Citizen Steve Drinks - The Sunset Steve (recipe)

    One tree on Sixth Street just off Lincoln Avenue in Charleston, IL has brown leaves.  I guess it's autumn.  But I still have the windows of my Mermaid Lagoon open to greet passers-by, and damned if I didn't break a light sweat during an impromptu power-walk across the Engineering quad today.  I savor the rays of summer 'til the bitter end, when finally my toes cannot stand the frost against which my flip-flops do not protect, and I find myself standing alone, shivering, clutching a running hose at my midday slip-n-slide barbecue.

    I know many of you are eager to break out the denim jackets and light fall scarves.  You're already putting together a Halloween costume, and checking local menus for fresh ciders and pumpkin pies.  But I invite you all to celebrate the still-warm sunlight while it lingers with us, and I've got just the drink to pour before the nights get too chilly.

The Sunset Steve

Ingredients:

-vodka

-Campari

-grenadine

-tonic water

    Fill a rocks glass or a collins glass with ice.  Five or six healthy-sized cubes should do it.  Add one shot of vodka.  Then, fill a shot glass half and half with Campari and grenadine, and add this to the glass.  Top with the tonic, and garnish with a lime wedge, if that's your thing.  Stir with a skinny little straw that gives you something to play with as you bid farewell to the sun.

    This drink is my take on the vodka and tonic, and it's right at home during my "cigars at sundown" tradition.  Grab a good friend and a good chair, and sip away.  Citizen Steve says it's ok.

Citizen Steve Speaks - Now, About These Gnats...

    While my one hand is typing this, my other hand is swatting and crushing tiny insects.  Tons of tiny, annoying insects.  And I'm in a library, tucked into a poorly lit corridor.  The gnats are upon us.  And we're being told there's nothing we can do about it.

    They showed up Monday morning.  Because I don't "do" mornings, I was unaware of the plague until just before 1:00 pm that afternoon, as I strolled to my first class of the day.  I had just gotten out of the shower.  I love showers, and I take them all the time.  As I walked to class, I noticed a few tiny gnats swarming around me, occasionally landing upon my flesh.  I didn't do a lot of shooing, as I feel that anybody swatting flies as they walk down the street looks like a filthy bum.  I just kept walking tall, as if the gnats didn't exist.

    But they didn't leave once I got to my lecture.  We watched a silent film that day, and as the gnats hounded me while I watched the movie, I couldn't help but swat a bit.  I had to swat them off of my skin, because they itched (and they're plain icky).  I had to swat them from my immediate area, as they were blocking my field of vision.  All this swatting was very distracting for me, and probably even more distracting for those around me.  I began to wonder why the gnats were following me.  Was I smelly?  Did the shower not "take"?

    That's a little glimpse into the neurosis that comes with being Citizen Steve.  Rather than observe that these bugs were clearly buzzing into every nook and cranny of the entire Midwest, I had myself convinced that I was encased in a small cloud of filth following me around campus, not unlike Pigpen of Peanuts fame.

    Yesterday the Daily Illini told me some things that I didn't want to hear.  But, such is the job of any newspaper worth their sawdust, eh?  They told me (in large headline form) to not call the bugs "gnats".  For my information, they're in fact "soybean aphids".  Today I heard a nerdy kid on Green Street say "Ah, these damn aphids!" and I almost punched him in his face.  I'm sticking with gnats.  Sue me.

    Secondly, the DI told me that prevention efforts against these things would be "impractical" and "a waste of time".  Bunch of tree huggers, if you ask me.  Well, if they won't tell you how to get rid of these things, Citizen Steve will: Squash 'em.  Squash the daylights out of them.  There!  I squashed one just now.  It felt good.  It still feels good.  I'm getting a little power trip out of this.  To hell with meditation- I just found my new source of empowerment: squashin' bugs, the American way.

    Speaking of America, another remedy for the gnats is Budweiser.  After a few golden pints last night, I forgot what a gnat was.  I also forgot what Indian food does to my stomach on top of those pints, hence my slow morning today.  But I digress.

    I'm told that the gnats will be all but gone in about a week.  Until then, squash away, and don't wear that bug spray stuff around campus.  I hate the way that stuff smells.  Thank you.

Welcome!

     Hello there.  I'm Steve, a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, and a Chicago South Sider by birth.  Many call me Citizen Steve.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's because I pay my taxes.  Whatever the reason, I decided to use this moniker when I launched my first blog way back in high school.  That blog was called Citizen Steve Speaks, and in it I tackled issues such as the changing of seasons, how police officers are blowhards, and the debate over which breakfast cereal mascot was "the best".  It was a fun way for a teen to express his coming-of-age frustrations and observations.

    With The Citizen's Publication (or Citizen's Pub for short), I hope to resurrect the spirit of Citizen Steve Speaks, but with an updated attitude that showcases my collegiate propensity for being a know-it-all, and my desperate attempts to seem sophisticated.  In addition to my general columnist-style pieces (which shall be labeled "Citizen Steve Speaks"), I plan to write about film ("Citizen Steve Sees"), food ("Citizen Steve Eats"), beverages ("Citizen Steve Drinks"), and style ("Citizen Steve Swaggers").  I also plan to have regular features about special topics, such as my favorite places ("Citizen Steve's Stomping Grounds") and bizarre fan-fiction ("Citizen Steve Writes Fan-Fiction").

    While a general blog with one sole contributor may sound narcissistic- perhaps downright masturbatory- I feel that I deserve a readership as much as the glorified ad copy writers who churn out Esquire every month.  (For the record, I love Esquire, and I read it religiously.  But Christ, talk about selling a lifestyle.)  I am working towards a minor in Cinema Studies, and just yesterday, off the cuff, I came up with five distinct reasons why Sister Act is a far superior film to Sister Act 2.  I've been eating food all my life.  I've been indulging in drinks of the alcoholic variety for as long as the Iraq War has been going on.  And as for style, my taste in shoes has almost provoked barroom brawls, and I consider a bottle of orange pop an "accessory".

    So read on, check back in, tell your friends, and give me feedback via the comments, my personal email (CitizenSteve18@gmail.com), on Twitter (twitter.com/CitizenSteve), or on facebook (facebook.com/CitizenSteve).

Cheers,

Citizen Steve