Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Salute, Cheers, & Here's To You!!!


Like all of us around the holiday season, most of us have cocktails to enjoy the special occasion. When serving alcoholic beverages at a private party, make sure your guests have a safe way to get home or a pull-out sofa. Drunk driving is the number one cause of accidents during the holiday season. Being an excellent host/hostess is one thing, ensuring that your family and friends arrive to their destination safe and sound is another. We all have a certain level of responsibility to our friends and family to ensure their safety and their happiness, so, when serving holiday cocktails, contain them to a minimum. There's a difference between having fun & being dangerously under the influence. I'd rather have my guests safe & satisfied, with my conscience clean knowing that they will make it home safe, rather than they end up either dead or incarcerated because they were way over the legal drinking limit. This is the season to celebrate & be thankful for all that you've endured, but when relaxing and celebrating with friends, think about the lives that you could destroy if you were to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. Think about lives that you could take away or even your own life after you leave a celebration under the influence of alcohol. In previous years, I indulged in holiday alcoholic beverages, (I should say "over-indulged"....) but I never drove home. Either you threw me an extra blanket or I slept in my car. Turning the car on was NEVER an option. I know that I did not want to risk my life or the lives of others and I also didn't want to go to jail for doing something stupid like drunk driving. I enjoyed my family and my friends toasted, re-toasted, then toasted some more until I was all "toasty", then, I made a bee-line for the toilet & laid my behind down. Remember this holiday season, there are other people on the road besides yourself and you don't have to risk your life to make it back home or to any other destinations. Enjoy your family this and every holiday season and be responsible and adult about your engaging in alcohol, you may take someone's mother or father, son or daughter. Celebrate life, love , and  happiness and appreciate each "Tasty & Bubbly Bite". 




-Chef Tara L. Browning 




P.S.-  We at "Tasty Bites" Blog do not condone the acts of drinking and driving. If you know someone that does, PLEASE ask them for their keys. We wouldn't want to see anyone arrested or injured this holiday season. Here's a link shared via ABOVETHEINFLUENCE that can help those that are unsure to identify others who have had alcohol or who has had too much to drink. Thank You and PLEASE be safe this holiday season. 






http://www.abovetheinfluence.com/facts/drugsalcohol