to offer.

When I arrived, there was a large crowd waiting to get into the festival, while hundreds of others were already enjoying themselves inside. Like me, many thought that it might rain, so they waited until the last minute to decide whether to take the risk. The good news is that the risk/reward ratio at this event was very high. Upon entry, I received my sampling glass and map of the area. For the second year in a row, I got the impression that the organizers had read my mind. All the beers that I was most interested in trying seemed to be positioned really close to each other. The layout was similar to last year. There were food vendors near the main entrance. The main stage along with the VIP seating area were located in the rear of the park adjacent to the Elizabeth River with the main vending area positioned in the middle of everything. There were several strategically placed water stations and plenty of open space for blankets and lawn chairs as well. The tasting stations were placed along outer edges of the park. These locations allowed everyone to find the beers they wanted to taste and then return to their chairs and blankets as required. The ability to purchase pitchers of what you really liked made this an ideal set-up.

I DON'T DRINK coffee. I've never acquired a taste for it. I've tried every conceivable method of preparation: black, cream, sugar, latte, mocha, cappuccino, iced....it just doesn't appeal to me. When I make Irish Coffee for myself, I use hot chocolate. Given that I don't enjoy coffee the way some of you might, you'd probably find it hard to believe that one of my favorite places to hangout in Richmond is a coffee shop. But it's not just any coffee shop, so let's have a look.

Located where Semmes Avenue and Forest Hill Avenue merge near Third Street and Dundee Avenue on the southside of Richmond is Crossroads Coffee & Ice Cream. It and its sister location near VCU are both locally owned and independently operated. When I envision a coffee shop, places like Crossroads are what come to mind. I felt at home immediately. The staff is friendly, the food is delicious, and the atmosphere is cozy. It doesn't have that wreak of corporate structure. Not only is Crossroads locally owned, but they support the local area by offering quite a few local products: teas from Tammy Rostov, desserts from Quality Bakery, and Bev's Homemade Ice Cream.

RECENTLY, MY STEP-DAUGHTER and I traveled to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, located in Richmond, VA to see the Picasso exhibit. We had a great time and we met some really nice people during the three hours we spent at the museum enjoying the works of this great artist. On the way home, I wondered what someone as influential and as creative as Picasso would drink if he were alive today. This led me to do a lot of research, but to no avail. There aren't any real references to Picasso's drinking habits, so I was left to speculate.

I started with what I knew about Picasso. He was born near Barcelona, Spain and spent most of his life between his birthplace in Spain and Paris, France. I also knew that Picasso, despite his wealth and fame, lived the Bohemian lifestyle, which describes the nontraditional lifestyle of marginalized and impoverished artists, musicians, and writers in major Europeans cities. It emerged in France in the early 19th century when artists began to inhabit lower-rent, lower-class gypsy neighborhoods. Using these clues, I determined that Picasso quite possibly was a wine drinker and if so, he probably enjoyed good quality, but inexpensive wines from the places near where he lived throughout his life. A Bohemian would probably think globally, yet drink locally.

Although Paris isn't the first place you think of when you think of great French wines, Paris has produced wine for a long time. At least thirty types of wine come from this great city. Paris is best known for Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir. Among the better known vineyards in and around Paris are Clos Montmartre, Suresnes and Issy-les-Moulineaux.